PART 1 Module 7 (July14-20) -Post-modern Feminism & the Post-modern Condition: Foundations for Third-Wave Theory

Context & Speaker’s Situation

  • Opening apology for ambient construction noise

    • Speaker recording under constrained pandemic conditions; parallels students’ limited study environments

    • Illustrates broader theme of adapting to difficult circumstances

Post-modern Feminism: Initial Orientation

  • Defined as a late current of feminist thought

    • Chronology: emerges in the late\ 1980s – early\ 1990s in North America & Europe

    • Coincides with third-wave feminist activism; post-second-wave in sequence

  • Functions simultaneously as

    • Extension and critique of post-modern theory

    • Analogous pattern to liberal & socialist feminisms drawing from liberalism & Marxism, respectively

  • Provides the conceptual scaffolding third-wave activists will later employ

Why Post-modern Theory Feels “Difficult”

  • Dominant disciplinary homes: art, architecture, literature, philosophy → highly academic idiom

  • Common descriptors encountered in readings

    • “Anti-essentialism” – rejection of fixed, universal essences

    • “Post-foundationalism” – suspicion toward single, stable foundations of truth/knowledge

  • Students often find terminology obtuse; speaker normalises the struggle

Mapping the Term “Post-modern” Across Disciplines

  • Meaning shifts yet interlinks

  • Two major scholarly uses highlighted before feminist application:

    1. Historical Period (“Post-modernity”)

    2. Aesthetic/Architectural Style (“Post-modernism” in the arts)

Post-modernity as a Historical Period

  • Core framing in sociology, geography, political science

  • Temporal demarcation

    • Modernity: 18^{th}\,century – 1960/1970 (approx.)

    • Post-modernity: begins 1970s/1980s onward

  • Modernity’s defining social-economic traits

    • Rise of industrial capitalism

    • Birth of the modern individual

    • Regimented factory life

    • Mass production & mass consumption (e.g. identical TVs, refrigerators, cars post-WWII)

  • Post-modernity’s defining shifts

    • Globalisation of the economy

    • Advent of digital technologies → “space–time compression”

Space–Time Compression (Key Post-modern Concept)

  • Space compression: technology lets a person occupy two locales simultaneously (e.g. Zoom meeting from home)

  • Time compression: communication becomes instantaneous (tweets, texts vs. snail-mail/landline)

Consequences Explored by Post-modern Theorists

  • Promised positives

    • Ability to curate a self (Instagram, Facebook profiles)

    • Expanded access to multiple, overlapping communities

  • Ambivalent / negative facets

    • Potential isolation when bodily presence disappears

    • Sense of fragmented subjectivity

    • Difficulty sustaining attention; constant multitasking

  • Overarching analytical foci

    • Speed as a social condition

    • Collapse / hybridisation of human and technology (the “techno-human”)

    • Persistent instability of identity & community structures

Take-away Concepts Feminists Will Mobilise

  • Speed & acceleration

  • Techno-human entanglement

  • Fragmented, shifting selfhood

Post-modernism in Art & Architecture

  • Comparison baseline: Modernist architecture (pre-1970s)

    • Motto: form follows function

    • Aesthetic: stripped to utility; concrete & glass; little ornament

    • Example: Robarts Library (U of T, St. George St.)

    • Exterior and interior: raw concrete + glass; no decorative façades

  • Post-modernist architecture characteristics

    • Play ↔ embraces humor & experimentation

    • Irony ↔ self-conscious commentary on architectural norms

    • Juxtaposition / pastiche ↔ placing incongruent styles side-by-side

    • Aims to provoke audience reflection rather than disappear into functionality

    • Toronto example: The Crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

    • Stark neo-Gothic original meets angular glass-steel extension

    • Public reaction: compels passers-by to stop, look, judge

  • Feminist theory will appropriate these aesthetic logics

    • Use of play, irony, and juxtaposition to rethink gender norms

Vocabulary & Intellectual Links to Feminism

  • Anti-essentialism: contests the idea of a single female essence → resonates with intersectional feminist critiques

  • Post-foundationalism: underlines suspicion toward “one true” patriarchy narrative → encourages multiple, situated knowledges

  • Fragmented subjectivity: parallels feminist explorations of fluid, performative gender identities

  • Techno-human hybridity: opens dialogue on cyber-feminism, embodiment, and new media activism

Ethical, Philosophical & Real-World Implications Raised

  • How does technologically mediated life alter ethical responsibility when face-to-face accountability shrinks?

  • Could curated online selves reinforce oppressive standards (beauty norms, consumerism) even while enabling empowerment?

  • Pandemic context underscores urgency: isolation vs. digital connectivity, mental health, labour precarity

****LIKEY ON TEST-KEY Concepts of Postmodernity (Relevant to Feminist Theory)

1. Speed

  • The acceleration of everyday life due to digital communication and media

  • Leads to constant multitasking, short attention spans, and fragmented focus

2. Collapse of Technology and Human

  • The merging of human identity with technology, especially digital devices

  • Example: Phones feel like extensions of our bodies, shaping how we relate to others and ourselves

  • Postmodern theory sees humans as "techno-humans", inseparable from their tools

3. Fragmented Sense of Self

  • The idea that we no longer have a coherent, stable identity

  • The self is fluid, shifting, and constructed through media, language, and technology

  • Feminism uses this to challenge essentialist ideas of a universal “woman” or fixed gender identity

4. Useful for Understanding Gender

  • These concepts help feminists explore how gender is performed, mediated, and unstable

  • Gender is not a fixed truth but constructed in and through culture, discourse, and digital life

5. Postmodern Art and Architecture Parallels

  • Embrace play, irony, and juxtaposition

  • Question form, function, and norms—just as postmodern feminism questions gender norms

  • Example: The ROM Crystal disrupts traditional architectural expectations, just as postmodern feminism disrupts traditional gender categoriest Steps (per Speaker)

  • Students will watch a supplementary video clip on post-modernism

  • Future segment will address post-modern theory specifically within philosophy & literature before returning to feminist uptake