The article aims to conduct a historical review, with hermeneutical purposes, to discuss two relevant contributions to the development of a science and the establishment of a metadiscipline, whose significance and meaning were recognized belatedly. The first contribution we will address lies within the realm of communication studies, while the second one pertains to the realm of media ecology. In the first part, we highlight that Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), a seminal figure in media ecology, contributed to the recognition of media studies and communication studies within the scientific imagination by rejecting sociological determinism. In the second part, we refer to the fact that media ecology, the complex metadiscipline that emerged from McLuhan and Neil Postman's intellectual pursuits, focuses on analyzing the impact of technologies on cultural environments in societies throughout h...

 The central theme of our text is the presence of a shadow in the communication academy in Latin America: the shadow of Marshall McLuhan. In the first section, we refer to some anecdotes about McLuhan’s participation in the First World Congress on Communication, held in 1974, in Mexico. This allows us to narrate how the first degree in communication sciences was conceived. In the second section, we identify some events that we consider particularly significant in the recovery of McLuhan’s work and thought in Latin America. In Latin America we must recover the questions that this wonderful visionary and philosopher of communication formulated. This will allow us to recover a large part of the time we have lost.

 The central theme of our text is the presence of a shadow in the communication academy in Latin America: the shadow of Marshall McLuhan. In the first section, we refer to some anecdotes about McLuhan’s participation in the First World Congress on Communication, held in 1974, in Mexico. This allows us to narrate how the first degree in communication sciences was conceived. In the second section, we identify some events that we consider particularly significant in the recovery of McLuhan’s work and thought in Latin America. In Latin America we must recover the questions that this wonderful visionary and philosopher of communication formulated. This will allow us to recover a large part of the time we have lost.