Postmodernism and Marxist Critical Theory combine to create a hellish spawn, and it’s pedagogy targeted at young people. Logan Lancing examines this synthesis and what it means.
I want to discuss a paper this morning, one that helped me understand the merger of Critical Theory with Postmodernism.
Peter McLaren's "Critical Pedagogy and the Postmodern Challenge" (89')
🧵 pic.twitter.com/HkXyhpqarY
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
The paper's central argument was this:
We live in the wake of Postmodernism. PoMo argues that grand narratives (big stories about progress/history) are broken. Meaning is slippery, identity fluid, and everything fragmented. This creates unique challenges for fighting oppression.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
Challenges, and for them, opportunities.
Critical pedagogy, based on Paulo Freire's theory and methods, must adapt to this new reality – this postmodern challenge. Instead of relying on old narratives, it needs to help students understand and challenge systems of power in a world where everything feels uncertain.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
This new "critical postmodernist pedagogy" recognizes the fragmented self while providing tools for fighting oppression. It helps students make sense of their experiences and work towards a liberated future, even amidst uncertainty.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
McLaren's goal was to merge the two; to offer hope in a world that can feel hopeless. Critical Postmodernist Pedagogy empowers students to become critical marxists and agents of change, even when the old ways of understanding the world no longer applied.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
The approach proposed looks like this:
Starting with students' personal experiences and helping them understand how their identities are shaped by social forces.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
Promoting "solidarity" and "collective action", even while recognizing differences in experience and perspective.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
Critically examining (Critical Theory) popular culture and its influence on our lives.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
Maintaining a "language of possibility" — a belief that things can change, even in a fragmented world.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
This is a call for educators to become "transformative intellectuals" who guide students to be critical marxists and activists in a complex world.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
By combining critical pedagogy with postmodernism, McLaren joined other marxists who wanted to use the destructive power of Postmodernism to eliminate all narratives but theirs.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
Now, it's my larger thesis that you don't need Postmodernism at all because Paulo Freire's theory+practice can already be considered Postmodern, but McLaren likely wouldn't argue that.
The point is that Marxists started admitting to combining Marxism with Postmodernism long ago.
— Logan Lancing (@LoganLancing) October 19, 2024
There’s a lot of that going about these days, sadly enough.
