Argumentos
Desde la década de los 70 la palabra posmodernidad ha articulado una tendencia, un estado de ánimo, una condición que se resiste al concepto o bien a una definición plena. Si bien el ambiente intelectual ha convenido en situar a J. F. Lyotard y su obra clave, La condición posmoderna (1979), como el origen que da inicio al debate sobre este fenómeno, lo cierto es que la palabra ya había sido empleada sistemáticamente por el teórico de la literatura Ihab Hassan en 1971. Desde esa fecha la noción ha estado diseminándose tanto en la Literatura como en la Arquitectura, en las Artes plásticas o en gran parte de las Ciencias Sociales. He ahí dos de los grandes problemas a los que uno se enfrenta cuando se aproxima a la superficie del fenómeno posmoderno: su (in)definición y su ambigua periodización. Junto a ello, la diversidad tanto temática como disciplinaria que orbita y ha orbitado en torno a aquello que, de un tiempo a esta parte, ya ha sido normalizado bajo el nombre de posmodernidad nos reclama un ejercicio de pensamiento que se oriente —al menos— a esbozar un balance tras décadas de reflexión. En este sentido, un volumen monográfico articulado desde la pregunta “¿qué queda de la posmodernidad?”, sin huir de la potencial polémica implícita en aquello que mienta la interrogación, propone las siguientes preguntas con el objetivo de estimular el debate:
- ¿Podemos esbozar una definición de la posmodernidad o la palabra sigue huyendo de los márgenes del concepto? No es extraño que en sus Apostillas a “El nombre de la rosa”, U. Eco (1984) apuntara que “posmoderno” es un término que sirve para cualquier cosa; y es que –a nuestro juicio- esto radica en gran medida en las dificultades de tematización con las que el fenómeno tiende a operar.
- ¿Cuáles son los signos que nos permiten hablar de lo posmoderno en aquellos ámbitos en los que ha tenido incidencia, tales como la Filosofía, la Literatura, el Arte o las Ciencias Sociales? Cada ámbito reclama para sí una translación específica de los signos de la época en su particular actividad. Pero, más allá de ello, ¿qué es lo que nos permite precisamente hablar de “signos de la época” en tales ámbitos? ¿Qué los hace específicamente posmodernos?
- ¿Seguimos realmente dentro de los márgenes de aquello llamado posmodernidad? Más aún: ¿existió alguna vez la posmodernidad? Si bien son conocidas las críticas de J. Habermas (1985) al ethos posmoderno —en lo cual hay un reconocimiento implícito de su existencia—, también contamos con el pensamiento de aquellos que definen nuestro tiempo actual como «hipermodernidad», ya sea porque creen que nunca salimos de la modernidad y más bien operamos en un cierto pliegue extremo de ella (G. Marramao: 1983; 2009); o bien porque hemos trascendido los signos sociológicos que nos permitían hablar de post-modernidad, dando paso a una sociedad hiper-moderna (G. Lipovetsky: 2004).
- ¿Dónde podemos observar la influencia actual del fenómeno posmoderno? ¿No se encuentran los estudios de género, los estudios poscoloniales o los estudios culturales, además de otros nuevos horizontes del saber, entre los deudores directos de aquellos factores tematizados por la posmodernidad? En otras palabras: ¿cuál es el balance actual que podemos hacer tras décadas de reflexión desde el núcleo de irradiación que ha supuesto el fenómeno posmoderno?
Con ánimo de fomentar la conversación en torno a un fenómeno que nos implica a todos, y sin cuyo debate no podemos dilucidar alternativas a nuestro presente, invitamos a todo aquel que se sienta apelado por este tema, a aproximarse a él desde aquellos lugares que iluminen el horizonte que hemos sugerido. Los autores susceptibles de ser estudiados exceden a los que aquí sólo han sido rápidamente mencionados; y las potenciales preguntas se multiplican con cada intervención en el diálogo. Por ello, este número está abierto a todos aquellos enfoques que nos permitan ahondar en un fenómeno, como es la posmodernidad, que no ha dejado a nadie indiferente y que reclama un balance retrospectivo a tenor de sus múltiples vías abiertas.
Plazo de entrega de originales: 20 de abril de 2018.
