Editing Postmodernism (section)

=== Anthropology ===
{{Main article|Postmodernist anthropology}}
Postmodern theory in [[anthropology]] originated in the 1960s, alongside the literary postmodern movement.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} [[Reflexivity (social theory)|Reflexivity]] is central to postmodern anthropology, a continuous practice of critical self-awareness that attempts to address the subjectivity inherent in interpretation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnard |first=Alan |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-and-theory-in-anthropology/F3F074621C25D62FDC97876A0C03D615 |title=History and Theory in Anthropology |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-83795-8 |edition=2 |location=Cambridge |pages=174–189 |chapter=Postmodernism and Its Aftermath |doi=10.1017/9781108936620}}</ref> Other key practices are an emphasis on including the perspectives of the people being studied;<ref name=":5">Barrett, S. (1996). Anthropology: a Students Guide to Theory and Method. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (pp. 150-163)</ref> [[cultural relativism]], which considers values and beliefs within their cultural context;<ref name="Garder1996">{{cite book |last=Katy Garder and David Lewis |title=Anthropology, Development and the Post-Modernist Challenge |publisher=Pluto Press |year=1996 |isbn=0745307469 |location=London, UK |pages=22–23}}</ref> skepticism towards the notion that science can produce objective and universally valid knowledge;<ref name="Spiro1996">{{cite journal |last=Spiro |first=Melford E. |date=October 1996 |title=Postmodernist Anthropology, Subjectivity, and Science: A Modernist Critique |url=http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/current/readings/spiro-anti-pomo.pdf |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=759–780 |doi=10.1017/s0010417500020521 |s2cid=18702184 |accessdate=29 March 2013}}</ref> and rejection of grand narratives or theories that attempt to explain other cultures.<ref name=":5" />

Anthropologists working in a postmodern vein seek to dissect, interpret, and write cultural critiques, analyzing of cultural texts and practices, rather than relying on empirical observation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} The issue of subjectivity is a concern: as [[Ethnography|ethnographies]] are influenced by the perspective of the author, the question arises in the study of individual cultures as to whether the author's opinions should be considered scientific.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hegelund |first=Allan |date=May 2005 |title=Objectivity and Subjectivity in the Ethnographic Method |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732304273933 |journal=Qualitative Health Research |language=en |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=647–668 |doi=10.1177/1049732304273933 |pmid=15802541 |issn=1049-7323 }}</ref> [[Clifford Geertz]], considered a founding member of postmodernist anthropology,<ref>Erickson, P. (2017). A History of Anthropological Theory. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (pp.130)</ref> holds that, "anthropological writings are themselves interpretations, and second and third order ones to boot. (By definition, only a 'native' makes first order ones: it's ''his'' culture.)"<ref>Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretations of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, Inc. (pp.15)</ref> In the 21st century, some anthropologists use a form of [[standpoint theory]], which prioritizes the perspectives of the subject over the perspective of the observer in cultural interpretation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}