University of Minnesota Press

From his first days as a rookie firefighter and emergency medical technician to his command of a company as a twenty-year veteran, Jeremy Norton has made regular, direct encounters with the sick, the dying, and the dead. In his memoir, Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response, Norton documents the life of an emergency responder in Minneapolis, revealing the stark realities of humanity at its finest and its worst. Here, Norton is joined in conversation with colleagues: Captain Ricardo Anaya, Captain Shana York, and retired Captain Bridget Bender.Jeremy Norton has been a firefighter/EMT with the Minneapolis Fire Department since 2000. He was born and raised in Washington, DC, and was a high school teacher in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He taught creative writing at the Loft Literary Center before joining the MFD.Bridget Bender is a recently retired captain with the Minneapolis Fire Department.Ricardo Anaya is a captain with the Minneapolis Fire Department and has been a Minneapolis firefighter since 2015.Shana York is a longtime firefighter and captain with the Minneapolis Fire Department.Trauma Sponges is available from University of Minnesota Press."While many bear witness to injustice and decide that silence best serves their privilege, some use their privilege to dismantle the inequities that created the disparities in the first place. Jeremy Norton is the latter."—Dr. Michele Harper, author of The Beauty in Breaking"Trauma Sponges is a powerful book, by turns tender, brutal, and incisive, full of wisdom and wonder."—Sam Lipsyte, author of No One Left to Come Looking for You and The Ask"Norton is the Poet Laureate of Emergency Services, a writer whose talent and heart spark and crackle on every page, devastating and dazzling with equal measure. He sorts through the wreckage of the lives he's saved and those that were lost, presenting us with what remains: our raw humanity and, somehow, hope."—Nora McInerny, founder of the Terrible, Thanks for Asking podcast and best-selling author of Bad Vibes Only"With clarity and sensitivity, Jeremy Norton has written an eye-opening book that shows us what firefighting is often about: encountering medical emergencies more often than fires, helping strangers through the trauma of death and loss, and witnessing the ways that racism, poverty, and violence singe our society. Theirs is a particular courage that we must all celebrate."—Dr. Sunita Puri, author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour

Unfolding amid an atmosphere of profound anxiety and disillusionment, the new American war film demonstrates a breakdown of the prevailing cultural narratives that had come to characterize conflict in the previous century. In the wake of 9/11, both the nature of military conflict and the symbolic frameworks that surround it have been dramatically reshaped.  The New American War Film charts society’s shifting attitudes toward violent conflict and what is broadly considered to be its acceptable repercussions. Drawing attention to changes in gender dynamics and the focus on war’s lasting psychological effects within films such as The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Eye in the Sky, American Sniper, and others, author Robert Burgoyne analyzes how cinema both reflects and reveals the makeup of the national imaginary.Robert Burgoyne taught film studies for several decades at Wayne State University and at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He is author of seven books including The New American War Film and Film Nation: Hollywood Looks at U.S. History. Kim Nelson is the Director of the Humanities Research Group and an Associate Professor at the University of Windsor in Canada. Her films have been screened internationally at film festivals and by broadcasters in Canada and the US. She is co-editor of The Routledge Companion to History and the Moving Image and author of Making History Move: Five Principles of the Historical Film.FILM REFERENCES:The Hurt Locker (2008)Saving Private Ryan (1998)Spanish–American War films of Thomas Edison’s 1898-99 seriesEye in the Sky (2015)Restrepo (2010)American Sniper (2014)Zero Dark Thirty (2012)A Private War (2018)Platoon (1986)Full Metal Jacket (1987)Born on the Fourth of July (1989)Battleship Potemkin (1925)DOCUMENTARY REFERENCES:Restrepo (2010 film)Infidel (2010 photo series)Into the Korengal (2010 photo series)Sleeping Soldiers—single screen (2009 short video, Tim Hetherington)OTHER REFERENCES:Fredric JamesonHomer/The IliadThomas Elsaesser on “productive pathology”-Robert Burgoyne's The New American War Film and Film Nation are available from University of Minnesota Press.

