Lyotard’s Postmodernism And Othering

Abstract

Lyotard’s postmodernism points towards a new politics of mini-narratives, the mini-narratives of Others, instead of a single metanarrative, thereby positively acknowledging individual or group differences while doing justice to them. Lyotard calls for fracturing history into a plurality of infinite narratives and genres so that different voices and possibilities to address them could emerge. The events of Othering occurring in history should be read as signs, although with no finality. The reading should always be open and plural, accepting the event's uniqueness. If this is not the case, reading and understanding those events in terms of singular metanarratives would invariably silence the voice of the Others and would never be heard and addressed. As opposed to restricting redress to mere norms or empirical and statistical descriptions, which might smother the Other’s voice, Lyotard’s notion is ethical as it endeavours to open up genres to find new ways to phrase and express the Other’s voice.