Postmodernism in history emerged as a critical reaction to modernity and its intellectual foundations. Rather than being simply anti-modern, postmodernism developed through sustained engagement with modern ideas, questioning their assumptions and consequences. Since the 1970s, the ‘postmodern turn’ has gained prominence, particularly in the advanced Western world, influencing philosophy, social sciences, and historical writing.

Modernity, rooted in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, emphasised reason, science, universal laws, linear progress, and the autonomous individual. Historians and social scientists believed that history followed a rational, progressive path and that objective knowledge of the past was possible. However, while modernity generated scientific and material progress, it also produced immense suffering through industrial exploitation, colonialism, and imperial domination.

Postmodernism challenges these modernist certainties. Postmodern historians question the Enlightenment belief in universal truth, objective knowledge, and ‘grand narratives’ that claim to explain history as a whole. Thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and White argue that knowledge is shaped by language, power, and culture rather than neutral reason. From this perspective, history is not a transparent record of facts but a form of narrative constructed through discourse.

Postmodernism also rejects binary oppositions such as fact versus fiction or science versus imagination, emphasising plurality, difference, and local perspectives. In historical writing, this leads to skepticism towards single authoritative accounts and draws greater attention to marginal voices, fragmented identities, and multiple interpretations of the past.