In Gramsci at Sea, author Sharad Chari asks how the environmental crisis of the oceans is linked to legacies of capitalism and imperialism across and within the oceans. Chari reads Antonio Gramsci as a thinker of the oceanic crisis, drawing on the philosopher’s prison notes and questions concerning waves of imperial power in the inter-war oceans of his time. Here, Chari is joined in conversation with Charne Lavery, Melissa Marschke, and Philippe Le Billon.Sharad Chari is associate professor of geography and critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley. He is author of Gramsci at Sea and Fraternal Capital.Charne Lavery is senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She is author of Writing Ocean Worlds.Melissa Marschke is professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is author of Life, Fish and Mangroves.Philippe Le Billon is professor in the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He is author of Wars of Plunder.Persons and works referenced:-Fernando Coronil-The Many-Headed Hydra by Marcus Rediker and Peter Linebaugh-Meg Samuelson, “Thinking with Sharks,” Australian Humanities Review-Matthew Shutzer-Gavin Capps-Damien Hirst’s shark tanks-Moby Dick by Herman Melville (character of Pip)-Ellen Gallagher-Katherine McKittrick-Drexciya-John Akomfrah’s Vertigo Sea-Kamau Brathwaite’s “tidalectics”More about the book:Gramsci at Sea is available from University of Minnesota Press. An open-access edition is available to read for free online at manifold.umn.edu.

Edgar Landgraf, author of Nietzsche’s Posthumanism, joins Christian Emden and Stefan Herbrechter in a conversation about Nietzsche's reception of life sciences and reflections on technology. They critique posthumanist and transhumanist philosophies, explore Nietzsche's perspective on insects and social evolution, and discuss his engagement with the natural sciences. The podcast also delves into Nietzsche's critique of Enlightenment beliefs and the appropriation of his ideas by transhumanists.

In Noah’s Arkive, Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates examine the long history of imagining endurance against climate change catastrophe—as well as alternative ways of creating refuge. Arguing that the biblical ark may well be the worst possible exemplar of human behavior, this book uncovers the startling afterlife of the Genesis narrative and surveys the long history of dwelling with the consequences of choosing only a few to survive in order to start the world over. Here, Cohen and Yates are interviewed by Steven Swarbrick.Jeffrey J. Cohen is Dean of Humanities at Arizona State University. He is author or editor of several books, including Noah’s Arkive, Stone, Veer Ecology, and Elemental Ecocriticism.Julian Yates is H. Fletcher Brown Professor of English and Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware. He is author or editor of several books, including Noah’s Arkive; Of Sheep, Oranges, and Yeast; and Error, Misuse, Failure.Steven Swarbrick is assistant professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is author of The Environmental Unconscious.Episode references:Bible (Genesis)Athanasius Kircher (Arca Noe)N. K. Jemisin (Emergency Skin)Jeanette Winterson (Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit)Rebecca Solnit (A Paradise Built in Hell, “disaster utopias”)Donna Haraway (A Cyborg Manifesto, The Companion Species Manifesto)Anna TsingSilo (Apple TV+ show) (with speculation spoiler alert)William de Brailes (The Flood of Noah) (image appearing in color in the book)Arks visited in this book include:Ark Encounter, Williamstown, KentuckyBiosphere 2, Pinal County, ArizonaThe Ark of Safety, Frostburg, MarylandKeywords: environmental humanities, climate change, Genesis, catastrophe, disaster utopias, artificial intelligence, ark thinking, medieval studies, monsters, giants, groundless reading, tension, contradiction, hope“The worst thing you can do, we have learned, is to imagine that you are no longer on an ark.” (from Noah’s Arkive, page 3)

