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In Achieving Our Humanity, Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze describes the philosophical thinking underlying the modern invention of race but pays little attention to the media environment of the modern world. Media Ecologists assume people think in patterns that reflect the way they communicate among themselves; thus, an understanding of the modern invention of race cannot be separated from the communication technologies of modernity. In this article, I seek to build on Eze’s argument by discussing the role of the media environment in shaping the modern invention of race. By putting postcolonial scholarship in conversation with media ecology scholarship, I discuss the process of racial othering through the lens of several crucial communication media – including technologies of travel, printed books, maps and education systems – to conclude that the media environment of the modern age played an active role in shaping the process of racial othering that led to the modern invention of race.