Here's why:
* Postmodernism challenges the idea of objective truth: It suggests that truth is subjective, constructed, and often based on power dynamics.
* Rejection of metanarratives: Postmodernism rejects grand, overarching narratives that claim to explain everything, like Marxism or Enlightenment ideals. Instead, it emphasizes the multiplicity of perspectives and the fragmentation of knowledge.
* Focus on individual experience and identity: Postmodernism often celebrates the individual and their subjective experience, leading to a focus on issues of identity, gender, and race.
Other phrases that could be used to describe postmodernism include:
* "Playing with language and meaning" - Postmodern works often use techniques like irony, satire, and pastiche to subvert established meanings and challenge traditional modes of expression.
* "Embracing ambiguity and uncertainty" - Postmodernism rejects the search for absolute certainty and instead embraces the complexities and ambiguities of the human condition.
* "Challenging power structures" - Postmodernism critiques dominant systems of power, including those based on race, class, gender, and colonialism.
However, "questioning grand narratives and universal truths" is the most fundamental and defining characteristic of postmodernism.