@article {2686, title = {From audio tapes to video blogs: the delocalisation of authority in Islam}, journal = {Nations and Nationalism}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Today, a new breed of charismatic and media-savvy religious figures are reinvigorating internal debates on Islam by drawing large audiences across the Muslim world and the Muslim diaspora in the West. Using satellite media, websites, blogs and video blogs, these new religious celebrities are changing the nature of debate in Islam from a doctrinaire discourse to a practical discussion that focuses on individual enterprise as a spiritual quest. These leaders have become religious entrepreneurs, with sophisticated networks of message distribution and media presence. From Amr Khaled and Moez Masood, two leading figures of Arab Islamic entertainment television, to Baba Ali, a famous Muslim video blogger from California, Islam has never been more marketable. Satellite television and the internet are becoming fertile discursive spaces where not only religious meanings are reconfigured but also new Islamic experiences are mediated transnationally. This delocalisation of Islamic authority beyond the traditional sources of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is generating new producers and locales of religious meaning in Dubai, London, Paris and Los Angeles. This article examines the impact of celebrity religious figures and their new media technologies on the relativisation of authority in Islam and the emergence of a cosmopolitan transnational audience of Muslims. I ask if this transnational and seemingly apolitical effort is generating a new form of religious nationalism that devalues the importance of national loyalties.}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2010.00468.x}, author = {Echchaibi, Nabil} } @article {135, title = {Hyper-fundamentalism? Mediating Islam from the halal website to the Islamic talk show}, journal = {Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research}, year = {2008}, abstract = {Islam is going through a fundamental diffusion of religious knowledge and authority. Media technologies like the Web and satellite television are facilitating the emergence of a new breadth of Islam in the public sphere in Muslim societies and amongst Muslims in diaspora. Deeply influenced by the global and local dynamics of consumer culture, the proponents of this new Islam are more media-savvy and less dogmatic on how Islam should be mediated than their conservative counterparts. Unlike in the politically engaged Islam, the architects of this new trend are younger Muslims with more business skills than religious knowledge. From websites advertising the latest fashions in Islamic dress and others offering halal versions to non-Islamic foods such as the Italian Salami, the German Sausage or McDonald{\textquoteright}s burger to television shows encouraging Muslims to use their religion as a success formula for spiritual self-fulfillment and material achievement, the new economic liberalism of Islam is certainly modern in its mediation, but is its substance as liberal as the form? This paper examines how the new religious media are constructing the image of the modern Muslim and what kind of religious identities and subjectivities emerge as a result of a purely material consumption that is religiously committed. My analysis is based on a textual analysis of a popular Islamic television show on Iqra{\textquoteright}, a 24-hour Saudi religious channel that prides itself in being the first Islamic entertainment }, keywords = {Islam, satellite television, new media, Islamic authority, consumer culture, Amr Khaled}, url = {http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/9/9/9/1/pages299913/p299913-1.php}, author = {Echchaibi, Nabil} } @book {2679, title = {Voicing Diasporas: Ethnic Radio in Paris and Berlin Between Cultural Renewal and Retention}, year = {2011}, publisher = {Lexington Books}, organization = {Lexington Books}, abstract = {The events of 9/11 have cast a shadow of suspicion on Muslims in Western Europe and fostered a public discourse of arbitrary associations with violence and resistance to social and cultural integration. The antagonistic ascendancy of militant Islam globally and the anxiety this has engendered are animating day-to-day debates on the place and loyalty of Muslims in Western societies. Exploring the neglected reality of ethnic radio in Paris and Berlin, Voicing Diasporas: Ethnic Radio in Paris and Berlin Between Cultural Renewal and Retention examines how Muslim minorities of North African descent in France and Germany resist these glaring generalizations and challenge bounded narratives and laws of cultural citizenship in both countries. Through an analysis of Beur FM in Paris and Radio Multikulti in Berlin, this book also questions the reductionist view of diasporic media as expressions of longing, nostalgia, and cultural dislocation. This ground-breaking study is as essential read for not only scholars and higher educational students in various fields, but for those interested in this ever-changing, topical issue.