Metamodernism and the future of theory: an interview with Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm

Abstract

This interview with Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm was conducted in Vilnius in June 2025 during the 10th Biennial Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE10). He is a Professor of Religion and the Chair of Science & Technology Studies at Williams College, and the author of “The Invention of Religion in Japan” (2012), “The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences” (2017), “Metamodernism: The Future of Theory” (2021), and “The Genealogy of Genealogy: Nietzsche, Foucault, and the Coils of Critical History” (forthcoming 2026), all published by the University of Chicago Press. This conversation centers on the articulation of metamodernism as a response to the limits of postmodernism and the wider sense of theoretical fatigue in the human and social sciences. Topics addressed include conceptual and contextual grounding of metamodernism, its critical engagement with key postmodern problems, and reflections on its future development. What follows is an edited transcript, revised for clarity and readability while preserving the voice and structure of the original exchange.