Bücher veröffentlicht von University of Minnesota Press

An innovative blend of social history, cultural theory, and ethnography, Trouble in the Forest traces the origins of the redwood conflict to the same engines of modernity that drove the region's colonial violence against American Indians and its labor struggles during the industrial revolution.

Immediately on its publication in 1972, Learning from Las Vegas, by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour, was hailed as a transformative work in the history and theory of architecture, liberating those in architecture who were trying to find a way out of the straitjacket of architectural orthodoxies. Resonating far beyond the professional and institutional boundaries of the field, the book contributed to a thorough rethinking of modernism and was subsequently taken up as an early manifestation and progenitor of postmodernism. Going beyond analyzing the original text, the essays provide insights into the issues surrounding architecture, culture, and philosophy that have been influenced by Learning from Las Vegas. For the contributors, as for scholars in an array of fields, the pioneering book is as relevant to architectural debates today as it was when it was first published.Contributors: Ritu Bhatt, Karsten Harries, Jean-Claude Lebensztejn, John McMorrough,  Katherine Smith, Dell Upton, Nigel Whitely.

A new ontology for a globalized worldRich with analyses of concepts from deconstruction, systems theory, and post-Marxism, with critiques of fundamentalist thought and the war on terror, this volume argues for developing a philosophy of being in order to overcome the quandary of postmodern relativism. Undergirding the contributions are the premises that ontology is a vital concept for philosophy today, that an acceptable leftist ontology must avoid the kind of identity politics that has dominated recent cultural studies, and that a new ontology must be situated within global capitalism.A Leftist Ontology offers a timely intervention in political philosophy, featuring some of the leading voices of our time.Contributors: Bruno Bosteels, Cornell U; Christopher Breu, Illinois State U; Nicholas Brown, U of Illinois at Chicago; Sorin Radu Cucu, Manhattan College; George Edmondson, Dartmouth College; Eva Geulen, U of Bonn; Philip Goldstein, U of Delaware; Klaus Mladek, Dartmouth College; Alberto Moreiras, U of Aberdeen; Jeffrey T. Nealon, Pennsylvania State U; William Rasch, Indiana U; Ben Robinson, Indiana U; Imre Szeman, McMaster U; Roland Vegso, U of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Culture jamming is so twentieth century! What's next?When reporters asked about the Bush administration's timing in making their case for the Iraq war, then Chief of Staff Andrew Card responded that "from a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." While surprising only in its candor, this statement signified the extent to which consumer culture has pervaded every aspect of life. For those troubled by the long reach of the marketplace, resistance can seem futile. However, a new generation of progressive activists has begun to combat the media supremacy of multinational corporations by using the very tools and techniques employed by their adversaries.In OurSpace, Christine Harold examines the deployment and limitations of "culture jamming" by activists. These techniques defy repressive corporate culture through parodies, hoaxes, and pranks. Among the examples of sabotage she analyzes are the magazine Adbusters's spoofs of familiar ads and the Yes Men's impersonations of company spokespersons.While these strategies are appealing, Harold argues that they are severely limited in their ability to challenge capitalism. Indeed, many of these tactics have already been appropriated by corporate marketers to create an aura of authenticity and to sell even more products. For Harold, it is a different type of opposition that offers a genuine alternative to corporate consumerism. Exploring the revolutionary Creative Commons movement, copyleft, and open source technology, she advocates a more inclusive approach to intellectual property that invites innovation and wider participation in the creative process.From switching the digital voice boxes of Barbie dolls and G.I. Joe action figures to inserting the silhouetted image of Abu Ghraib's iconic hooded and wired victim into Apple's iPod ads, high-profile instances of anticorporate activism over the past decade have challenged, but not toppled, corporate media domination. OurSpace makes the case for a provocative new approach by co-opting the logic of capitalism itself.

Shows how network technologies produce social space. This work provides a critical framework for understanding how the Internet takes part in the production of social space. It explores the ways in which the Internet restructures the university. It sheds fresh light on the question of virtual space and its role in the offline world.

Offers an understanding the labor and politics of NGOs through the lives of seven Indian women employed by a large NGO as activists in their communities. This work reveals larger themes and questions of sexism, casteism, and communalism. It addresses the dispute in the context of the politics of NGOs and feminist theory.

Explores how black women's geographies are meaningful sites of political opposition. This work offers a fresh interpretation of black women's geographic thought. Analyzing diverse literatures and material geographies, it reveals how human geographies are a result of racialized connections.

Offers an in-depth look at the Genoa G8 summit and the European Social Forum, from the protesters' point of view. Presenting the systematic empirical research on the global justice movement, this work analyzes a movement from the viewpoints of the activists, organizers, and demonstrators themselves.

Offers an examination of nature television - and what it reveals about human society. This book traces the history of the wildlife genre from its origins in precinematic, colonial visual culture to its contemporary status as flagship programming on global television and explores evolving beliefs about, and attitudes toward, animal subjects.

Links geopolitical dramas of twentieth-century empire building with domestic controversies of US racial order by examining the cultural politics of Asian Americans as they are revealed in fiction, film, and theatrical productions. These readings uncover the repressed story of US imperialism.

A wide-ranging reexamination of a foundational tenet of modern democratic society

Fifty years ago a landmark conference at Harvard University established urban design as a distinct architectural and planning practice. Today, with the world’s urban population surpassing three billion people, urban design has become more crucial than ever. Indeed, the concerns that initially brought leading architects and city planners together—including concerns over sprawl, pollution, and aging infrastructure—have only intensified over the past half century. In Urban Design, Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders have assembled prominent figures in architecture, planning, and landscape design to look back on the evolution of the discipline of urban design; assess the current state of the field; and anticipate the challenges posed by the unprecedented rate of urbanization, particularly in the developing world, and how the profession will need to adapt in order to confront them. The volume opens with excerpts from transcripts of the 1956 Harvard conference followed by essays that contextualize and critique its assumptions and ambitions. Subsequent essays address such topics as the social conscience of urban design and stake out the competing sensibilities in the field, from New Urbanism to avant-garde. As humanity becomes an urban species to a degree that was unimaginable fifty years ago, this comprehensive volume seeks to encourage today’s designers to draw on the energy and messy vitality of cities in shaping tomorrow’s urban environments.Contributors: Jonathan Barnett, Denise Scott Brown, Joan Busquets, Kenneth Greenberg, John Kaliski, Timothy Love, Fumihiko Maki, Richard Marshall, Eric Mumford, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Edward W. Soja, Richard M. Sommer, Michael Sorkin, Emily Talen, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Wouter Vanstiphout, Charles Waldheim.

Examines theatre as a memorial practice that is haunted by the presence of loss, looking at how aspects of stage-craft turn familiar elements into something uncanny. Suggesting that objects connect past to present through the sense of touch, this work explores how props are suspended backstage between motion and meaning.

Rethinking modernity in colonial and postcolonial Indian history