Critical Theory

Week 13: Contemporary Critical Theory: Traditionalism, Modernism and Postmodernism

Modernism & Metanarratives

• What Is Modernism?
• Modernism as the Construction of Metanarratives
• Examples:
  • Science
  • Technology
  • Marxism
  • Modern Liberal State
  • Religion
  • Nationalism
  • Terrorism
• The Problem with Metanarratives
• Is Modernity Identical to the Enlightenment?
• What About Fundamentalism? - Anthony Giddens on fundamentalism

Forms of Postmodernism

• Lyotard on Postmodernism
• Deconstructive vs. Constructive Postmodernism
• Deconstruction
• Modern & Postmodern Culture
• Other Resources on Postmodernism
  • Postmodernism: Some Debates
• Art
  • Modernity in Art: Early 20th Century
  • 20th Century Art: The Search for Self and Politics
  • Modernity in Art: Mid 20th Century
  • Art After Modernism

Place/Space and Power

• "Man Arrested for Wearing Peace T-Shirt in a Mall" CNN March 6 2003
  • Fox News version of story
  • Socialist Worker version of story

Place/Space and Modernity

• Fragments of the Passagenwerk (Benjamin, Arcades Project)
• Modernity and the Flâneur
• The Flaneur