post-modernism

[Marcia Braundy]

I am trying to develop a somewhat lay description of post-modernism, and
would greatly appreciate any brief descriptive sentances you might have or
can make up in relation to this. All quotes will be attibuted!!! Many thanks.
Marcia Braundy
Advocate for Women in Trades, Technology, Operations and Blue Collar Work

[John Dickison]

Yoinks, this one could be problematic, as one of the threads of
post-modernism is that there IS NO unifying principle [both because some
stripes of P-M are a reaction to the limitations imposed by an
epistemology-centered, canon-affirming knowledge structure, and part
because the point of P-M is to not have unifying principles.] It's lack
of unified theory is both a charm raised by its proponents as well as an
attack levelled by its critics.

Post-modernism looks to different forms of validity than other
"disciplines," with "experience" being a key piece of the puzzle [as
opposed to empirical evidence].

Since I am NOT what I would call a post-modernist [tho some have alleged
this] I do not believe it would be accurate of me to describe what it IS,
any more than I would be qualified to tell you what it's like to be a
welfare mother or the Pope or a mallard duck. I don't think you'll get a
good portrait if you rely on non-postmodernists to paint a portrait of what
post-modernists "are." [For example, Janet Rosenau, a sociologist, has a
long book on P-M, but falls into this trap; she provides some decent
descriptions of some aspects, but since she is constantly decoding an
"epistemology-questioning" frame from her "epistemology-affirming" frame,
she tends to give some aspects short shrift.]

Whatever you do, don't view post-modernism as a CREED. Be wary of "Do you
mean that post-modernists don't recognize Christianity?" [I've heard this
one in seminar] It's a way of looking at things and a way of investigating
texts [writ large], not necessarily a movement with specific beliefs,
pledges or missions.

For my money, the healthiest contribution that post-modernism [writ large]
makes to scholarship is that it questions the institutions, meanings and
assumptions that underpin most of Western culture. I believe it is a good
thing to look at some of the "random" events of history, and investigate
just why it is so that patricarchy, private property ownership, the
sovereinty of nation-states and organized religion have had such a
foothold-- and why this foothold has previously always been interpreted as
something "natural."

And because I'm such a limited twentieth century type guy, I still feel the
need to draw a line somewhere in the sand, because otherwise it all reduces
to anarchy and complete lacks of frames of reference, where everything is
right and no boundaries exist, because these are just too damn oppressive.
As the song says, "take what you want and leave the rest." Good luck!
You've undertaken a task that includes a few dimensions of the impossible.
We'll be interested to see how you reconcile them.

--Bad Dog Johnnie at Penn State

John M. Dickison

Head of Production
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Penn State
College of Agricultural Sciences

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University Park, PA 16802

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Doctoral Student
College of Communications

[William F. Northey, Jr.]

>I am trying to develop a somewhat lay description of post-modernism, and
>would greatly appreciate any brief descriptive sentances you might have or
>can make up in relation to this.

You know not what you ask for. I have come to many of my "postmodern"
tenants via family therapy and qualitative research (I'll forward some
reference later).

There are varied forms of postmodernism: social constructionism,
constructivism, and interpretivism, to name a few. Constructivism asserts
that believing in an objective, immutable reality is a choice and one can
just as easily belief that reality is literally constructed (Guba and
Lincolns, 1989). Maturana calls it "objectivity-in-parentheses."

Most people want to argue that reality does exist, the problem for
postmodernists is that there is no way to test or "prove" such an
assertion. I don't know if reality exists and I know of no way to find out
if it does. The better question is what experiences are included or
precluded by making such an assertion. For me, believing that reality is
constructed challenges me to take responsibility for those constructions,
or at least acknowledge my role in their creation. From a research
perspective, "findings" are no longer useful because it implies that they
exist apart from my creation/perception of them. Validity and reliablility
are also of limited utility because I don't believe there is anything in
which to measure against.

I think an important point made by postmodernist is that no inherent
priviledge can be granted to any particular knowledge. All knowledge is
equally valued (valid?), regardless of how it is generated. Therefore,
research is no better, inherently, then folk wisdom. Now this does not
mean that some constructions might not allow for more effective
interactions with one's environment. I could believe that I can walk
through walls, but when I am unable to do so 10 or 15 times, I might want
to modify my construction. But, just because I couldn't do it 15 times,
this does not mean that I might not have on the 16th. The issue is the
limitations of what we can know.

