"Postmodernism has made it fashionable to deconstruct what its adherents called the 'grand narratives' of history, seeing these as little more than the stories of the triumph of Western progress which was largely achieved by suppressing or violently overthrowing other groups. More problematically, postmodernists advocate that all identities be dismantled or blurred and view all positively distinctive cultures as being oppressive to weaker or less assertive ones. This idea might at first seem reasonable, especially when viewed through a postcolonial or subaltern lens, but it opens the door to a pervasive cynicism and narrowness of vision with no workable criteria of value in aesthetics, politics or philosophy. The postmodern insistence on denying such identities as Indian and Western leaves non-Western cultures vulnerable to even further exploitation because they are denied the security of possessing a difference which is real and defensible. Postmodernism, then, tends to undermine the particular reality of the non-Western culture that might be in need of being affirmed, protected and developed."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Malhotra, R., & Infinity Foundation (Princeton, N.J.). (2018). Being different: An Indian challenge to western universalism.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Postmodernism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Postmodernism
25 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Postmodernism →
Related Quotes
"The idea of the postmodern ... was in one way or another an appanage of the right. ... For Lyotard the very parameter…"
"Postmodernity is said to be a culture of fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable simulacra, and promis…"
"At the end of a life spent in the pursuit of knowledge Faust has to confess: "I now see that we can nothing know." Th…"
"The final dismantling of the great master narratives is itself a grand narrative—why else would people get so excited…"
"For about a couple of decades I've had a very simple question that I've been posing to my postmodern friends: "Can yo…"
"There is an obscurum per obscurius problem as well. In order to know whether or not giraffes are taller than ants we …"
"Is it easier to know what our culture’s epistemic norms are in terms of which it is to be determined whether or not g…"
"Postmodernism has found full political and social realisation. Recent years have taught us a bitter truth – namely, t…"
"Thinking about my own sense of identity, I realise that it has always depended on the fact of being a migrant. ... No…"
"Surely at least some of our logical principles … are far more evident and obvious to us than are any of the empirical…"