International RelationsTheories

Post-Modernism

Post-StructuralismPost-Structuralism

Post-Colonialism

Dr VaezadeSepehr Arefmanesh

Spring 2014

IntroductionPostmodernism is a concept which appears in a wide

variety of disciplines or areas of study including art,music, film, literature, architecture, and technology andnowadays has burst into popular usage as a term foreverything from rock music to the whole cultural styleand mood of recent decades.

Postmodernism is a concept which appears in a widevariety of disciplines or areas of study including art,music, film, literature, architecture, and technology andnowadays has burst into popular usage as a term foreverything from rock music to the whole cultural styleand mood of recent decades.

ModernismModernism refers to the broadaesthetic movement invisual arts, music, literature,and drama and modernityrefers to a set ofphilosophical and ethicalideas which provide thebasis of the aesthetic aspectof modernism. Therefore,“modernity” is older than“modernism.” For the sakeof simplicity the authors usemodernism for both terms.There has been a longdebate among scholars onwhen exactly modernismstarts and how todistinguish between what ismodern and what is notmodern.

Modernism refers to the broadaesthetic movement invisual arts, music, literature,and drama and modernityrefers to a set ofphilosophical and ethicalideas which provide thebasis of the aesthetic aspectof modernism. Therefore,“modernity” is older than“modernism.” For the sakeof simplicity the authors usemodernism for both terms.There has been a longdebate among scholars onwhen exactly modernismstarts and how todistinguish between what ismodern and what is notmodern.

No. Modernism Postmodernism

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.

10.11.12.13.

objectiverationalscientific

global claimspositivistutopiancentralthe best

lineargeneralizingtheoretical

abstractunification

subjectiveirrational

anti-scientificlocal claimsconstructivist

populistfragmented

betternon-linear

non-generalizingpracticalconcretediversity

Postmodernism

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.

10.11.12.13.

objectiverationalscientific

global claimspositivistutopiancentralthe best

lineargeneralizingtheoretical

abstractunification

subjectiveirrational

anti-scientificlocal claimsconstructivist

populistfragmented

betternon-linear

non-generalizingpracticalconcretediversity

“truth” is notuniversalPostmodernism ispreference and truthis a social constructto be eliminated.Truth and personsare given value onlyas the group valuesthem.

Postmodernism ispreference and truthis a social constructto be eliminated.Truth and personsare given value onlyas the group valuesthem.

constitutes the postmodern are renderedimpossible by postmodernity’s rejection of theverymetanarratives that would be integralto such an analysis. Other than ‘an incredulitytowards metanarratives

A commonality of Post-Modern views of IR is anemphasis on howpolitical action is affectedby language, ideas,abstract concepts, andnorms.

Actors are missing: women, MNCs,poor countries, classes, etc.

States are not unitary and thusnot rational – states areabstractions

Thus, no such thing as nationalinterest.

Actors are missing: women, MNCs,poor countries, classes, etc.

States are not unitary and thusnot rational – states areabstractions

Thus, no such thing as nationalinterest.

KnowledgeAnd Power

Knowledge is notstable and eternal asthe history of sciencehas shown us, it refersto probabilities ratherthan certainties,better rather than thebest.

The idea that somepeople (experts)know more thanothers (non-experts)are not espoused.They believe thatinteraction betweenthe knower and non-knower is often bestseen as a dialog inwhich both areinvolved in aninteractive process ofknowledge creation.Dialog replacesmonolog.

Knowledge is notimmune from theworkings of power –what we know dependson power in our lives.

Knowledge is notstable and eternal asthe history of sciencehas shown us, it refersto probabilities ratherthan certainties,better rather than thebest.

The idea that somepeople (experts)know more thanothers (non-experts)are not espoused.They believe thatinteraction betweenthe knower and non-knower is often bestseen as a dialog inwhich both areinvolved in aninteractive process ofknowledge creation.Dialog replacesmonolog.Definition of power is limited

mostly to tangiblemeasures, not power ofideas, norms, words, etc.

Post-structuralism Post-

struc

tural

ism

Post-

struc

tural

ism

Structuralism was an intellectualmovement in France in the 1950s and1960s that studied the underlyingstructures in cultural products (such astexts) and used analytical conceptsfrom linguistics, psychology,anthropology, and other fields tointerpret those structures. Itemphasized the logical and scientificnature of its results.Post-structuralism offers a way ofstudying how knowledge is producedand critiques structuralist premises. Itargues that because history andculture condition the study ofunderlying structures, both are subjectto biases and misinterpretations. Apost-structuralist approach argues thatto understand an object (e.g., a text),it is necessary to study both the objectitself and the systems of knowledgethat produced the object.