Von Foerster uses the analogy of a lock and key. Knowledge is like a key,
it opens the lock, but tells us very little about it. Further, just
because one key works this does not preclude other ways of openning the
lock.

That's kind of my quick and dirty version of constructivism/postmodernism.
I have some references that I'll send out when I get to my other computer.

Bill
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
W. F. (Bill) Northey, Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Human Development and Family Studies
Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
(419)372-7848 Voice
(419)372-7854 FAX
nor...@bgnet.bgsu.edu
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*

[Diane Galambos]

There is a fabulous series of pocket books from "Icon Books" which are
written in what could almost be described as "comic book" style. They
cover a range of serious topics, and the content is quite dependable.
Look for:

Postmodernism for Beginners
by Richard Appignanesi Chris Garratt
ISBN 1 874166 21 8
--
******************************************************************
Diane Galambos
Sheridan College,Oakville, Ontario

Home Page: http://www.netaccess.on.ca/~galambos/
DDW Home Page: http://www.sheridanc.on.ca/academic/edserv/ddw.htm
EA Home Page: http://www.sheridanc.on.ca/academic/edserv/ea.htm
******************************************************************

[Kerry Chamberlain]

Marcia Braundy wrote:
>I am trying to develop a somewhat lay description of post-modernism, and
>would greatly appreciate any brief descriptive sentances you might have or

>can make up in relation to this. All quotes will be attibuted!!! Many thanks.

Marcia, This is worth a look.

Kerry

________________________________________________________________________

>12. Postmodernism and its Critics
>http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/murphy/pomo.htm
>
>This site was created by Shannon Weiss and Karla Wesley as an assignment
>for a Spring 1997 Social Anthropology course at the University of Alabama.
>For a subject that often leaves students cold, these students have done an
>excellent job summarizing the key concepts, figures, and methodologies of
>postmodernism; instructors would do well to point their own students to
>this page. The site briefly lays out the basic premises, key works, leading
>figures, principle concepts, reactions and criticisms, and methodologies of
>postmodernism. Also included are a modest collection of resources and
>related links. [MD]

Taken from:
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
Kerry Chamberlain
School of Psychology phone: +64 6 350 4123
Massey University fax: +64 6 350 5673
Private Bag 11-222 email: K.Cham...@massey.ac.nz
Palmerston North Timezone: GMT+12
Aotearoa/New Zealand
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[Jim Horn]

Bill,
While I am sure you are aware of the problems associated with quick
summaries, let me make a clear distinction (not a postmodernist strong
point) between Maturana's enactive natural philosophy and the solipsism
that sometimes poses as constructivism. Maturana does not doubt that
there is a world "out there"--it was this concession that allowed his
early research on how frogs see the world, as opposed to how frogs see
the insides of their own heads. Whether frog or human, Maturana and
Varela point out, however, that every observation is made by an
observer, a point that is often mistaken to mean that the observer or
his observation is all there is. In reality (please excuse the term),
M&V are claiming that observations are not solely determined by the data
out there, but more so by the observer as a structure-determined system,
i. e., determined by the interactions of the components of an entity
that can be distinguished from its background. In this sense, then, we
"bring forth worlds" not as fabrications from a disembodied
consciousness, but rather from a background of action within a world to
which we must remain adaptive if we are to maintain ourselves as viable,
self-organizing entities.

In the sense that Maturana maintains respect for science and philosophy,
he is less postmodern than he is post-positivist. And there are still
those (I am one) who view new advances in the sciences of complexity
with a great deal of enthusiasm and hope, much more so than for the
nihilistic musings of a handful of philistines.

Have you ever wondered what a conference of solipsists might be like?

Jim Horn
Palmer School
LIU

William F. Northey, Jr. wrote:
>
> >I am trying to develop a somewhat lay description of post-modernism, and
> >would greatly appreciate any brief descriptive sentances you might have or
> >can make up in relation to this.
>

[Bruce Bikle - Faculty]

Well there is always LaTour's notion that "We have never been modern"

:-)

On Thu, 12 Feb 1998, Marcia Braundy wrote:

> I am trying to develop a somewhat lay description of post-modernism, and
> would greatly appreciate any brief descriptive sentances you might have or

> can make up in relation to this. All quotes will be attibuted!!! Many
thanks.