The Risky Journal

A car chased by Wedhus Gembel (the Heat Cloud) Yesterday was a shocking day for Indonesia . Within hours, two monstrous natural disasters happened. One was Tsunami in Mentawai Island , West Sumatra Province . The other was the explosion of Mount Merapi . More than 300 were declared dead in the Mentawai , while 30 in the later. My deepest condolences for all of the victims. Mount Merapi , is one of the most active volcano in Indonesia and some say it is the most active volcano on earth. Its volcanic activity can be categorized into two. Smaller volcanic activity happens each 2 - 4 year period. Bigger volcanic activity happens each 10 – 15 year period. And for 18 years, each time there is a volcanic activity, there is a figure that cannot be separated from it. His name is Mbah Marijan .

This second post about postmodernism will consist of two greatest postmodernist thinkers and their contribution to postmodernism. 1. Jean François Lyotard. Lyotard is a French philosopher. He opened the discussion for postmodernism in social theory with his groundbreaking publication ‘ La Condition Postmoderne’ (The Condition Postmodern). His works stress the decline of meta-narratives or grand-narratives, as some scholars refer it. Meta-Narratives as defined in the previous post are sets of ideas governing what is right and wrong. For example, religion defines how to live a good life. By doing so, people who do not appeal to the characteristics of good man as defined by religion will be considered unfaithful, as bad people. Lyotard argues that this way of legitimating declines in a postmodern society. What is considered good can no longer be clearly separated from what is considered bad. Lyotard The decline of meta-narratives was triggered by communication development. Traditio...

Postmodern Architecture? In finishing my thesis, I was actually forced to learn about a thing that I had no previous experience in it. This irritating subject –but finally, I love to study it– is called Postmodernism . What is this? It sounds so cool (yeah indeed). To define this term, I tried to read books, articles from academic journals as well as online articles. However, to my surprise, I really got no satisfying answer of what postmodernism is. It is not a simple matter to define this. It is not like defining two pluses two equals four. It is not like defining US’s current president is Barrack Obama. All literatures that I read, when it comes to definition, give ambivalent and unsatisfying definition as examples I gave to you. But at least, I want to share to you about this term with my own perspective, in a simple way. Postmodernism surely stems from the word ‘post’ and ‘modernism’. Thus it means, ‘after modernism’ or ‘after modern’. What is then modern? Modern is not old-f...