SM
Dr. Susan Minsos, PhD
Canadian Published Author
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Contact Address:
14327 MacKenzie Drive Edmonton Alberta T5R 5V6
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Professional Synopsis
Academic, Canadianist, Philosopher, Theorist, Essayist, Susan Williams Minsos is a published Canadian Writer of seven interdisciplinary print and audiobooks, including four novels and three academic works. Methodology for all books centres on the philosophy of manners: Homo sapiens’ overriding instinct to build power structures (culture clubs), for which dominators can set and administer harmonizing club manners, is evident in all but the most solipsistic literature.
Topics, lectures, illustrations reflect her philosophical perspective. Minsos’s academic background in Canadian theatre, (MA thesis, James Reaney’s Trilogy, The Donnellys, and reviewer of Canadian drama for NeWest Magazine) and her PhD thesis on the Canadian novel in English (doctoral dissertation focus, Sara Jeannette Duncan) invest her fiction and nonfiction with a distinctive and innovative dramatic style.
Curiosity about why literature presents different cultural manners has given Dr Minsos her philosophical focus. For instance, Minsos calls the asymmetrical tit-for-tat matrix game we play to socialize, Weird Tit-for-Tat, because the matrix social game has three moves instead of the expected two. Game theory must account for groups and group manners. For more about the origins of game theory and to evaluate whether her objections to a two-choice tit-for-tat game are valid ––she objects to game theorists' insisting that cooperation is the foundation upon which human societies are built––, please note the logical flaws in the seminal book on cooperation and game theory: Robert Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation.
Or contact Dr Minsos. sminsos@me.com
Publications - Print & Audio
2023
2022
2018
2016
2015
2013
2012
2009
2004
2002
2000
1998
1989
1986
1985
1981 - 1983
DELC, Audiobook - Sky Walker, Tehawennihárhos Charter. In production.
Reader: Elijah Lucian. Production manager: Eric Svilpis, Evius Studios. Producer: DELC Ltd.
CELA and Eschia Books, Audiobook - Sky Walker, Tehawennihárhos. Book 1. Mark Demeda, Reader. David Stinson, Production Manager. Available for borrowing at CELA libraries.
Three Rascals Press - Culture Clubs: The Real Fate of Societies. Kindle and paperback available on Amazon Prime.
Margaret E. Atwood@MargaretAtwood
Nov 25, 2022.
Culture Clubs: The Real Fate of Societies by Susan Minsos. @PhillipsPOBrien A propos of left-right convergences. Plus a bonus: Are women funny? [Check out] goodreads.com Culture Clubs: The Real Fate of Societies
DELC - Sky Walker Tehawennihárhos: Charter, Mohawk Trilogy, Book 3
Foreword Magazine Review Rating: 5 stars out of 5
"The novel’s lovable, intricate characters and the challenges that they face every day, from protecting their lands to safeguarding their hearts, are an irresistible draw." Lillian Brown
Audiobooks.com - Sky Walker Tehawennihárhos and the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Book 2, DELC, producer. Elijah Lucian, reader. Eric Svilpis, production manager.
Audiobooks.com - Sky Walker Tehawennihárhos, DELC, producer. Elijah Lucian, reader. Eric Svilpis, production manager.
Eschia Books - Sky Walker Tehawennihárhos, Mohawk Trilogy, Book 1
Dragon Hill Publishing - Sky Walker Tehawennihárhos and the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Mohawk Trilogy, Book 2
Spotted Cow Press – Squire Davis and the Crazy River
Spotted Cow Press - Weird Tit-for-Tat: The Game of Our Lives
Podcast with Bob Chelmick (CKUA) about the matrix game of socialization, producer, Spotted Cow Press.
Spotted Cow Press - Culture Clubs: The Art of Living Together
Published, Human Universals and Cultural Illusions – focus on Canada and Japan, published in Reports of Serial Lectures on Canadian Studies. Tokyo: Meiji University, Centre for International Programs.
Presenter, British Association of Canadian Studies, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. Topic: English-Canadian speech and British expressions.
ERA. PhD Dissertation. Narration, Dialogue, and Plot Structure in Duncan's The Path of a Star, The Imperialist and Set in Authority
Great Plains Quarterly – Reviewer, “The History of Prairie Theatre” by E. Ross Stuart.
Canada Theatre Review. Author. "The International Fallacy at the House Shocter Built."
ERA. MA Thesis. Toward a Myth of Community: James Reaney's Trilogy: The Donnellys
Canada New Play Reviews, Principal Reviewer, NeWest Magazine.
Formal Education
Doctor of Philosophy - English (Canadian) Literature
University of Alberta | Edmonton, Alberta
Master of Arts - English (Canadian) Drama
University of Alberta | Edmonton, Alberta
Bachelor of Arts - English and Philosophy
Western University | London, Ontario
In Conversation With
Dr. Minsos
Q: What gives your philosophy credibility?
M: Reading, I suppose. If, like me, you'd spent ten thousand (+) hours studying manners –– the novels, plays, histories of this culture, or that culture, in this era, or that era –– you too would find yourself wondering whence manners come. And wherefore?
Q: Wherefore should we care about this issue. . . where manners come from?
M: . . . And what they're good for. Manners are fascinating. Harmonizing. Manners are fluid. That's what makes them fascinating.
Q: What do you mean "fluid"?
M: Flexible sapiens fluidly (often unconsciously and not rationally) adopts the appropriate manners to fit into any given culture club he/she wants (or is forced) to join. The knitting club, the sports team, the family, the nation, the religion, all clubs have their own laws, policies, rules, civilities, and customs, which I umbrella under the term manners. Affordances determine manners.
Q: What are affordances?
A: Environment. Climate change. Economies. Enemies. Age. Health. All Contexts. Zeitgeist. All the factors you face today as you make your choices about your relationship to the herd's leadership. Psychologist James J Gibson coined the term affordance in his 1966 book, The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. The affordances of the environment are what the environment offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. In reaction to affordances, dominators tailor a club's manners to fit the herd's common purpose.
Q: In general, what is a club's common purpose?
A: Same as the individual's. Safety. Survival. Renewal. Conquer the enemy. Trade with the rival. If you're competing in a zero-sum game (hockey), beat the competition. If not, maybe trade commodities. Currently, as experts warn, sapiens might want to manage the deep-learning potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Will we choose national dominators who try to halt the deep-learning research? Or do we fear other nations or rogue states will charge ahead with their own research, leaving ours to bite the dust? We are up against some big choices.
Q: We are. So who are the most culturally agile? Men or women?
M: In socialization, the role that women and children play is certainly the most overlooked. Hence the big mistake.
Q: What is the big mistake?
M. Whatever socialization is about, mothers and children are intimately involved. Plus. Some game theorists muse about socialization's happening with no central authority. Mums and kids know that's a big joke. Remember your mum? She set the rules. As a mathematical premise in game theory, cooperate-don't cooperate is restrictive –– a non-starter.
Q. Why?
M. Our fates are tied not only to a conscious and rational (see John Nash) ability to cooperate but also to an instinctive, very simple three-cornered game we play in our search for authority. Children play Weird Tit-for-Tat. Children play the game of life to survive. The search for authority is inherent. Weird Tit-for-Tat builds power structures, which I call culture clubs. We come full circle: Culture clubs have dominators. Dominators set manners.
The Three Fates as Weirdo Sisters, oil on canvas
©Kiff Holland FCA, CSMA, RI (HON)