Structuralism was an intellectualmovement in France in the 1950s and1960s that studied the underlyingstructures in cultural products (such astexts) and used analytical conceptsfrom linguistics, psychology,anthropology, and other fields tointerpret those structures. Itemphasized the logical and scientificnature of its results.Post-structuralism offers a way ofstudying how knowledge is producedand critiques structuralist premises. Itargues that because history andculture condition the study ofunderlying structures, both are subjectto biases and misinterpretations. Apost-structuralist approach argues thatto understand an object (e.g., a text),it is necessary to study both the objectitself and the systems of knowledgethat produced the object.

Jean-Francois Lyotard• The figural resists representation• In 1974 he predicted that no knowledge

will survive that cannot be translatedinto computer language--into quantitiesof information.

• Made critical distinction betweennarrative discourse and scientificdiscourse

• The figural resists representation• In 1974 he predicted that no knowledge

will survive that cannot be translatedinto computer language--into quantitiesof information.

• Made critical distinction betweennarrative discourse and scientificdiscourse

Jean Baudrillard • Death of modernity, “the real,” andsex

• Semiotic analysis of commodities

• binary oppositions that minimizedifference(s)

• the simulation, simulacra, becomesthe real

• The role of the hyper-real

• The Merchants of Cool/Reality TV

Michel Foucault

View language as the “container” of possible practiceswithin a discourse (profession).

Speaking is not an innovative activity, but a selection froma fixed set of practices, governed by rules that arepermissible in the language.

• World is a “text” that must be interpreted.

– World is constructed like a text.

– Cannot refer to anything “real” – only“interpretive experience”

– Quoting Montaigne: “We need to interpretinterpretations more than to interpret things”

• stable and natural concepts and relationsare artificial concepts.

Jacques Derrida

• World is a “text” that must be interpreted.

– World is constructed like a text.

– Cannot refer to anything “real” – only“interpretive experience”

– Quoting Montaigne: “We need to interpretinterpretations more than to interpret things”

• stable and natural concepts and relationsare artificial concepts.

Like structuralism, theyrejected the centrality of the self, believingthat it is not the self that creates culture, itis culture that creates the self;

and unlikestructuralism, theyrejected scientific pretensions and appliedthe structural-cultural analysis of humanphenomena to the human sciencesthemselves, which are after all humancultural constructions.

Like structuralism, theyrejected the centrality of the self, believingthat it is not the self that creates culture, itis culture that creates the self;

and unlikestructuralism, theyrejected scientific pretensions and appliedthe structural-cultural analysis of humanphenomena to the human sciencesthemselves, which are after all humancultural constructions.

What is Post-colonialism?

What is colonialism?•An extension of a nations rule overterritory beyond its borders•a population that is subjected to thepolitical domination of anotherpopulation

What is Post-colonialism?Post-colonial theory deals with the reading and writingof literature written in previously or currently colonizedcountries, or literature written in colonizing countrieswhich deals with colonization or colonized peoples

- it embraces no single method or school

How does it work?•Assesses the position of thecolonial or post-colonial subject•Offers a counter-narrative tothe long tradition of Europeanimperial narratives considering:

Political oppressionEconomicSocial/culturaloppressionPsychologicaloppression

■ What happens after colonization?

* What language do you speak?

* what culture do you follow?

■ Two terms to describe the results ofcolonization on those colonized

■ Awareness of culture beforecolonized and during colonizationand what emerged as a result.

Edward Said

• “Power and knowledge areinseparable”(following Foucalt’s belief)

Orientalism is the 1978 book that has beenhighly influential in postcolonial studies.

• Attempted to explain how European/Westerncolonizers looked upon the ‘’Orient”What is the Orient?

• A mystical plane that was stereotyped due tolack of knowledge and imagination

• “Power and knowledge areinseparable”(following Foucalt’s belief)

Orientalism is the 1978 book that has beenhighly influential in postcolonial studies.

• Attempted to explain how European/Westerncolonizers looked upon the ‘’Orient”What is the Orient?

• A mystical plane that was stereotyped due tolack of knowledge and imagination