}, url = {https://www.amazon.com/Voicing-Diasporas-Retention-Francophone-Postcolonial-ebook/dp/B005HIK942}, author = {Echchaibi, Nabil} } @article {134, title = {From the pulpit to the studio: Islam{\textquoteright}s internal battle}, journal = {Media Development Online}, year = {2007}, abstract = {In February 2006, when Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American activist in Southern California who advocates secularism in Muslim countries, defiantly told an Islamic sheikh on a widely popular Al-Jazeera news show {\textquoteright}to shut up and lis- ten, it{\textquoteright}s my turn{\textquoteright}, she knew she was making history on Arab television. Never before has the authority of Islam represented on this show by a conserva- tive sheikh from. Cairo{\textquoteright}s famed Al-Azhar University been challenged in a similarly brazen way by another Muslim, and much less so by a woman.}, keywords = {Islam, Muslim}, url = {http://rolandoperez.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/nabil-echchaibi.pdf}, author = {Echchaibi, Nabil} } @article {2677, title = {Muslimah Media Watch: Media activism and Muslim choreographies of social change}, journal = {Journalism }, year = {2013}, abstract = {This article explores media activism in the Muslim context by focusing on the blog, Muslimah Media Watch. It analyzes the significance of blogging as an activist tool used by a group of Muslim women to influence an ongoing and contested process of social change in Islam. Through interviews with the founder and bloggers of the site and a textual analysis of the blog posts, the author focuses on the aesthetic forms and discursive practices of digital Muslim activism and argues that projects such as Muslimah Media Watch should be evaluated not in terms of a revolutionary subversion of hegemonic discourse on gender in Islam, but rather as part of small but consistent disruptive flows of dissent which are significant precisely because of the nature of their intervention and the tactics of their resistance. The blog has also become a prime discursive and performative space where young Muslims debate and contest what it means to be modern in transnational settings.}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884913478360}, author = {Echchaibi, Nabil} } @mastersthesis {1196, title = {Give Me That Online Religion: Religious Authority and Resistance Through Blogging}, volume = {Master of Arts}, year = {2013}, school = {Georgia State University}, abstract = {This study of forty-nine Christian blogs explores how groups of bloggers in two case studies resist and/or perpetuate hegemonic gender ideologies online and where these bloggers draw authority from for these views. The findings reveal that bloggers are most likely to cite texts as sources of authority and are more likely to affirm authority (78.1\%) than to challenge it (25.7\%). The bloggers in my sample, who were majority male, use an array of strategies in their efforts to resist hegemonic gender norms. These included, but are not limited to, debating God{\textquoteright}s gender, emphasizing women{\textquoteright}s roles in the Bible, privileging equality in theological interpretations, redefining masculinity and employing satire and images to delegitimize hegemonic power}, keywords = {Authority, bloggers, Contemporary Religious Community, Digital Religion, New Media and Society, new media engagement, online identity, religious media research, Resistance}, url = {http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_theses/39/}, author = {Erin V. Echols} } @book {1272, title = {The Handbook of Internet Studies}, year = {2011}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, organization = {Blackwell Publishing}, abstract = {The Handbook of Internet Studies brings together scholars from a variety of fields to explore the profound shift that has occurred in how we communicate and experience our world as we have moved from the industrial era into the age of digital media. Presents a wide range of original essays by established scholars in everything from online ethics to ways in which indigenous peoples now use the Internet Looks at the role of the internet in modern societies, and the continuing development of internet studies as an academic field Explores Internet studies through history, society, culture, and the future of online media Provides introductory frameworks to ground and orientate the student, while also providing more experienced scholars with a convenient and comprehensive overview of the latest trends and critical directions in the many areas of Internet researc}, keywords = {digital media, frameworks, internet, Research}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781444314861}, author = {Mia Consalvo (Ed.) and Charles Ess (Ed.)