the lingering ghost of postmodernism
The orthodox left (and right) has, since the 1980s, launched attacks against a ghost that has no clear reality; is a moving target; and is reshaped negatively, so that it remains a coherent and "attackable" object: postmodernism, postmodern theory, poststructuralism, which is equated with French theorists such as Foucault and Derrida. Even in the Basque Country I have become part of the postmodern ghostly cluster and have been attacked by the orthodox nationalist left. So, let us begin with a short reflection. The main accusation against postmodernism is that is anti-modern, irrational, anti-universal and, therefore, has enabled the expansion and consolidation of neoliberal ideology and late capitalism, for it has taken down the only discourse that could fight it: rational modernity. Postmodernism is the culprit of the irrationality-postruth-authoritarianism unleashed by neoliberalism. The supposed irrationality is the first ghostly feature that must be analyzed. According to this accusation, postmarxist Lacanian theory should also be denounced as postmodernism: Zizek, Badiou, etc. But ironically enough, even these two authors use the ghost of postmodernism to attack what they think is American multiculturalism. The second accusation, that of anti-universalism, faces a very real situation for which it does not have an answer: feminism, postcolonialism, and ecology (just to name three), refuse to be assimilated into a single discourse of universalism, for good reason: universalism is always a particular, and the first globally imposed form of universalism was North-American-European imperialism. Therefore, to attack the "ghost" of what the orthodox left assumes to be postmodernism as a negation of universalism, requires to be anti-feminist, racist, etc. The final conclusion is that, had the "ghost"of postmodernism not risen, had we continued with North-American-European modernity, the expansion of neoliberal ideology and late capitalism would have been greater, more universal, and would have created a greater "postmodern" backlash against neoliberal globalization. In short, and this is the Borgesian and innovative part of my analysis, the orthodox left would have become the great new creator and defender of a "postmodernism" of their own. Comments are closed.
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AuthorJoseba Gabilondo. Publications Archives
April 2023
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