We Have Never Been Modern Literary Elements

Non-fiction.

Modern era.

Bruno Latour narrates in first-person voice by interchanging the voices "I" and "we."

Critical, argumentative

Anti-modernists are the protagonists, whereas modernists are the antagonists.

Demonstrating the impracticable nature of modernism.

Latour excludes a climax in his arguments concerning the impossibility of modernism.

Latour foreshadows that the world is headed to a non-modern epoch.

Latour's argument: "There are no Cultures," is an understatement because anthropology has verified the existence of cultures even after colonialism. "Othering" does not necessarily mean that cultures are dead.

Lutour alludes to anthropology, science, history, religion, epistemology, Marxism, and relativism.

Latour uses imageries of the premodern and contemporary worlds to strengthen his argument concerning the flaws of modernism.

Latour explores the paradox of socialism: "While seeking to abolishing man's exploiting of man, socialism had magnified that exploitation immeasurably." The paradox underscores that socialism is not an unqualified remedy to exploitation.

Similarly, capitalism is paradoxical: “By seeking to reorient man’s exploitation of man toward an exploitation of nature by man, capitalism magnified both beyond measure.” Capitalism, just like socialism, is an invention that threatens equality among humanity.

N/A

'A priori' refers to from the preceding or prior.

'Hors champ' denotes off the screen.

Latour personifies nonhumans that include "inert bodies, incapable of will and bias but capable of showing, signing, writing, and scribbling on laboratory instruments before trustworthy witnesses.” Despite being devoid of souls, nonhumans perform their roles better than humans.