Postmodernism and the intellectual foundations for WOKENESS.

 Postmodernism is a late 20th century movement in Western philosophy characterised by broad scepticism, subjectivism or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political and economic power.

Deconstruction:

Is a form of philosophical and literary analysis, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions”, in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts.

In the 1970s the term was applied to work by Derrida, Paul de Man, J.Hillis Miller and Barbara Johnson, among other scholars.

The word has been sometimes used pejoratively to suggest nihilism and frivolous skepticism. In popular usage the term has come to mean a critical dismantling of tradition and traditional modes of thought.

The oppositions challenged by deconstruction, which have been inherent in Western philosophy since the time of the ancient Greeks, are characteristically “binary” and “hierarchical”, involving a pair of terms in which one member of the pair is assumed to be primary or fundamental, the other secondary or derivative.

“.......yet there is another sense in which culture is certainly prior to nature: the idea of nature is a product of culture, and what counts as ‘nature’ or ‘natural’ at any given historical moment will vary depending upon the culture of the time.....”

(Reread article that can be found by googling: deconstruction brittanica.com)

Could the following be regarded as part of the intellectual foundations of WOKENESS:

- dominant forms of knowledge have been constructed largely from the experiences of the most powerful, ie: white, Western, (often wealthy and mostly heterosexual) males, who historically have had most the most access to systems of education and communication.

- one can identify discourses (how we talk about things) supporting supporting and maintaining white supremacy and patriarchy that still exists almost everywhere !!

- the biases of white, western, straight males is embedded in so much of our knowledge !

- we have to reflect on the relationship between power and knowledge; power and knowledge are inextricably linked. Oppressors (usually, and especially, white, western, wealthy, straight males) still perpetuate their privilege and “power-knowledge” through discourse.

- there is really only one objective reality : ie: systems of power and privilege exist. Everything else is a social, cultural and or linguistic construct.

- women, people of colour and LGBT people have often unwritten, untold and subordinated truths, which can be a source of knowledge in pursuit of social justice.

-the idea that objectivity is best reached only through rational thought is a specifically western and masculine way of thinking - and this idea must be challenged.

- those who are most oppressed have access to a deeper and more authentic knowledge about life and society. They in fact have a superior knowledge of the world.

- Western science is just one way of knowing the world; and it is corrupted by power.

- multiple knowledges exist and they are related to identity; for example, being a black, trans woman.

- we have to analyse how language and discourse are used in the service of power; ie: dominant discourses keeping women and racial and sexual minorities down.