Argument
Since the 70s, the word postmodernity has articulated a tendency, a state of mind, and a condition that resists conceptualization or complete definition. Although the intellectual community has agreed to situate J. F. Lyotard and his key work, The Postmodern condition (1979), as the origin of the debate on this phenomenon, the truth is that the literary theorist Ihab Hassan had already used the word systematically in 1971. Since that date, the notion has spread across the fields of Literature, Architecture, Visual Arts, and the Social Sciences. These are two of the problems that one faces when approaching the surface of the postmodern phenomenon: its lack of definition and its ambiguous periodization. Along with these concerns, the thematic and disciplinary diversity of that which has been normalized under the name of postmodernity calls for a reassessment and a reconceptualization capable of assimilating decades of thinking under this subject. In this sense, a monographic issue dedicated to the question “what remains of postmodernity?” – without ignoring the potential controversy implicit therein – proposes the following questions in order to stimulate the debate:
Can we outline a definition of postmodernity or does the word keep fleeing the margins of the concept? It is not strange that in his Postscript to “the Name of the Rose”, U. Eco (1984) pointed out that “postmodern” is a word that is used for anything; and that is –in our opinion- due to the difficulties of thematization with which this phenomenon tends to operate.
What are the signs that allow us to talk about the postmodern in those areas in which it has had an impact, such as Philosophy, Literature, Art or the Social Sciences? Each area claims for itself a specific translation of the Zeitgeist in its particular framework. But, beyond that, what exactly allows us to speak about the Zeitgeist in such areas? What makes them specifically postmodern?
Are we really still within the margins of what is called postmodernity? Moreover: did “postmodernity” ever actually exist? Although the critiques of J. Habermas (1985) respecting the postmodern ethos are well known –in which there is an implicit recognition of its existence- we must also address the thought of those who define our current time as “hypermodernity”, either because they believe that we have never left modernity and rather operate in a certain extreme fold of it (G. Marramao: 1983; 2009); or because we have transcended the sociological signs that allowed us to speak about post-modernity, giving way to a hyper-modern society (G. Lipovetsky: 2004).
Where can we observe the current influence of the postmodern phenomenon? Are not gender studies, postcolonial studies or cultural studies, as well as other new fields of knowledge, among those fields indebted to those factors thematized by postmodernity? In other words: what is the current condition that we can recognize after decades of thinking through the framework of postmodernity?
In order to encourage conversation about a phenomenon that involves us all, and without whose debate we cannot elucidate alternatives to our present, we invite anyone who feels called to this issue to contribute from those different approaches that the subject allows. The authors of possible interest to this study certainly exceed those who have been briefly mentioned here; and the potential questions increase with each intervention in the dialogue. Therefore, this issue is open to all those approaches that allow us to delve into a phenomenon that has left no one indifferent and which demands a retrospective view in accordance with the multiple aspects that this subject has opened for our time.
As specified in the Editorial Policy tab on the web page, all of the submissions undergo a double-blind peer review process by external readers. The articles must be submitted to our email: revista.forma@upf.edu along with a declaration of authorship that can be downloaded from our webpage. The file with the article should not contain the author’s name or affiliation, although this information should be provided in the declaration of authorship. For more information, please read our Author Guidelines.
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Deadline: April 20th 2018
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Coordination and editorial direction
- Yaosca X. Bautista Gomez Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain) Comparative Literature, Gender Studies
- Teresa Gras Guisado Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain) Comparative Literature, Body Culture Studies, Philosphy
- Sergi Sancho Fibla TELEMME (Labexmed) CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université (France) Women History, Mediterranean Medieval Spirituality, Medieval Literature
Scientific committee
- Browne Sartori, Rodrigo F. (Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile) Communication Theory, Media theory, Culture and Communication, Intercultural Communication
- Cussen Abud, Felipe (Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile) Comparative Literature, Experimental Literature, Mysticism
- Fernández de Rota Irimia, Antón (Centro de estudios superiores, Universidade da Coruña, Spain) Political Anthropology, Sexuality, Governmentality
- Łukaszyk, Ewa (University of Warsaw, Poland) Wold Literature, Portuguese and Lusophone Literature, Romance Literature, Comparative Literature, Transcultural Humanities
- Mariscalco, Danilo (Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy) Cultural Studies, Visual Culture, Political Theory
- Mazzone, Massimo (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Italy) Sculpture, Visual Arts
- Moscoso, Javier (Instituto de Historia, Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain) Cultural History, Philosophy of Experience
- Rosàs i Tosas, Mar (Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain) Jacques Derida, Contemporary Messianism, Political Philosophy, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Theories of Language, Ethics of Hospitality, Applied Ethics, Anthropology of Health
- Salmerón Infante, Miguel (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) Aesthetics, Aesthetics of Music, Audiovisual and Media Semiotics, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Richard Wagner
- Siva Echeto, Víctor (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain)Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Vistual Studies
- Wilhite, Valerie M. (University of the Virgin Islands, U.S. of Virgin Islands) Troubadour Studies, Mediterranean Studies, Medieval Romance-language Literature
