Post-modernism refers to a collective of social theories that centre around current debates regarding the nature of knowledge. It is distinct from social post-modernisation (O'Brien & Penna, 1 998) or post-modernity (Giddens & Pierson, 1 998) (although has arisen from within this context) as a condition that refers to "a set of changes, transitions and processes perceived to be taking place at the social, political, economic and cultural level" (Williams, 1 992, p.204). A central theme of emergent post-modem theories has been to challenge the legitimating power of meta-narratives (Kincheloe & Mclaren, 2000; Seidman, 1 994) that have served as the foundational theories of knowledge upon which the enlightenment project (O'Brien & Penna, 1 998) and Western society have been based. As grand stories of social progress, meta-narratives have been central to the legitimation of modem knowledge, the dominance of Western, patriarchal cultures and their associated social institutions. Post-modernism confronts the "European view of history as the unilinear progress of universal reason" (Kincheloe & Mclaren,
2000, p.294).
Chapter 5 Theorising analysis and practice: critical post modernism and community development
Post-modernism is itself heterogeneous, ranging over disciplines as diverse as l iterary criticism and geography. Williams (Williams, 1 996) summarises the conceptual markers of post modernism as: particuarlism, difference, relativism, contingency, fragmentation and de(constructionism). Post-modern theories pose a major challenge to social and political theories rooted in the enlightenment in five major ways. ( 1 ) Rather than understanding the subject as conscious, rational and coherent (as assumed within modernist theory), post modernism emphasises the role of the unconscious and the fragmented nature of the self, pointing' out that there are a myriad of different subjectivities and realities. (2) Post-modernism challenges the emphasis on universal ism by emphasising both the relativity and the constructedness of knowledge or so-cal led truth. There are no overarching truths, only partial knowledges exist constructed in the specifics of time and place. (3) Post-modernism represents a shift away from fundamentalist or essentialist thinking towards an exploration of meaning of social phenomena and how they constitute themselves through those meanings. The emphasis is not on facts or evidence but upon representation, symbols and language, as it is through these that meaning is constructed. (4) Whereas the social and political theories of the twentieth century anticipate the development of societies in a stage by stage movement of progress, post modernism emphasises the specifics of time and space, the contingencies and constellations of specific movements. (5) Post-modernism shifts away from dualist thinking towards an understanding of the multi-faceted nature of identities and phenomena. The emphasis is not so much on the differences between subjects (man/women) but on understanding how those differences are constructed and how the categories (man/woman) are themselves constituted through difference. Identities are not seen as fixed, but as ambiguous, fluid and unstable, changing with the shifting power relations of time and space.
The emancipatory potential of post-modernism has been questioned both within black (Hooks, 1 990) and feminist (Butler, 1 994; Spretnak, 1 99 1 ) politics. Hooks has pointed out that as a discursive practice it is dominated primarily by white male intellectuals and/or academic elites who "speak to and write about one another with coded fami liarity" (p.24). Post-modernism is easily associated with intellectual nihilism (Butler, 1 994) in the minds of many activists and some academics, as many post-modem writings have tended to emphasise its deconstructive elements. Such post-modem theories do not move beyond deconstruction, claiming that the 'unreal' has replaced the 'real ', that there is nothing but 'cultural construction' in human experience (Spretnak, 1 99 1 ). At their most extreme such theoretical positions posit that oppression only exists in the minds of the oppressed, thus undermining the legitimacy of claims
Chapter 5 Theorising analysis and practice: critical p ost
on economic, cultural and political sovereignty/self determination by those communities at the margins. These forms of post-modernism do little to challenge and change the status quo of economic and cultural power relations. They run the risk of being appropriated by neo-liberal, capitalist interests and discourses that emphasise negative freedoms (Cheyne et aI., 2000), such as freedom of speech and the right to non-interference (particularly in the market), perpetuating capitalist, white, male dominance.
Not withstanding these cautions, post-modernism has several important contributions to make in theorising agency. Its emphasis on partiality, fragmentation and contingency provide a means of thinking about the investigation context in which the globalisation of cultural systems (via migration and advances in communication technologies) exposes the investigation communities to multiple world views and systems of knowledge. The condition of post-modernity (Giddens, 1 984; O'Brien & Penna, 1 998) gives rise to peoples (including the investigation participants) experiencing speeded up processes of change, shifting roles, group memberships and sometimes statuses.
Post-modernism' s emphasis on subjectivity and partial, localised know ledges rather than grand theories or meta-narratives of 'truth' contributes to the investigation in at least three important ways. Firstly as Rosenau (Rosenau, 1 994) points out, post-modernism holds emotion, intuition, the spiritual and intangible as having equal knowledge value to reason and science. Such an analytical lens allows the felt and intuited experiences of the research participants (including myself) to be an integral part of theorising the power-culture dynamics of agency. Secondly, post-modernism ' s pluralistic inquiry into subjectivity and identity (beyond meta-narratives of any one 'grand oppression') widens the analytical lens to begin to theorise how ethnic, gender and class cultures both mediate and are mediated by dominant social structures of capitalism. Finally post-modernism's emphasis on subjectivity (de)construction (how we know) enables me to place myself within the analytical conundrum as a subject who analyses, intuits and acts from her own subj ect position throughout the research process.