Title: POSTMODERN TRANSFORMATIONS
1POSTMODERN TRANSFORMATIONS
Kari Winer
2What is a Postmodern Perspective?
- There is no single reality Challenges
science - Challenges binary opposition
- Male / female
- Black / white
- Gay / straight
- Order / disorder
- Nature / culture
- Rational / irrational
3Why is postmodernismhappening?
- A reaction against enlightenment/modernism
and the search for absolute truth. Whose
absolute truth? Hitler and Stalin ultimate
seekers of the absolute truth. Dominance of
the USA and research in developmental psychology
is rejected. Modernism vehicle for oppression
and domination.
4MODERNITY V POSTMODERNITY
- Modernity power
- Liberty, equality, brotherhood (for white
males) - Universalism, uniformity
- Progress through science
- Postmodern ethicsLiberty, diversity,
tolerance (for all)No absolute
truth/knowledgeSocial and individual diversity,
complexity,uncertainty, creativitySocially
constructed world
5Rejection?
- We do not need to reject modernity and the
- enlightenment.
- We must not ignore the possibilities of
thesemovements. - There are shared concerns.
6Where does Postmodern thinkingcome from?
- Michael Foucault a French philosopher.
- Interested in the ethics of discipline andpower.
- Disciplinary power seen to shape us as we
- conform and take up binary positions aseither
powerful or passive. - Believes society behaves without thinking
critically about what they are being asked
todo.
7Knowledge
- Provides techniques for normalising suchas
surveillance, measurement,categorization,
regulation and evaluation. - Through this knowledge we categoriseourselves
and take up discourses of truth. - These discourses regulate our experiencesof the
world, we see them as truth and theright
thing to do. - Concepts and classifications shape ourthinking.
8Power
- To become powerful individuals must learn
- how not to be governed so much.
- Individuals need to challenge dominant
- discourses.
- Foucault calls this care of self.
9Implications for Pedagogy
- Move from voice of pedagogue as authority.
- Move away from question-answer
wherepedagogue only listens for correct
answer.(See overhead). - This type of exchange shows how very poorand
helpless a child appears. - Child to be filled with knowledge but
notchallenged.
10 Pedagogy in PostmodernConditions
- The potential of a
- child is stunted when
- the end point of their
- learning is formulated
- in advance.
- (Rinaldi, 1993104)
11Implications for Childhood
- Postmodern thinking has led to a rejectionof the
dominant discourse on developmentalpsychology. - Instead of this Anglo-American deficitmodel of
childhood, children are seen aspowerful
co-constructors of culture andknowledge. - Classificatory practices are rejected
asdiscriminatory and the effect of
dominantdiscourses on power.
12Taking a Postmodern perspective means we no
longer fall back on universal knowledge
13 We no longer determine childrens development
in terms of predetermined categories
14- We try to see andunderstand what is goingon in
the pedagogicalwork and what the child is
capable of without anypredeterminedexpectations
and norms. - (photo from RapunzelsSupermarket, Kolbe 2001)
15- Knowledge isunderstood asreflecting
andcorresponding tothe world
16- Children formand shape theirownunderstandingof
the world,knowledge, aswell as identityand
lifestyle.
17- Knowledge,identity and cultureare constituted
andreconstituted inrelation to others they
are co-constructed.
18Reggio Emilia
19In Reggio schools children are seen as powerful,
competent co-constructors of knowledge
20Understanding how knowledge isconstructed
- What engages these children the most?
- What kinds of theories do these childrenhave?
- How can I challenge these theories?
- How is it possible to extend the
learningprocess? - How should work continue?
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35- The Postmodern child is a co-constructor
ofknowledge, identity and culture.