ABSTRACT
Postmodernism labeled and defined itself as after, and at least to some degree against, modernism, thus sparking the “afterology” and “pomo” terms. To understand postmodernism, one first needs to map the main claims of modernism, no easy task given the commodious, often contradictory, and bumpy terrain that this term has bounded and defined since the nineteenth century. One might suppose that postmodernism, coming as it does after modernism, might be easier to define insofar as it is the younger, derived term. This, however, is not the case. Postmodernism is not so much child of modernism as it is an alter, a shadow. Given modernist precepts, it is no surprise that almost as soon as people conceived the modern they also envisioned the postmodern. Early uses of “modernism” to label aesthetic styles, theological interpretation, and social formations date to the 1880s. In anthropological circles, postmodernism was notably influential in the United States, especially among scholars associated with the Rice (University) Circle.
