Postmodernism and My Research

My research interest centers on the study of Muslim cultural image as represented in Philippine Theater. One of the methods of research I would like to employ is looking into three or five plays that have been staged in the Philippines with different means of dealing with the Muslim culture. Among them, so far, is PETA’s Ang Paglalakbay ni Radiya Mangandiri, Tanghalang Pilipino’s Madonna Brava, Our Lady if Arlegui by Chris Martinez, and Rizal at Blumentritt by Job Pagsibigan. I have yet to identify other methods to be employed in accomplishing this research. Some of the methods I am considering to use are mentioned below as I reflect upon this week’s readings, namely: Fredric Jameson’s Postmodernism, Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism and Jean-Francois Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition.

Taking into consideration Frederic Jameson’s Postmodernism, he discussed that postmodernism is cultural dominant manifestation of the late capitalism characterized by the fragmentation of the subject as apparent in the aesthetic productions reflecting the socio-economic structure of the society in that period i.e. commodification. As seen in the works of Warhol, there is a loss of historicalness in subject matter that made aesthetic productions a ‘pastiche’ or a parody of the past. This has brought a crisis in historicity and a question in the ‘temporal organization’ of postmodern works. He writes:

“The subject has lost its capacity actively to extend its pro-tensions and re-tensions across the temporal manifold, and to organize its past and future into coherent experience, it becomes difficult enough to see how the cultural productions of such a subject could result in anything but ‘heaps of fragments’ and in a practice of the randomly heterogeneous and fragmentary and the aleatory.”

In terms of research, this has given me the stimulus to continue my study on the history of the Muslim-Christian conflict in the Philippines as background. This is in order to gain a more historical perspective in viewing Muslim cultural representation in Philippine Theater. This will give my research a more coherent organization in time. Furthermore, Jameson discussed that in late capitalism is characterized there is a blurring of borders or spatial differentiation. In this sense, I am more certain in using a cross-disciplinary approach in my research through a review of principles and literature from other fields aside from theater. This method will help situate my understanding of the plays and not just consider them a sporadic ‘fragments’ in time.

Jean-Francois Lyotard in his The Postmodern Condition advocated a free access to information in order to produce new knowledge or information through an active and imaginative quest for anomalies in current theories. With the advent of the internet and cyberspace, this might as well be the answer to his call. This desire to seek new answers to old questions strengthens my belief that cross-disciplinary is not only in the rise but it is necessary in the field of study.