} } @article {2906, title = {Mass higher education and the religious imagination in contemporary Arab societies}, journal = {American Ethologist}, year = {1992}, abstract = {This article explores the relationship between the recent growth of mass higher education in the Arab Muslim world, particularly in Oman and North Africa, religious activism, and the implications of the {\textquotedblleft}objectified{\textquotedblright} religious knowledge and authority that modern education encourages. Study of the new ways of knowing and the emerging networks for communication and action produced by mass higher education and contemporary religious activism offers insight into the {\textquotedblleft}political economy{\textquotedblright} of religious knowledge: the interplay of religion, politics, and national identity. [Islam, Middle East, authority, religion, education]}, url = {https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/ae.1992.19.4.02a00010}, author = {Eickelman, D. F.} } @book {314, title = {New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere}, series = {Indiana Series in Middle East Studies}, year = {2003}, pages = {xv + 213}, publisher = {Indiana University Press}, organization = {Indiana University Press}, edition = {2}, address = {Bloomington}, keywords = {Islam, Muslim, New Media}, author = {Dale Eickelman and Anderson, Jon} } @book {2859, title = {Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age}, series = {Routledge}, year = {2007}, abstract = {In a society overrun by commercial clutter, religion has become yet another product sold in the consumer marketplace, and faiths of all kinds must compete with a myriad of more entertaining and more convenient leisure activities. Brands of Faith argues that in order to compete effectively faiths have had to become brands {\textendash} easily recognizable symbols and spokespeople with whom religious prospects can make immediate connections Mara Einstein shows how religious branding has expanded over the past twenty years to create a blended world of commerce and faith where the sacred becomes secular and the secular sacred. In a series of fascinating case studies of faith brands, she explores the significance of branded church courses, such as Alpha and The Purpose Driven Life, mega-churches, and the popularity of the televangelist Joel Olsteen and television presenter Oprah Winfrey, as well as the rise of Kaballah. She asks what the consequences of this religious marketing will be, and outlines the possible results of religious commercialism {\textendash} good and bad. Repackaging religion {\textendash} updating music, creating teen-targeted bibles {\textendash} is justifiable and necessary. However, when the content becomes obscured, religion may lose its unique selling proposition {\textendash} the very ability to raise us above the market.}, isbn = {9780415409773}, url = {https://www.routledge.com/Brands-of-Faith-Marketing-Religion-in-a-Commercial-Age/Einstein/p/book/9780415409773}, author = {Einstein, Mara} } @article {2698, title = {Online Islamophobia and the politics of fear: manufacturing the green scare}, journal = {Ethnic and Racial Studies}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Negative attitudes and explicit racism against Muslims are increasingly visible in public discourse throughout Europe. Right-wing populist parties have strengthened their positions by focusing on the {\textquoteleft}Islamic threat{\textquoteright} to the West. Concurrently, the Internet has facilitated a space where racist attitudes towards Muslims are easily disseminated into the public debate, fuelling animosity against European Muslims. This paper explores part of the online Islamophobic network and scrutinizes the discursive strategies deployed by three {\textquoteleft}prominent{\textquoteright} online actors. By combining social network analysis and critical discourse analysis, the study shows that Islamophobic web pages constitute a dynamic network with ties to different political and geographical milieus. They create a seemingly mainstream political position by framing racist standpoints as a defence of Western values and freedom of speech. The study also shows that Islamophobic discourse is strengthened by xenophobic currents within mass media, and by the legitimization of intellectuals and political actors.}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2015.1021264?journalCode=rers20}, author = {Ekman, Mattias} } @article {2907, title = {Procedural justice in contacts with the police: Testing a relational model of authority in a mixed methods study}, journal = {Psychology, Public Policy, and Law}, year = {2011}, abstract = {A relational model of authority (Tyler \& Lind, 1992) emphasizes the role of procedural justice (the fairness of methods used to achieve outcomes) in public support for and evaluation of the police. