Re-Understanding Media: Feminist Extensions of Marshall McLuhan

by Sarah Sharma (Editor), Rianka Singh (Editor)

The contributors to Re-Understanding Media advance a feminist version of Marshall McLuhan’s key text, Understanding The Extensions of Man , repurposing his insight that “the medium is the message” for feminist ends. They argue that while McLuhan’s theory provides a falsely universalizing conception of the technological as a structuring form of power, feminist critics can take it up to show how technologies alter and determine the social experiences of race, gender, class, and sexuality. This volume showcases essays, experimental writings, and interviews from media studies scholars, artists, activists, and those who work with and create technology. Among other topics, the contributors extend McLuhan’s discussion of transportation technology to the attics and cargo boxes that moved Black women through the Underground Railroad, apply McLuhan’s concept of media as extensions of humans to analyze Tupperware as media of containment, and take up 3D printing as a feminist and decolonial practice. The volume demonstrates how power dynamics are built into technological media and how media can be harnessed for radical purposes.

Contributors. Nasma Ahmed, Morehshin Allahyari, Sarah Banet-Weiser, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Brooke Erin Duffy, Ganaele Langlois, Sara Martel, Shannon Mattern, Cait McKinney, Jeremy Packer, Craig Robertson, Sarah Sharma, Ladan Siad, Rianka Singh, Nicholas Taylor, Armond R. Towns, and Jennifer Wemigwans

Genres: Philosophy

280 pages, Hardcover

Published May 20, 2022

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book anyone interested in media or technology should read. With such a multitude of voices and perspectives this text still puts forth a very convincing feminist media project. I think there's a thing or two to take from this book for everyone.

The text is well structured and easy to understand and even with the plurality of voices I never felt like chapters didn't belong, they all worked towards the same overarching goal of a feminist reading of Understanding Media.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for those interested in media and culture. As a social scientist, I found the perspectives in these chapters extremely helpful in terms of thinking about media effects beyond a universal subject. It's also fun to read (chapters told in different formats than traditional academic text; e.g., through dialogue).

[Burc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll preface this by saying that I am not the biggest McLuhan fan. That being said this book is incredibly teachable and super fun. Great chapters w/ feminist readings of tupperware, sidewalks, textiles all along media studies lines.

[Aiyana Gratzon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. A must-read for everyone.