How the Dead Brought Me to Edmonton
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By Almond Aguila
I find it fascinating how flabbergasted some people are when I say I’ve moved to Edmonton for graduate studies. Several times, they’ve reminded me of the city’s nickname “Dedmonton.” Ironically, it was the dead that brought me here. Marshall McLuhan, influential communication scholar, died in Toronto in 1980—decades before the coming of the information age of which he spoke eloquently about. But few Edmontonians are aware that July 21 will mark the centenary of his birth in Alberta’s capital.
In 2009, I joined a group of other McLuhan admirers for a (remote) visit of his childhood home in the neighbourhood of Highlands. Dr. Marco Adria, director of the University of Alberta’s Master of Arts in Communications and Technology program, encouraged us to take pictures from a safe distance so as not to disturb the current home owners. How strange it must have been for them to see a band of academics (some students, other teachers) ogling at the invisible history of their house.
But, what was strange for me was how one of the greatest Canadian minds remains almost unknown in his own home town. I often have to recite such familiar lines as “the medium is the message” or “global village” to get some spark of interest at the mention of his name. This is certainly not the case in the University of the Philippines, my alma mater, where McLuhan’s views on mass media have been either passionately praised or zealously critiqued.
So, despite warnings about being bored to death in "Dedmonton", I moved here last September to begin my doctoral studies at the U of A. It has been far from boring for this Filipina born and raised in the exciting city of Manila. Edmonton is one of the few places in Canada where McLuhan’s centenary is being celebrated. I look forward to participating in the Media Ecology Association’s 12th annual conference which will bring together media scholars, artists and intellectuals to discuss McLuhan’s legacy from June 23 to 26. Mindful of his observations about media, I will present papers on the use of Skype for closeness and, with a Canadian colleague, QR codes for media literacy. You could say I’ve been too busy to think too much about Edmonton as a place where nothing really happens, because it has certainly been happening for me.
I certainly have no regrets about moving here. On July 21, when this city celebrates its first Marshall McLuhan day, I will be vacationing in Manila but wishing I was still in Edmonton.
Photo: The author (far right) in front of Marshall McLuhan`s childhood home with (from left) Dr.Sharmila Ferris of William Paterson University, Italian doctoral student, Manuela Farinosi and Dr. Leopoldina Fortunati of University of Udine. McLuhan is a relatively unknown Edmontonian since he only stayed here from his birth in 1911 to 1915.