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study tested the model in the context of victim{\textendash}police interactions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 110 people who had reported a crime (personal or property) to the police in the previous year. Quantitative findings supported the predictions that higher perceived antecedents of procedural justice would be associated with higher perceived legitimacy (obligation to obey the law), outcome fairness, and satisfaction with the contact. Antecedents of procedural justice were a stronger predictor of outcome fairness and satisfaction than the realization of a desired outcome, and a stronger predictor of legitimacy than criminal history. Qualitative findings supported these results. It appears that procedural justice has the potential for helping to motivate individuals with criminal history to obey the law. Implications for evaluation of police performance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)}, url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232563422_Procedural_Justice_in_Contacts_with_the_Police_Testing_a_Relational_Model_of_Authority_in_a_Mixed_Methods_Study}, author = {Elliott, I. and Thomas, S. D. M. and Ogloff, J. R. P.} } @book {359, title = {The Technological System}, year = {1980}, publisher = {Continuum}, organization = {Continuum}, address = {New York}, keywords = {system, technology}, url = {http://books.google.com/books?id=EDgSAQAAMAAJ\&q=The+technological+system\&dq=The+technological+system\&hl=en\&sa=X\&ei=IRorT6qdI4Pu2gXRgqmXDw\&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA}, author = {Ellul, J.} } @book {358, title = {The Technological Society}, year = {1964}, publisher = {Vintage Books}, organization = {Vintage Books}, address = {New York}, abstract = {A penetrating analysis of our technical civilization and of the effect of an increasingly standardized culture on the future of man.}, keywords = {society, technology}, url = {http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Technological_Society.html?id=9eftOwAACAAJ}, author = {Ellul, J.} } @article {2841, title = {Me, myself and the other. Interreligious and intrareligious relations in neo-conservative online forums}, journal = {Religion}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The Internet can be a place for exchange, but also foster echo chambers of closed world views. This poses interesting questions for the possibility of interreligious dialogue online. The article examines the cases of German Evangelical and Salafist Internet forums which mainly target a specific religious denomination, but nevertheless provide spaces for contact between different religions and denominations. For the study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative text analysis is applied. Quantitative analysis makes it possible to gain an overview of the discussed themes from a large body of text and serves as a basis for sampling smaller textual units for close examination using qualitative content analysis. The analysis yields two primary results: First, intrareligious dialogue plays a particular role for the negotiation of religious identity. Second, interreligious relations reflect the societal positions of both religious groups. }, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2020.1754603?journalCode=rrel20}, author = {Elwert, Frederik and Tabti, Samira and Pfahler, Lukas} } @article {378, title = {Imaging religious identity: intertextual play among postmodern Christian bloggers}, journal = {Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet}, volume = {4}, year = {2010}, abstract = {In the fledgling but rapidly growing academic discipline of religion, media and culture, much attention has been paid to the use of new media to create and develop individual religious identities, build connections and foster group identities. Yet to date most research has focussed on exchanges of literal text between users, and little has considered the importance of visual text (either still images or videos) in the communication of meaning in online environments. In this presentation, I would like to introduce the image as an object of research in the construction of religious identity in online interaction. The presentation will explore the blogs of 35 Australians who are conversant with a religious movement known as {\textquotedblleft}the emerging church{\textquotedblright}, a global collection of ideas and conversations residing mainly in traditional Protestant churches that seeks new expressions of faithful living in postmodern urban culture, and challenges the consumerism of contemporary evangelicalism seen in {\textquotedblleft}the megachurch{\textquotedblright}. By the use of captioned images, video capture (including links to YouTube) and web page design, I will show how bloggers endeavour to present themselves as being {\textquotedblleft}on the margins{\textquotedblright} of conventional Christian life and practice, and employ intertextual play to challenge modern binary oppositions of orthodoxy/heresy, art/dirt, fun/work, and constructions of gender and ethnicity.