Marshall McLuhan

Biography (Life and Career)

Amlesh Jayakumar

Tony Wu

Iman Kazerani

Yusong Men

Tamim Ahmed

Marshall was a family name (coming from his grandmother's surname on his mother's side)

July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980 Mother - Elsie Naomi (born Hall) - performed in

church halls Father - Herbert Ernest McLuhan Both parents born in Canada Brother, Maurice, born two years after his own birth As a child

Independent Stubborn Tendency to bully Not the best student, putting it lightly

Originally wasn't going to be let into grade seven, only achieving this through his mother's efforts.

Childhood & Family

After Herbert's discharge from the army in 1915, the McLuhan family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where Marshall grew up and later went to the University of Manitoba in 1928.

McLuhan earned a BA (1933) and won a University Gold Medal in Arts and Sciences and MA (1934) in English from the University of Manitoba.

Life & Education

City of Winnipeg

Marshall has a long desired to pursue graduate studies in England and finally McLuhan was accepted for enrolment at the University of Cambridge. He received his bachelor's degree from Cambridge in 1936. Studying under two Professors, he was greatly influence to New Criticism (Formalist). Later, he returned from England to take a job as a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

University of Cambridge University of Wisconsin in USA

Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1937. McLuhan was awarded Ph.D. in December 1943 McLuhan moved Toronto in 1946, and then he

joined the faculty of St. Michael's College, a Catholic college of the University of Toronto.

On August 4, 1939, McLuhan married teacher and aspiring actress Corinne Lewis of Fort Worth.

The McLuhans returned to Saint Louis University in 1940 where he continued teaching and they started a family.

McLuhan returned to Toronto where for the rest of his life, he worked at the University of Toronto and lived in Wychwood Park, a bucolic enclave on a hill overlooking the downtown. In 1970, McLuhan was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

In September 1979 he suffered a stroke, which affected his ability to speak.

He never fully recovered from the stroke and died in his sleep on December 31, 1980.

Last days of his Life...

Beliefs

Marshall McLuhan believes in technological determinism, where technology shapes human society.

He is devout in Catholicism.“Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School” in Toronto is

named after him.McLuhan thinks that technology does not bent moral, but

effects society and individual’s interpretations.He believes that electronic media will replace visual mediums

(papers) .He thinks that electronics brought the opportunity for human to move from individualism to a collective identity.

Key Concepts

Figure (medium) and Ground (content): McLuhan thinks that people are

influenced more by the medium of communication instead of the message that it contains.

His master piece, medium is the massage is resulted from his belief of technology shapes people’s society and communications.

Both of the medium and the content must be examined together since they do not mean anything without each other.

By examining on both of the medium and content, people can have a more critical understanding of culture and society.

Works Cited

Gordon, Terrence. "Marshall McLuhan." The Official Site of Marshall McLuhan. Quiet PC, June 2002. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/gordon.html>.

Liukkonen, Petri. "Marshall McLuhan." Pegasos. 2008. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://kirjasto.sci.fi/mcluhan.htm>.

Marchand, Philip. "Marshall McLuhan." The Official Site of Marshall McLuhan. Quiet PC, July 2002. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/marchand.html>.

"Marshall McLuhan." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 16 Apr. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan>.

"Winnipeg." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 18 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan>.

McLuhan, Herbert M. "McLuhanisms - Marshall McLuhan." The Official Site of Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan Associates, Quiet PC, 1986. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/poster.html>.