Postmodernism questions & answers rated A+

PostmodernismModernism - correct answer A movement post WWI-WWII that sought to fill the void that the lost generation and the shattering of Enlightenment ideals created. Modernists were earnest as they tried to both create a new way of interpreting the world around them, make people feel better (not Neitzsche obviously), and create CHANGE. Postmodernism - correct answer ... Neitzsche's Superman - correct answer He argued that life is a meaningless, chaotic storm in which Enlightenment ideals are bound to fail. The people who thrive in this environment are the ubermisch, who are willing to "destroy to create," ie Hitler, Stalin, etc. Lyotard - correct answer Established the idea of micro/metanarrative; said that metanarratives exclude people who don't agree and since pomo is suspicious of this it resists definition. Discourse - correct answer Foucault on discourse: "systems of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs and practices that systematically construct the subjects and the worlds of which they speak"; relates to postmodernism b/c discourse necessarily entails listening to one another and believing they have something to contribute --> embraces micronarratives Heterogeneity - correct answer A piece of art that exemplifies this contains two dissimilar items that draws attention to the difference between them; aka like a metaphor; Lyotard uses "Trinity" and says that by representing two totally different eras, it draws attention to the Other, everything that isn't represented (especially what's between them) Heterodoxy - correct answer any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position; post-modernists celebrated this with their rejection of the intellectual elite Metanarrative - correct answer A grand, overarching, explanatory story that connects the ideas of an era; ex: Christianity, reason/logic, Marxism; creates marginalized groups; pomos thought it's what we need to tell ourselves --> made them suspicious Micronarrative - correct answer Everyone's personal stories and beliefs, postmodernists (esp. Lyotard) embraced this and rejected metanarratives --> makes pomo hard to define Performativity - correct answer With the rejection of the metanarrative that makes science important, scientists seek to prove it is. It becomes less concerned with exploration and more so with legitimizing itself by performing well. Avant-Garde - correct answer Cutting edge, pushes boundaries, innovative; considered to be more modern than pomo because thinking you created something avant garde means that you think you are a member of the intellectual elite; also, pomos weren't looking to push boundaries per se, they were looking to dance in the void instead of fill it; pomo is the neo-avant garde works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics. Kitsch - correct answer low-brow style of mass-produced art or design using popular or cultural icons. The term is generally reserved for unsubstantial or gaudy works or decoration, or works that are calculated to have popular appeal; Jameson's definition of pomo Indeterminacy - correct answer Derrida's idea that we can't ever know what we're talking about because there are an infinite number of interpretations for the meaning of each word Referent - correct answer the "original" that the simulations in the era of the hyperreal originate from, in the 3rd order we don't even care about it Signifier - correct answer the word; creates an infinite number of interpretations; Saussure's tree Lisable - correct answer Readerly, from Hassan's chart, describes modo Scriptable - correct answer Writerly, from Hassan's chart, describes pomo Paratactical - correct answer Choppy sentence structure, no dependencies in the sentences; very pomo Hypotactical - correct answer only with all the clauses together does a sentence have meaning; Dickens