Postmodernism - Deconstruction

Deconstruction

One of the most popular postmodernist tendencies within aesthetics is deconstruction. "Deconstruction" is a Derridean approach to textual analysis (typical literary criticism, but variously applied). Deconstructions work entirely within the studied text to expose and undermine its frame of references, assumptions, and ideological foundations. Although Deconstructions can be developed using different methods and techniques, the process typically involves demonstrating the multiple interpretations of a text and their resulting internal conflicts, and subversive binary oppositions (e.g. masculine/feminine, old/new). Jacques Derrida's theories on "Deconstruction" influenced the creation of Deconstructivism, a postmodern architectural movement characterized by fragmentation, distortion and dislocation of elements such as structure and envelope. The Indian theorist Gayatri Spivak, described Deconstruction as an approach fundamental to many different fields of postmodernist thought, including postcolonialism.