Digitalization and Religious Contact
The workshop will take place on 14-15 November 2019 at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at Ruhr University Bochum. The first day will be dedicated to presentations from international and national scholars followed by responses. On the second day will host a round table that will bring together senior researchers and early career scholars. Young researchers are invited to participate in the round table, where they can present and discuss their current research.
Religion in contemporary Europe is undergoing dynamic and compelling changes: for example, migrations are changing the religious landscape, creating the need for minorities to enter in public debates; discrimination and racism compel scholars to reflect on the role of media and free speech; the risk of radicalization of certain minorities is an urgent social and political issue. These changes often regard contacts between religious groups, involving minorities that have to confront mainstream religiosity and different religious traditions that coexist in the same environment.
Digitalization has a central impact on these religious changes. As digital media became increasingly pervasive in the European public sphere, interpersonal relations and cultural actions are inevitably conditioned by the presence of the Internet. Religious groups address each other and frame their identities through digital spaces, which are often intertwined with physical spaces.
However, scholars still need to find compelling methods and theories to address the ethical and social consequences of digitalization on religious groups and religious contact. While, in certain circumstances, existing methods and theories in media and religious studies can prove useful, there are some questions to be explored: How can scholars collect data about digital religion and analyze them? Which framework can better capture the role of the Internet in relation to religious contact? What kind of impact does digitalization have on religion, and how can it be analyzed?
Image: Dr. Giulia Evolvi
Program
Thursday14th November 2019
Introduction
09:30 – 09:40 am
// Welcome Address & Presentation of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg
Tim Karis (Bochum)
09:40 – 09:50 am
// Presentation of the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS))
Michael Baurmann (Bochum)
09:50 – 10:00 am
// Presentation of Entangled Religions
Maren Freudenberg (Bochum)
10:00 – 10:15 am
// Introduction to the Workshop
Giulia Evolvi & Nina Hahne (Bochum)
Session 1Chair: Michael Baurmann (Bochum)
10:15 – 11:15 am
// Digital Religion in the Era of Hybrid Media Environment – Mapping Theoretical and Methodological Challenges for
Current Research
Johanna Suminala (Helsiniki)
Response
Maren Freudenberg (Bochum)
11:15 – 11:30 am
// Coffee Break
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
// Analysing Religious Discourse Online: Theories, Methods, and Challenges
Stephen Pihlaja (Birmingham)
Response
Frederik Elwert (Bochum)
12:30 – 02:00 pm
// Lunch
Session 2Chair: Margherita Mantovani (Bochum/Rome)
02:00 – 03:00 pm
// Capital and Religious Networks in the Age of Digitalization
Mehmet Karacuka (Izmir/Bochum)
Response
Mouli Banerjee (Duisburg)
03:00 – 04:00 pm
// „Kill Jesus!“: Imagining the Other in Christian Videogames
Tim Hutchings (Nottingham)
Response
Anna Neumaier (Bochum)
04:00 – 04:30 pm
// Coffee Break
04:30 – 05:30 pm
// The Politics of Affect & Online Contestations of Religious & Cultural Identities
Mona Abdel-Fadil (Oslo)
Response
Abeer Saady (Dortmund)
06:00 pm
// Dinner
Friday15th November 2019
Session 3Chair: Eduard Iricinschi (Bochum)
10:00 – 11:00 am
// Religious Authority Online: Pope Francis‘ Instagram Account and Jewish Ask-The-Rabbi Sites
Oren Golan (Haifa)
Response
Victor Khroul (Bochum/Moscow)
11:00 – 11:30 am
// Coffee Break
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
// Of Modes and Materialities: A Media Anthropological Approach to Religious Change and Forced Migration
Susanne Stadlbauer (Bochum/Boulder)
Response
Samira Tabti (Bochum)