}, keywords = {Blogging, Christian, identity, religion}, url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2010/11300/pdf/06.pdf}, author = {Emerson Teusner, Paul} } @mastersthesis {384, title = {Emerging church bloggers in Australia: Prophets, priests and rulers in God{\textquoteright}s virtual world}, volume = {Doctor of Philosophy}, year = {2010}, keywords = {Australia, Blogging, Christianity, Church, Virtual}, url = {http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6138/EmersonTeusner.pdf}, author = {Emerson Teusner, P} } @article {381, title = {iReligion}, journal = {Studies in World Christianity}, volume = {17}, year = {2011}, abstract = {This article aims to present a model for investigating the capacity of mobile devices to frame religious experience by the creation, consumption and distribution of religious media text. Exploring three iPhone religious {\textquoteleft}apps{\textquoteright}, this article will consider how the iPhone frames religious information and privileges aesthetic styles, which affects how users of the device connect with religious media text and other users. This exploration offers insights into how the iPhone as an object, together with the metaphors and symbols that are incumbent with it, frame religious experience and participation. }, keywords = {cell phone, Christianity, online religions}, url = {http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/swc.2011.0017}, author = {Emerson Teusner, P and Torma, R} } @inbook {380, title = {Networked individualism, discursive constructions of community and religious identity: The case of Australian Christian bloggers}, booktitle = {Networked Sociability and Individualism: Technology for Personal and Professional Relationships}, year = {2011}, publisher = {IGI Global}, organization = {IGI Global}, chapter = {13}, address = {Hershey, PA}, keywords = {Blogging, Christianity, emerging church, network}, author = {Emerson Teusner, Paul} } @article {379, title = {New thoughts on the status of the religious Cyborg}, journal = {Journal of Technology, Theology \& Religion}, volume = {1}, year = {2010}, abstract = {This article suggests some implications of this development for the study of online religion. Drawing from a survey of literature from the fields of religious sociology and studies into the religious construction of both Internet and user, this paper outlines how the Cyborg has served as a metaphor for the study of online religion, and how that metaphor has been shaped in line with the aims and pursuits of researchers. The arrival of Web 2.0, however, calls us to rethink the relationship between technology and user, and hence new questions must be asked by researchers. This paper suggests what these questions may be.}, keywords = {cyborg, Religious sociology}, url = {http://www.techandreligion.com/Resources/Teusner\%20JTTR.pdf}, author = {Emerson Teusner, P} } @inbook {586, title = {Constituents of a Theory of Media}, booktitle = {Electronic Media and Technoculture}, year = {2000}, publisher = {Rutgers University Press }, organization = {Rutgers University Press }, chapter = {2 (pg 51-76)}, address = {New Brunswick }, abstract = {Never before has the future been so systematically envisioned, aggressively analyzed, and grandly theorized as in the present rush to cyberspace and digitalization. In the mid-twentieth century, questions about media technologies and society first emerged as scholarly hand-wringing about the deleterious sweep of electronic media and information technologies in mass culture. Now, questions about new technologies and their social and cultural impact are no longer limited to intellectual soothsayers in the academy but are pervasive parts of day-to-day discourses in newspapers, magazines, television, and film. Electronic Media and Technoculture anchors contemporary discussion of the digital future within a critical tradition about the media arts, society, and culture. The collection examines a range of phenomena, from boutique cyber-practices to the growing ubiquity of e-commerce and the internet. The essays chart a critical field in media studies, providing a historical perspective on theories of new media. The contributors place discussions of producing technologies in dialogue with consuming technologies, new media in relation to old media, and argue that digital media should not be restricted to the constraining public discourses of either the computer, broadcast, motion-picture, or internet industries. The collection charts a range of theoretical positions to assist readers interested in new media and to enable them to weather the cycles of hardware obsolescence and theoretical volatility that characterize the present rush toward digital technologies.}, keywords = {Constituents, electronic, media, media theory, theory}, issn = {0813527341}, url = {http://books.google.com/books?id=n1QqHWAlmF4C\&pg=PA51\&lpg=PA51\&dq=Constituents+of+a+Theory+of+Media+by+Enzensberger+in+Electronic+Media+and+Technoculture\&source=bl\&ots=BEsekeBaWI\&sig=GUlPt4HPCAmlPqQlIgZZNSe-PIA\&hl=en\&sa=X\&ei=m0ljUO-6M6Ke2QWc9IHIBQ\&ved=0CC}, author = {Enzensberger, H.M.