New book shows how McLuhan's work still resonates today
Mon. Dec. 7, 2020
Dr. Jacqueline McLeod Rogers' new book considers the late Marshall McLuhan as an activist and a speculative urbanist.
Photo credit: Naniece Ibrahim
Congratulations to Dr. Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, Department Chair and Professor in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications, on the publication of her new book, McLuhan’s Techno-Sensorium City: Coming to our Senses in a Programmed Environment (Rowan & Littlefield/Lexington Books 2020). In it, Dr. McLeod Rogers considers the late Marshall McLuhan as an activist and a speculative urbanist. She argues that through his work McLuhan sought a particular environment, a “techno-sensorium,” which would bring together the best in design and technology in support of life. The book explores McLuhan’s connections with the art and urban design communities of his time in order to understand how his work continues to inform today’s urban and art criticism and practices.
McLuhan's Techno-Sensorium City:
Coming to our Senses in a Programmed Environment
(Rowman & Littlefield/Lexington Books 2020)
According to Dr. Glenn Moulaison, Dean of Arts, “Dr. McLeod Rogers’ book shows that McLuhan’s message is perhaps more relevant today.” He adds, “It also shows that Dr. McLeod Rogers’ scholarship is as wide-ranging as McLuhan’s, and I congratulate her on this accomplishment.”
McLeod Rogers is an authority on the Winnipeg born philosopher/educator, especially on McLuhan’s work in relation to contemporary communication theory and practice. Previously, McLeod has published a co-edited volume on McLuhan, and has coedited a special journal issue. Finding McLuhan: The Mind, the Man, the Message (University of Regina Press 2014), which McLeod Rogers co-edited with two of her colleagues in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications, Drs. Tracy Whalen and Catherine Taylor, explores the relevance of McLuhan’s work in our time. The Imaginations Journal 83: Special Issue on Marshall McLuhan & the Arts was co-edited by McLeod Rogers and Adam Lauder, an instructor at OCAD University. Contributions to the journal explore McLuhan’s work on design, perception, and visualization, and how that work intersects with current art and design production. As well, McLeod Rogers co-organized the McLuhan Symposium: West Awake, a day of communications and media programming, with Adina Balint (Department of Modern Languages and Literatures) and Jen Reid (Department of English).
This year, Dr. McLeod Rogers is teaching RHET-2131 Professional Style and Editing in Fall 2020 and RHET-3321 Composing our Winnipeg: Rhetoric of/and the City.