Douglas Armato, the fifth director in the University of Minnesota Press's 100-year history, will soon retire after 27 years of leadership at the Press—following an almost-50-year career in book publishing. On the occasion of this milestone event, he unites several titans of university publishing in a tremendous conversation about change and comradeship, past progress and future speculation, and persistent through it all, an abiding passion for what is at the core of this work: books. Gathered with Armato are Lisa Bayer, director of University of Georgia Press; Greg Britton, editorial director at Johns Hopkins University Press; Jennifer Crewe, associate provost and director of Columbia University Press; and Dean Smith, director of Duke University Press; in a conversation moderated by Bill Germano, professor of English at Cooper Union.

More about Armato's acquisitions, collaborations, and retirement news: z.umn.edu/DA27.
More about the Press's 100-year history and influence: z.umn.edu/wordfactory100.
This is a University of Minnesota Press production. Thank you for listening.

Episode chapters:

• 02:30: What has scholarly publishing gained, and what has it lost, since we started in the business?
• 05:08: Side hustles to sustain the bottom line.
• 10:02: Are university presses and university libraries still close allies?
• 17:52: How is the outside world meant to understand what a university press does?
• 22:45: It's a job for hopeless romantics willing to fall in love with ideas (and not necessarily ones you even like).
• 28:40: Whither AI? How is the AI tsunami different from or similar to past massive paradigm changes for publishing, such as the Internet and e-books?
• 35:22: In a world of e-books, does a book need to go out of print? Should books go out of print?
• 41:00: What is the ideal role for scholarly publishers with regard to tenure decisions?
• 48:24: Memories and anecdotes about working with Doug Armato.

“Jovencito, it’s going to be lonely being different and yet strong in this world,” James Francisco Bonilla’s grandmother told him when he was ten. Born with congenital cataracts, James had limited vision in his right eye and none in his left. At age nine, after a classmate hurled a horseshoe at his face in a racially motivated assault, James’s right eye was injured and he became legally blind. At home, too, he feared physical violence, experiencing the unpredictable outbursts of a single mother suffering from severe mental illness. Throughout his youth as a Puerto Rican New Yorker, James was continually failed by educational systems that exposed him to one abuse after another. Searching for relief and inspiration, he discovered an unexpected solace in the natural world, spiritual encounters with Mother Earth that led him toward both personal healing and advocacy.

At nineteen, a breakthrough in medical technology restored the sight in his right eye, and James recognized his unique perspective on the struggles of the disabled and marginalized in American life—and his intense will to make a difference. Here, James is joined in conversation with Beverly Daniel Tatum and Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe.

James Francisco Bonilla (he/him) is a New York–born Puerto Rican writer and retired professor of Hamline University in St. Paul. He has written and presented nationally and internationally on diversity, cultural competence, and leadership, especially on how to diversify environmental organizations.

Beverly Daniel Tatum (she/her) is an award-winning educational leader, best-selling author, expert on the psychology of racism, and longtime social justice educator.

Charmaine Wijeyesinghe (she/her) is a consultant and author with 40 years of experience working with colleges, universities, and public and private organizations on diverse social justice areas and organizational change.

REFERENCES:
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma / Stephanie Foo

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (film)

The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight / Andrew Leland

Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times / Beverly Daniel Tatum

Promoting Diversity and Social Justice: Educating People from Privileged Groups / Diane J. Goodman

Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living / John McQuiston

Praise for the book:

“With its intersectional analysis of racism, mental illness, and disability, this memoir brings a fresh and inspiring voice to the world of social justice literature.”
—Beverly Daniel Tatum

“This memoir is the essence of what I still seek to share with youth in all communities.”
—J. Herman Blake, professor emeritus, Iowa State University

“James Francisco Bonilla shows that hope and healing can be found through advocacy and community.”

—Sue Abderholden, former executive director, NAMI Minnesota

“This inspiring memoir encourages a new generation to confront biases and champion social justice.”

—Madeline L. Peters, disability consultant

An Eye for an I: Growing Up with Blindness, Bigotry, and Family Mental Illness by James Francisco Bonilla is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

As medical advancements continue to shape the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disability and illness, technology is often presented as a path to autonomy. Rebecca Monteleone shows how such technologies contribute to a cruel double bind, forcing disabled people to be accountable for adapting to a world built by and for nondisabled people while dismissing their lived experiences in favor of medical expertise. In the new book The Double Bind of Disability, Monteleone explores anecdotes about prenatal genetic screening, deep brain stimulation, and do-it-yourself artificial pancreas systems, exposing new relationships among disability, authority, knowledge, and responsibility. Monteleone is joined here in conversation with Ashley Shew.

Rebecca Monteleone is associate professor of disability and technology at the University of Toledo and author of The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority.

Ashley Shew is a professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech and author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement.

EPISODE REFERENCES:

-Ally Day

-“Transmobility: Possibilities in Cyborg (Cripborg) Bodies,” Mallory Kay Nelson, Ashley Shew, and Bethany Stevens / Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience

-Jackie Leach Scully

-Dana Lewis

-Biomedicalization: Technoscience, Health, and Illness in the U.S. / Adele E. Clarke, Laura Mamo, Jennifer Ruth Fosket, Jennifer R. Fishman, Janet K. Shim, editors

Praise for the book:
"A generous, timely, and essential contribution to understanding the current politics that shape medical technology and disability in the context of neoliberal ableism. A book that I will be thinking-making-feeling with for many years to come!"
—Laura Forlano, Northeastern University

The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority by Rebecca Monteleone is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.