The War on English: An Answer to the Question, What is Postmodernism?

Abstract

Attacks on English teaching and English teachers are widespread in the Australian public sphere today, centred usually on disparaging claims about something called “postmodernism.” In political terms, these attacks are mounted just as often from the left as from the right; hence they would seem to be based on sound universal principles, having nothing to do with politics. In this way “postmodernism” is made to seem “anti-commonsensical” or “ideological,” as we argue here by way of a discussion of Kevin Donnelly’s Dumbing Down. For us, though, “postmodernism” represents a continuation (by other means) of the Enlightenment’s commitment to critical thought on behalf of an idea of democracy, such that the war on “postmodern” English is consistent with conservative forms of opposition to that idea.