Postmodernists of the south: an essay in philosophical journalism

Abstract

What is at stake in producing philosophical thinking in the southern hemisphere—specifically in South Africa—which would critically address the whirl of representations and events of contemporary life? Since some of these events appear to totter on the brink of the term ‘postmodern’, an exploration of the relevance of that concept—better, that family of related concepts—to the South African scene must be part of the task. Postmodernism must be contextualised to its northern clime as well as subjected to argumentative scrutiny in order for any appropriation of it to happen. Since appropriation often involves conceptual recasting, at stake in bringing of postmodern theory to the south is the question of expanding that family of concepts from their first world cocoon to a variety of global sites elsewhere, and doing so in a way that tracks global similarities, differences and enmeshments. This essay seeks to explore the issues surrounding the bringing of postmodern theory to the south. South African contemporary life, situated between the claims of development, nation-building, and the global commerce of information circuits, is an ideal site to raise this question. This essay requires a kind of writing which segues between philosophical argument and journalistic description, since the thinking of the north must be socially contextualised as well as philosophically digested in order for the question of its (philosophical) appropriation to be addressed. Thus the more luminous point of the paper is to preach a return to the philosophical essay as a form worthy of the new South Africa.