Out of the Archive: New Perspectives on Harold Innis

摘要

Two recent publications invite us to consider new interpretations of the work and legacy of Harold Innis. In Harold Irmis and the North, William Buxton and his colleagues offer a collection of articles with a deliberately understated theme-what Buxton (2013) calls the "micro-narrative" (p. u) of Innis' work on the Canadian North at a time when it was on the cusp of industrialization. This micro-narrative of northem development is proposed by Buxton as a counterweight to the grand narrative of the staples thesis articulated by Innis (1930) in a "northem" work, The Fur Trade in Canada, and familiar to communication scholars for its influence on Innis' communication histories.