Post‐modernism as the resurgence of humanism in technical communication studies

One meaning of postmodernism is the recognition and inclusion of the previously excluded and suppressed. Recent developments of a generally humanistic nature in technical communication—the rhetoric of science, social constructionism, and feminist and ethicist critiques of science—are instances of such recognition. These developments deflate some traditional assumptions about and privileges associated with scientific and technical knowledge and practice, while they elevate previously denied aspects. Thus, surprisingly, postmodernism reveals itself in technical communication as the resurgence of humanism.