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MARSHALL MCLUHAN DEFINES HIS OWN APPROACH AS 'SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT' INVOLVING A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS CONCERNED WITH THE INNER DYNAMICS OF THE FORM & CONFIGURATION. MCLUHAN'S GENERAL SCHEMA CONCERNS AN HISTORICAL PERIODICITY BUILT ON CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS EFFECTED BY CHANGES IN COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDING TO SENSORY STRESS. THE PERIODIZATION YIELDS 4 STAGES: (1) A (PRIMITIVE) COOL AUDIBLE TRIBAL CULTURE WITH THE ORAL TECHNOLOGY OF SPEECH, (2) A (PRECAPITALIST) HOT VISUAL CULTURE WITH THE SCRIBAL TECHNOLOGY OF THE PHONETIC ALPHABET, (3) A (CAPITALIST) HOT VISUAL CULTURE WITH THE MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY OF PRINT, & (4) THE CURRENT (MONOPOLY CAPITALIST) COOL AUDIBLE-TACTILE CULTURE WITH THE ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY OF TV & COMPUTER. THE PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT IN MCLUHAN'S THOUGHT CAN BE DISCERNED AS I ('36-'51), II ('52-'58) & III ('59-PRESENT), IN WHICH HE EVOLVES FROM AN ABSTRACT NEGATIVITY TO A COMPLETELY UNCRITICAL POSITIVITY. MCLUHAN DOES NOT CONSIDER COMMUNICATION PRIMARILY AS SR AMONG PEOPLE, BUT AS RELATIONS BETWEEN HUMAN BEINGS & THINGS, & CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINGS THEMSELVES. MCLUHAN'S TECHNOCRATIC IDEOLOGY TOTALLY EXCLUDES HISTORICAL MOVEMENTS & QUALITATIVE CHANGES WHEN IT EXAMINES FUTURE NEEDS, INTERESTS, VALUES, & GOALS. MCLUHAN FAILS TO RECOGNIZE THAT A PILLAR OF NEOCAPITALIST INTEGRATION IS THE PRODUCTION, MANIPULATION, & APPROPRIATION OF INFORMATION, & THAT THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN THE US ARE STRUCTURALLY & ORGANIZATIONALLY HIERARCHICAL CHANNELS FOR DOMINATION & CULTURAL IMPERIALISM. MCLUHAN'S WORK IS PERMEATED BY TECHNOLOGICAL FETISHISM, CYBERNETIC REIFICATION, IDEALIST MATERIALISM, & A TYPE OF SECULAR RELIGIOSITY. A. KARMEN.

AbstractThis chapter reviews black critical and cultural theory under the following headings: 1. Introduction; 2. Cultural Studies (Kara Keeling, Queer Times, Black Futures, Jennifer C. Nash, Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality, and Tiffany Lethabo King, The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies); 3. History and Sociology (Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, and Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code); 4. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies (Therí Alyce Pickens, Black Madness :: Mad Blackness).