CRITICAL THEORY IN THE POSTMODERN AGE: The Promise of Epistemology

Abstract

This paper examines the epistemological possibilities suggested by postmodernism. The emergence of postmodern discourse in Anthropology is examined in terms of a contest for theoretical legitimacy. Arguing that the current anthropological fad is curiously apolitical, the author claims that philosophical questions have moral and political value. Specifically, it is suggested that a deconstruction of the binarisms that have characterized ethnographic realism can provide a means to liberate ourselves from the oppressive concepts of a previous era.