What Is Postmodernism?

HIST300: HistoriographyFall 2012

Premodernism• From Herodotus to the 1700s• History not yet an academic discipline (no citations, primarily broad narratives or

chronicles, etc.)

Modernism• From the 1700s to the 1940s• History becomes its own discipline (with an emphasis on empiricism, objectivity, ethical

standards, etc.)• Focused on nationalism and “great white men”• First appearance of specific schools of thought (e.g. Marx)

Postmodernism• From the 1940s to the present• Post-war reaction against nationalism, “absolute truth,” etc.• Focuses on marginalized groups (women, ethnic minorities, etc.)• Questions how we understand language

The “Ages” of Western Historiography

1. Postmodernism is a philosophical and intellectual worldview that rejects absolute truth, because “reality is unrepresentable;” we must question objectivity and embrace subjectivity, particularly as it pertains to language

Definitions of Postmodernism

1. Postmodernism is a philosophical and intellectual worldview that rejects absolute truth, because “reality is unrepresentable;” we must question objectivity and embrace subjectivity, particularly as it pertains to language

2. Postmodernism insists on “subverting, resisting, opposing, or countering features of modernism,” which includes “suspicion and rejection of ‘master narratives’”

Definitions of Postmodernism

Michel Foucault

Leading Frenchintellectual, historian, psychologist, and philosopher

1. Power and knowledge as social constructions

Two of His Key Contributions

1. Power and knowledge as social constructions

2. Discourse as the defining force in shaping human behavior

Two of His Key Contributions

1. A message imbedded in language that claims to be truth in such a way as to become obviously true to the viewer, and in so doing, this message has power over cultures and societies

2. A “system of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs and practices that systematically construct the subjects and the worlds of which they speak”

Definition of Discourse

• Is all data ultimately textual and, if so, what are its implications?• Should history be written primarily according to literary

rules and, if so, what are they? • What is the significant difference between literary and

figurative speech in history and how does it create historical meaning?• Can history ever exist beyond discourse? • Is history what happened, or what historians tell us

happened?

Alun Munslow, “What History Is,” 2001

Postmodern Challenges

• The “linguistic turn” signaled the coming of postmodernism• Postmodernists…

…Consider “authorial presence” to be a significant force …Emphasize the importance of language (i.e. semiotics)…Believe in the absence of one, absolute truth…Are suspicious of “meta-narratives”…Believe that our worldview (i.e. discourse) inescapably shapes our

interpretations of events• Postmodern thought has affected many disciplines, including

history, literary criticism, psychology, philosophy, and others

Summary of Key Points