As military and other forms of political violence become the planetary norm, On Posthuman War traces the expansion of war as manifest within humanity’s individual, sociocultural, and biological existence. Author Mike Hill identifies three human-focused disciplines newly turned against humanity (demography, anthropology, and neuroscience) and questions the very notion of society. This episode brings Hill into conversation with Robyn Marasco and Warren Montag.Mike Hill is professor of English at SUNY Albany. He is coauthor (with Warren Montag) of The Other Adam Smith and author of After Whiteness and On Posthuman War.Robyn Marasco teaches political theory at Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY. Marasco is author of The Highway of Despair.Warren Montag is professor of English at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Montag is author of several books including Althusser and His Contemporaries.Episode references:Immanuel KantClaus von Clausewitz (On War)Counterinsurgency Field Manual (FM 3–24) of 2006The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual (from University of Chicago Press)The Gates DoctrineNational Security StrategyAmerican Sniper (opening of the film)Alain BadiouTopics:US war strategy (specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan)Gender politics in the USCrisis in the humanitiesClimate changeTerms/keywords:CivilianizedDe-civilianizedIdentity infiltrationComputation“Moving through the three fields of study identified in what follows as war disciplines (demography, anthropology, and neuroscience), computational technology is key … because, like war, it is both ubiquitous and largely invisible.” (from the Preface, page xxi)

In the 2010s cities and counties across the US witnessed long-overdue change as they engaged more with questions of social, economic, and racial justice. After decades of urban economic restructuring that intensified class divides and institutional and systemic racism, dozens of local governments countered the conventional wisdom that cities couldn’t address inequality—enacting progressive labor market policies, from $15 minimum wages to paid sick leave. In their book Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities, Marc Doussard and Greg Schrock visit case studies in cities including Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Seattle, and New Orleans, and show that the contemporary wave of successful progressive organizing efforts is likely to endure—but their success hinges on a few factors including sustaining power at the grassroots. Here, Marc Doussard is in conversation with David B. Reynolds.Marc Doussard is professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is coauthor of Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities and author of Degraded Work: The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labor Market.David B. Reynolds was director of the Center for Labor and Community Studies at University of Michigan. Reynolds has been a labor educator for 20 years and is coauthor of A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement and coeditor of Igniting Justice and Progressive Power: The Partnership for Working Families Cities.Books and published works referenced:-Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities by Marc Doussard and Greg Schrock-Degraded Work: The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labor Market by Marc Doussard-A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement by Amy B. Dean and David B. Reynolds-Igniting Justice and Progressive Power: The Partnership for Working Families Cities by David B. Reynolds and Louise Simmons-Partnering for Change: Unions and Community Groups Build Coalitions for Economic Justice, edited by David B. Reynolds (with essay by Reynolds and Jen Kern: Labor and the Living Wage Movement)-”Living Wage Campaigns: An activist’s guide to building the movement for economic justice.” David Reynolds and Jen Kern. (Labor Studies Center, Wayne State University and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, 2000.)-Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies by John Kingdon-The City Is the Factory, edited by Miriam Greenberg and Penny LewisOther references:-Fight for 15-ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)-PowerSwitch Action: https://www.powerswitchaction.org/-American Rescue Plan (also known as the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA)-The Green New DealCities mentioned:SeattleDetroitDenverChicagoSan JoseSan DiegoSilicon ValleyAnn Arbor

Lichens are composite organisms made of a fungus and an alga or cyanobacteria thriving in a mutually beneficial relationship. The Lichen Museum looks to these complex organisms, remarkable for their symbiosis, diversity, longevity, and adaptability, as models for relations rooted in collaboration and nonhierarchical structures. Author A. Laurie Palmer channels the personal, the scientific, the philosophical, and the poetic to imagine a radical new approach to human interconnection. Palmer is joined in conversation with Art after Nature series editors Giovanni Aloi and Caroline Picard.A. Laurie Palmer is an artist and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.Dr. Giovanni Aloi is an author, educator, and curator specializing in the representation of nature and the environment in art. Aloi is editor-in-chief of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture.Caroline Picard is a writer, cartoonist, curator, and executive director of Green Lantern Press.Praise for The Lichen Museum:"A deeply engaging, provocative, humorous, and moving account of why we should pay more attention to lichens. As lichens can be found anywhere, the entire surface of the earth becomes the lichen museum." —Heather Davis, author of Plastic Matter"Meditative and inquisitive." —Foreword"Reading this work feels like taking a series of walks with a particularly curious and sensitive companion, consistently attentive to otherwise neglected facets of the actual environment." —e-fluxLearn more about The Lichen Museum at the University of Minnesota Press website.

