Are we asking the right question? The problem with ‘afters’

‘The postmodern critique of grand narratives renders “blueprints” for change problematic. If universalist explanations are thrown into doubt then so too are universalist prescriptions for action’ (Usher & Edwards, 1994, p. 207). Yet, here we are, asking what comes after postmodernism? For some, it would seem the discourse of postmodernism has become precisely the type of totalised object those influenced by traditions of writing that preceded their identification as postmodern argued against. I use the notion of totalisation advisedly, as to position postmodernism as another grand narrative does little justice to Lyotard (1984).