}, editor = {Caldwell, J.T.} } @inbook {1219, title = {Introduction: What is internet studies?}, booktitle = {The Handbook of Internet Studies}, year = {2011}, publisher = {Oxford: Blackwell}, organization = {Oxford: Blackwell}, chapter = {Introduction (p. 1-8)}, keywords = {communication research, Internet Histories Methods and Ethics, Internet Methodologies and the Online/Offline Divide, Internet Studies, Media studies, Online research}, url = {http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405185880.html}, author = {Ess, C and Consalvo, M} } @book {221, title = {Critical Thinking and the Bible in the Age of New Media}, year = {2004}, publisher = {University Press of America}, organization = {University Press of America}, address = {Landham, Maryland}, abstract = {In Critical Thinking and the Bible in the Age of New Media, Charles Ess collects contemporary scholarship to address the question: What does critical thinking about the Bible mean as the Bible is _transmediated_ from print to electronic formats? This volume, the first of its kind, is made up of contributions originally developed for a conference sponsored by the American Bible Society. Ess provides a collection grounded in a wide diversity of religious traditions and academic disciplines--philosophy, biblical studies, theology, feminism, aesthetics, communication theory, and media studies. His introduction summarizes the individual chapters and develops their broader significance for contemporary debates regarding media, postmodernism, and the possible relationships between faith and reason}, keywords = {Bible, New Media}, url = {http://books.google.com/books?id=Ak-IYZaBFK4C\&printsec=frontcover$\#$v=onepage\&q\&f=false}, author = {Ess, Charles} } @article {1176, title = {Prophetic Communities Online? Threat and promise for the church in cyberspace}, journal = {Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture}, volume = {34}, year = {1999}, chapter = {87}, keywords = {cyberspace, prophetic church, Prophetic Communities}, url = {http://www.drury.edu/ess/church/church.html}, author = {Charles Ess} } @book {256, title = {SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World}, year = {2009}, publisher = {Zondervan}, organization = {Zondervan}, address = {Grand Rapids, MI}, abstract = {The meeting place for the church of tomorrow will be a computer screen. Don{\textquoteright}t laugh, and don{\textquoteright}t feel alarmed. The real-world church isn{\textquoteright}t going anywhere until Jesus returns. But the virtual church is already here, and it{\textquoteright}s poised for explosive growth. SimChurch invites you to explore the vision, the concerns, the challenges, and the remarkable possibilities of building Christ{\textquoteright}s kingdom online. What is the virtual church, and what different forms might it take? Will it be an extension of a real-world church, or a separate entity? How will it encourage families to worship together? Is it even possible or healthy to {\textquoteright}be{\textquoteright} the church in the virtual world? If you{\textquoteright}re passionate about the church and evangelism, and if you feel both excitement and concern over the new virtual world the internet is creating, then these are just some of the vital issues you and other postmillennial followers of Jesus must grapple with. Rich in both biblical and current insight, combining exploration and critique, SimChurch opens a long-overdue discussion you can{\textquoteright}t afford to miss.}, keywords = {Christianity, Church, Virtual}, url = {http://books.google.com/books?id=a9-1bdvTXiUC\&printsec=frontcover$\#$v=onepage\&q\&f=false}, author = {Estes, Douglas} } @article {2827, title = {$\#$Islamexit: inter-group antagonism on Twitter}, journal = {Information, Communication \& Society}, year = {2019}, abstract = {While analyses of Twitter have shown that it holds democratic potential, it can also provide a venue for hate speech against minorities. The articulation of opinion-based identities, the tendency to homophily, and the use of emotional discourses can indeed help spread verbal violence on Twitter. This paper discusses group polarization on Twitter through Mouffe{\textquoteright}s distinction of agonistic and antagonistic politics, as elaborated in the 2013 book {\textquotedblleft}Agonistic: Thinking the World Politically{\textquotedblright}. The theory is supported by a practical example: a qualitative analysis of Islamophobic tweets sent in the aftermath of the 2016 British referendum on European Union membership, which is commonly referred to as {\textquoteleft}Brexit{\textquoteright}. Following the UK{\textquoteright}s decision to leave the EU, there was a surge of Islamophobic attacks on Twitter. My analysis reveals that anti-Islamic sentiments were articulated in terms of complex identities referring not only to religion but also to ethnicity, politics, and gender. The paper shows that these tweets are antagonistic in character because they prevent the dialogic participation of Muslims and propagate symbolic violence rather than engaging in constructive conflicts.