This text is inspired by the conference then – now – next. McLuhan Centenary Conference from 7th – 10th of November 2011 at the University of Toronto, Canada. This summary of the conference aims to look at the state of the art of contemporary media studies via reflections on McLuhan beginning from two points:

First, the essay emphasizes research in local conditions of media. In this context, what is not yet well known is that McLuhan and the anthropologist Edmund Carpenter started locally based media research early in the 1960s, in order better to describe a-perspective and multi-sensorial acoustic space, which they did by projecting this concept onto tribal cultures. Whereas McLuhan’s studies have been focused on ethnocentric and media-deterministic views, Carpenter’s work, as well as contemporary located media research, overcome this orientation by meditating on the genesis of their own methods. Consequently, the analysis of McLuhan’s ethnic media theory is herein shown to be critical to understanding and better assessing his central methodological and epistemological questions. Second, this conference summary also circumscribes the trajectories of current branches in Post-McLuhan scholarship, notably various gestures in media-ecology that underline the generative, somatic relations between media and humans. This problematic set of questions helps trace the ways in which McLuhan’s concepts are now developing their own legacy, including new experiences in media-anthropomorphism and rampant affection for irrational media-fascinations.