Open AccessCRITICAL THEORY IN THE POSTMODERN AGE: The Promise of Epistemology
Author(s) -
Elvi Whittaker
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of anthropology at mcmaster
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0707-3771
DOI - 10.15173/nexus.v7i1.80
Subject(s) - postmodernism , deconstruction (building) , epistemology , contest , legitimacy , value (mathematics) , sociology , politics , philosophy , ethnography , realism , anthropology , political science , law , ecology , theology , machine learning , computer science , biology
This paper examines the epistemological possibilities suggested by postmodernism. The emergence of postmodern discourse in Anthropology is examined in terms of a contest for theoretical legitimacy. Arguing that the current anthropological fad is curiously apolitical, the author claims that philosophical questions have moral and political value. Specifically, it is suggested that a deconstruction of the binarisms that have characterized ethnographic realism can provide a means to liberate ourselves from the oppressive concepts of a previous era.