Postmodern Moments in Curriculum Theory: The Logic and Paradox of Dissensus‪.‬

Introduction If we acknowledge something like a postmodern turn, as Jameson (1981) and Lyotard (1984) do, then we must foreground the constructedness of culture and its manifestations in curriculum studies. Since at least the early 1970s, the crisis of representation in both the "hard" and "soft" sciences has put scientific objectivity and authority in interpretive narrative under suspicion, and has undermined the value of consensus as the sole basis and justification for valid interpretation. The "next generation" of curriculum theory is presaged on struggle and juxtaposition between narrative interpretations and discursive worlds, so the practice of "curriculum theorizing" must continue to involve cultural description and reflection.