Counternarratives

To understand contemporary times, we must appreciate the extent to which our lives are affected by the cultural and political struggle between &quote;official&quote; narratives and the counternarratives which emerge as oppositional responses. Counternarratives develops a concept of &quote;postmodern counternarratives&quote; as a frame for exploring the politics of media, technology and education within everyday struggles for human identities and loyalties. The authors identify two forms of counternarratives. One functions as a critique of the modernist propensity for grand narratives. The second concept, which is the focus of the book, builds on the first; the idea of &quote;little stories&quote; addressing cultural and political opposition to the &quote;official&quote; narratives used to manipulate public consciousness. Each marks an important point of contestation within contemporary education and culture: curriculum, pedagogy, literacy, media representations and applications of new technologies.