ext_181677 ([identity profile] nornagest.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] wombat_socho 2006-11-03 12:31 am (UTC)

Well, if you get them to stop theorizing and philosophizing, they will no longer be postmodernists. In all seriousness, though, I think the tendency you've noticed can be attributed to the various branches of the humanities growing a little... inbred, shall we say?

You've probably noticed the consistent preference for critical-theory terms in an article devoted to history. I think this, and many other otherwise inexplicable postmodern tropes, are best explained with the observation that the postmodern view sees all branches of human thought as products of storytelling, and hence subject to critical analysis. It's a much more natural view than it seems, given that postmodern theory is authored by and for scholars of the humanities. And, of course, it has the advantage of placing the field (and its academics) in a privileged position with respect to the rest of human thought.

Hence, I don't think postmodern theories of pretty much anything should be taken seriously as commentaries on factual information. The field's basically all about popular culture (well, that, class, and gender, but those tropes thankfully seem to be mostly absent here); the article you link to, therefore, should be read as a commentary on the popular concept of "World War II" and not as an account of the actual strategic, economic, philosophical, or moral underpinnings of the conflicts dominating the period between approximately 1938 and 1945. It seems to make a lot more sense that way.

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