Counternarratives

To understand contemporary times, we must appreciate the extent to which our lives are affected by the cultural and political struggle between "official" narratives and the counternarratives which emerge as oppositional responses. Counternarratives develops a concept of "postmodern counternarratives" 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 "little stories" addressing cultural and political opposition to the "official" 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.

books include Fugitive Cultures (Routledge, 1996), Between Borders (with Peter McLaren, Routledge, 1993) and Disturbing Pleasures (Routledge, 1994). Colin Lankshear is Associate Professor and Research Coordinator in the School of Language and Literacy Education at Queensland University of Technology. His books include Literacy, Schooling and Revolution. Peter McLaren is Professor in the Department of Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Schooling as a Ritual Performance (Routledge, 1993) and Critical Pedagogy and Predatory Culture (Routledge, 1994). Michael Peters is Senior Lecturer in Education at Auckland University and the editor of Education and the Postmodern Condition.