Post-Structuralism

P o s t-S t r u c t u r a l i s m / \ POSTMODERNISM \

POST-STRUCTURALISM ~under postmodernism’s broadest wings~ stands as eminent as it is nebulous: a singular school of thought?, or a diversity of schools? that come after (born from?, mere critique of?) cross-disciplinary Structuralism?; is it a set of principles &/or methodologies from diverse fields merged into a solidified system?; a movement itself? or a way of doing philosophy in the late 20th to 21st c.? The many works & thinkers variously called post-structuralist cross historical & disciplinary boundaries & synthesize materials & methodologies from anthropology to linguistics, politics to poetics, psychoanalysis to philosophy proper, from metaphysics to ontology, epistemology to ethics & aesthetics. The only seeming unity being their holistic eclectic-ness, discernment of the flux amidst structural rigidities, promotions of becoming, & emphases on rethinking the nature of knowledge & constitution of meaning, all reignited by fresh methodologies, kindled with interdisciplinary material, and blaze in new voices with new urgencies.

Slide Show:
a way into thinking post-structuralism & postmodernism is by thinking around the history & idea of marginalia,
the writings in texts around the margins of the text's text ...

POSTMODERNISM designates neither a period after modernity, nor its overturning; it is “re-writing modernity”--a primarily methodological & anti-historicist study that most actively seeks to uncover grand narratives’ biases.

“Grand narratives” are the powerful stories we call upon to create & structure meaning (often to rally people); as overarching organizational categories that may conjure national identity, portray capitalist political economy, invoke proletariat struggle or emancipation from marginalization, they are often captured in clichés & catch-phrases: ‘power to the people,’ ‘as American as apple pie,’ ‘live free or die,’ ‘we are all God’s creatures,’ ‘class struggle,’ etc..

For postmodernism, all knowledge has become narrative; knowledge is a structuring force or power, not a mere label, but affective creation & direction of meaning/reality. Within this excess of narratives, narrativity itself, the rules & operation of this knowledge-cum-narrative system, & specific, especially strong grand narratives are what postmodernism targets to lay bare.

Postmodernism, then, is critique that constantly turns back to the canon (widely conceived); takes it up & works through it to see many alternate narratives therein. It refuses rigid boundaries between disciplines or schools of thought. It is therapeutic. It seeks to lay bare what remains unsaid.