The two legitimating grand narratives are national and European myths

Evidence

The two great legitimizing “myths” or narrative archetypes (recits) are also something of a complication, in that they reproduce the denotative argument of the book in a connotative or autoreferent spiral. For the two great myths disengaged by Lyotard and identified as the alternate justifications for institutional scientific research up to our own period—that of the liberation of humanity and that of the speculative unity of all knowledge (qua philosophical system) — are also national myths and reproduce the very polemic in which Lyotard’s own book wishes to intervene. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 34

Categorization

• XREF: This is the precise content of the ‘incredulity toward metanarratives’ that Jameson interrogates — the two master-narratives Lyotard dismantles. — connects to: National mythologies depend on suppressing contrary histories — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 284; Political myths are shared narratives that shape how groups represent experience.; Foundational myths reinterpret the past to justify future political claims. (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Names the two specific metanarratives — emancipation of humanity (French) and speculative unity of knowledge (German/Hegelian) — that define the concept.

Broader Connections

• Political myths are shared narratives that shape how groups represent experience. #expands (0.85)
• Foundational myths reinterpret the past to justify future political claims. #expands (0.85)
• National mythologies depend on suppressing contrary histories #expands (0.80) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 284
• European national identities were built on Germanic origin myths derived from Tacitus #exemplifies (0.80)
• National identity is constructed through stories, memories, and images #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 123