The first biography of Robert Smithson, Inside the Spiral deepens understanding of his art by addressing the potent forces in his life that were shrouded by his success, including his suppressed early history as a painter; his affiliation with Christianity, astrology, and alchemy; and his sexual fluidity. Author Suzaan Boettger uncovers Smithson’s story with great sensitivity to the experiences of loss and existential strife that defined his distinct artistic language. This biographical analysis offers unprecedented insight into the hidden impulses of one of modern art’s most enigmatic figures. Here, Suzaan Boettger is joined in conversation with Greg Lindquist.Suzaan Boettger is a scholar, arts journalist, and critic based in New York City. She is author of Inside the Spiral: The Passions of Robert Smithson and Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties.Greg Lindquist is an artist, writer, and professor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.References/artworks of Robert Smithson:Spiral JettyBuried AngelPlungeThe Flayed AngelsVile FlowerDark SisterEast Coast/West Coast. Artwork by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson. Broken Circle/Spiral Hill (Emmen, Netherlands)Amarillo RampReferences/published works:-A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey (Robert Smithson, article in Artforum)-The Writings of Robert Smithson / edited by Nancy Holt; 1979.-"Living extinction: Robert Smithson’s Dinosaurs," by Suzaan Boettger (Burlington Contemporary)-Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings / Jack Flam, editor-Robert Smithson. MOCA catalogue, 2004. Connie Butler, Thomas Crow, Eugenie Tsai-The Shape of Time / George Kubler.-”Jackson Pollock/Robert Smithson: The Myth/The Mythologist.” Howard Junker. Arts Magazine, May 1978.-”The Art Establishment,” Harold Rosenberg. Esquire, January 1, 1965.References/people:Virginia Dwan (gallery owner)Doug Chrismas (gallery owner)Isenheim AltarpieceRuth KligmanJackson PollockJasper JohnsLouise NevelsonMore about the book: z.umn.edu/InsideTheSpiral

Modern environments are awash with pollutants. The book Citizens of Worlds is the first thorough study of the increasingly widespread use of digital technologies to monitor and respond to air pollution. Drawing on data from the Citizen Sense research group, which worked with communities in the US and the UK to develop digital-sensor toolkits, author Jennifer Gabrys argues that citizen sensing promises positive change—and also collides with entrenched power structures. What are worlds? Who can do environmental monitoring? How might different means of computation tell a more complete story about pollution and its effects? In this episode, Jennifer talks with Helen Pritchard about Citizen Sense’s collaborative research in northeastern Pennsylvania and southeast and central London.Jennifer Gabrys is chair in Media, Culture, and Environment in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. She leads the Planetary Praxis group, and Citizen Sense and AirKit projects. Her books include Citizens of Worlds: Open-Air Toolkits for Environmental Struggle; How to Do Things with Sensors; and Program Earth: Environmental Sensing Technology and the Making of a Computational Planet. Her work can be found at planetarypraxis.org and jennifergabrys.net.Helen Pritchard is professor and head of research at IXDM (Institute for Experimental Design and Media Cultures) at the HGK in Basel. Helen is an artist-designer, member of Citizen Sense, co-organizer of The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest, and a contributor to Critical Media Lab. More info: helenpritchard.info.Citizen Sense is a research initiative funded by the European Research Council that investigates the relationship between technologies and practices of environmental sensing and citizen engagement. More info: citizensense.net. The book Citizens of Worlds: Open-Air Toolkits for Environmental Struggle is an open-access title, available to read for free at: manifold.umn.edu/projects/citizens-of-worldsEpisode citations and references include:Alfred North Whitehead on breathing, subjects and worldsFrantz Fanon on combat breathingOpen AirAlexis Pauline GumbsLauren BerlantHeather Love / Feeling Backward