HAROLD INNIS, CULTURAL POLICY, AND RESIDUAL MEDIA

Abstract

Harold Innis resides as a defining figure for the disciplinary coherence of communication studies, economic history and cultural history in Canada. And yet, he remains largely unknown abroad. This paper reassesses his contributions to cultural policy studies through an examination of Innis’s historical argument about technology, knowledge and power. Whereas he has been understood typically as a rigid technological determinist, this paper argues that Innis charted social relations as products of multiple historical forces. He proposed a model for studying the layering of the new and the old in technological and cultural life. Moreover, his analysis accounted for uneven development, showing how certain technologies can become root elements in the construction of empires. In sum, Innis’s thought alerts us to the way the administration of cultural policy decisions creates the context for further initiatives.