Books published by University of Minnesota Press

Perceptual Acquaintance was first published in 1984. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. Philosophers, wrote Thomas Reid in 1785, "all suppose that we perceive not external objects immediately, and that the immediate objects of perception are only certain shadows of the external objects." To Reid, a founding father of the common-sense school of philosophy, John Locke''s "way of ideas" threatened to supplant, in human knowledge, the world of physical objects and events—and to point down the dreaded path to scepticism. John Yolton finds Reid at least partly responsible for this standard (and by now stereotypic) account of Locke and his eighteenth-century British successors on the subject of perception. By carefully examining the writings of Descartes and the Cartesians, and Locke and his successors, Yolton is able to suggest an alternative to this interpretation of their views. He goes back to a wide range of original texts—those of the period''s major philosophers, to Descartes'' scholastic precursors, to obscure pamphleteers, and to writers on religion, natural philosophy, medicine, and optics—all in an effort to help us understand the issues without the interference of modern labels and categories. The subtle changes over time reveal an important transformation in the understanding of perception, yet one that is prefigured in earlier work, contrary to Reid''s view of the past. Included in Yolton''s reevaluation is a full account of the role of Berkeley and Hume in the study of perceptual acquaintance, and of the connection between their work.

The closing months of 1989 witnessed unprecedented change in the world political and social order. Against this backdrop, the author charts the unique opportunities and potential pitfalls that accompany the increased economic and political integration of Europe.

Who has the right to speak? How is this right acquired? What happens when this right is denied or inhibited? These are the questions examined by Michel de Certeau in this foundational exploration of political expression and participation.

What is the relationship between place and behaviour? In this volume, the author examines this question via "transgressive acts" that are judged as inappropriate not only because they are committed by marginalized groups but also because of where they occur.

Offers critical interpretations of science fiction as represented in film, television and other non-literary media. Ranging from historical analysis to psychoanalytic critiques, and from avant-garde films to television sitcoms, the book addresses science fiction in terms of "sexual difference".

A paradigmatic contribution to literary theory and interpretation from Latin American writing.

The first comprehensive study of this innovative and interactive multimedia artist The artistic practice of Piotr Szyhalski encompasses an impressive array of media and genres: from poster design to experimental music, from interactive web-based art to large-scale conceptual installations, from public performance to innovative pedagogy. His commitment to viewer engagement with art and meaning making characterizes all of his work, which constantly strives to advance the multiplicities and complexities of our understandings. “We Are Working All the Time!” he proclaims, both in his graphic design and in his thematic approach to interactive art.Born and trained in Poland, Szyhalski is a vital presence in the Twin Cities. A professor of design and new media art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a codirector of Art(ists) On the Verge, his art and performance push boundaries, embrace contradictions, and welcome participation. This midcareer survey of the work of this iconoclastic visual artist accompanies an exhibition of his art at the Weisman Art Museum in 2020.Contributors: Karine Léonard Brouillet, Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Emily Ruth Capper, U of Minnesota; Steve Dietz, Northern Lights.mn; Theresa Downing, U of Minnesota; Michael Gallope, U of Minnesota.

These fourteen essays tackle a wider range of cultural and political issues than are usually addressed in debates about postmodernism, as well as some long-familiar political and philosophical matters.

Drawing up alternate ways to “make a living” beyond capitalism To live in this world is to be conditioned by capital. Once paired with Western democracy, unfettered capitalism has led to a shrinking economic system that squeezes out billions of people—creating a planet of surplus populations. Wageless Life is a manifesto for building a future beyond the toxic failures of late-stage capitalism. Daring to imagine new social relations, new modes of economic existence, and new collective worlds, the authors provide skills and tools for perceiving—and living in— a post-capitalist future. Forerunners: Ideas FirstShort books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead

Timon Beyes¿is professor in sociology of organization and culture at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.¿Lisa Conrad¿is lecturer at the Institute for Sociology and Cultural Organisation, Leuphana University of Lüneburg.Reinhold Martin is professor of architecture at Columbia University.Geert Lovink is founder of the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.¿Ned Rossiter¿is professor of communication at Western Sydney University.

Shannon¿Gibney¿is a writer, educator, activist, and the author of See No Color, a young adult novel that won the Minnesota Book Award in Young People’s Literature. She is faculty in English at Minneapolis College, where she teaches writing. She has been a Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow. Her critically acclaimed novel Dream Country follows more than five generations of an African-descended family as they crisscross the Atlantic, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Kao Kalia Yang is author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, winner of two Minnesota Book Awards and a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction. Her second book, The Song Poet, won a Minnesota Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA Award in Nonfiction, and the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize. ¿

Werner Herzog has produced, written, and directed more than seventy films, including Nosferatu the Vampyre; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Fitzcarraldo; and Grizzly Man. He grew up in a remote mountain village in Bavaria and now lives in Los Angeles, California. His books Of Walking in Ice and Scenarios I and II are also published by Minnesota. ¿ Krishna Winston is Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature at Wesleyan University. ¿

A comprehensive update of the classic from the state’s foremost expert In the nearly half-century since the first publication of the landmark Birds in Minnesota, the state and its bird populations have undergone dramatic changes. This newly revised, expanded edition reflects those changes as well as the most recent advances in birding, making it the indispensable resource for birdwatchers in Minnesota, both passionate amateur and professional. Featuring full-color photographs and more than one thousand distribution maps, the updated Birds in Minnesota describes where and during which season the 443 species of birds in the state can be found. Introductory comments by Carrol L. Henderson of the Minnesota DNR and Kim R. Eckert, author of A Birder’s Guide to Minnesota, along with the expert contributions of David Cahlander of the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, further enhance this new edition for today’s Minnesota birders. This edition of Birds in Minnesota is the essential birding reference—at once authoritative and user-friendly, comprehensive and concise, eminently practical and a delight to peruse.

Leading scholars historicize and theorize technology’s role in architectural design Although the question of technics pervades the contemporary discipline of architecture, there are few critical analyses on the topic. Design Technics fills this gap, arguing that the technical dimension of design has often been flattened into the broader celebratory rhetoric of innovation. Bringing together leading scholars in architectural and design history, the volume’s contributors situate these tools on a broader epistemological and chronological canvas. The essays here construct histories—some panoramic and others unfolding around a specific episode—of seven techniques regularly used by the designer in the architectural studio today: rendering, modeling, scanning, equipping, specifying, positioning, and repeating.Starting with observations about the epistemological changes that have unfolded in the discipline in recent decades but seeking to offer a more expansive meaning for technics, the volume casts new light on concepts such as form, experience, and image that have played central roles in historical architectural discourses. Among the questions addressed: How was the concept of form immanent in practices of scanning since the late nineteenth century? What was the historical relationship between rendering and experience in Enlightenment discourses? How did practices of specifying reconfigure the distinction between intellectual and manual labor? What kind of rationality is inherent in the designer’s constant clicking of the mouse in front of her screen? In addressing these and other questions, this engaging and timely collection thereby proposes technics as a site for historical and philosophical reflection not only for those engaged in architectural design but also for any scholar working in the humanities today.Contributors: Lucia Allais, Edward Eigen, Orit Halpern, John Harwood, Matthew C. Hunter, and Michael Osman.