}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1388427?journalCode=rics20}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2845, title = {Materiality, Authority, and Digital Religion: The Case of a Neo-Pagan Forum}, journal = {Entangled Religions}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The study of material culture increasingly pays attention to digital religion, but there are certain aspects, such as religious authority, that remain underresearched. Some questions are still open for inquiry: What can a material approach contribute to the understanding of religious authority in digital venues? How can authority be materially displayed on the Internet? This article shows how religious authority is affected by material practices connected with digital media use through the qualitative analysis of a NeoPagan forum, The Celtic Connection. NeoPagans tend to hold a non traditional notion of authority, accord great importance to material practices, and extensively use the Internet. The analysis of the forum suggests that NeoPagans use digital venues to look for informal sources of authority and strategies to embed materiality in online narratives. The article claims that it is important to develop new frameworks to analyze nontraditional authority figures and new definitions of media that include both physical objects and communication technologies. }, url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342361993_Materiality_Authority_and_Digital_Religion_The_Case_of_a_NeoPagan_Forum}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2826, title = {Emotional Politics, Islamophobic Tweet. The Hashtags $\#$Brexit and $\#$chiudiamoiporti}, journal = {PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Contemporary far-right politicians increasingly diffuse messages through social networks. This article argues that online communication may prove effective for political engagement because it can create emotional reactions against certain groups, in a process that I call "emotional antagonism." An example of emotional antagonism is online Islamophobia, which considers Islam as supposedly incompatible with democratic values and tends to conflate Muslims with migrants. Through qualitative observations and textual analyses of tweets, this article explores the following questions: How do certain online exchanges emotionally frame Muslims as the social "others" in relation to European culture? Why and how does the Internet facilitate the spread of emotional antagonism? What type of political propaganda and participation is connected to affective online Islamophobia? The article analyses two case studies: 1) Islamophobic tweets sent in the aftermath of the British referendum in 2016, with the hashtag $\#$Brexit; 2) Anti-Muslim tweets that contain the hashtag $\#$chiudiamoiporti (close the ports), launched by Italian Vice Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in 2018 to support anti-migration measures. The article shows that exploring emotional antagonism can add complexity to the current understanding of Islamophobic conflicts, of social media platforms{\textquoteright} characteristics, and of political participation based on online communication. }, keywords = {Brexit, Islamophobia, Matteo Salvini, migration, Twitter}, url = {http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/21281}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2823, title = {The veil and its materiality: Muslim women{\textquoteright}s digital narratives about the burkini ban}, journal = {Journal of Contemporary Religion}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In the summer of 2016, around 30 French cities banned the burkini{\textemdash}swimwear used by Muslim women that covers the entire body and head{\textemdash}from public beaches. French authorities supported the ban by claiming that the burkini was unhygienic, a uniform of Islamic extremism, and a symbol of women{\textquoteright}s oppression. Muslim head-coverings, including the burkini, are religious objects whose materiality points to complex semantic meanings often mediated in Internet discourses. Through a qualitative analysis of visual and textual narratives against the burkini ban circulated by Muslim women, this article looks at the way digital media practices help counteract stereotypes and gain control of visual representations. Muslim women focus on two main topics: 1) they challenge the idea of Muslims being {\textquoteleft}aggressors{\textquoteright} by describing the burkini as a comfortable swimsuit not connected with terrorism; 2) they refuse to be considered {\textquoteleft}victims{\textquoteright} by showing that the burkini holds different meanings that do not necessarily entail women{\textquoteright}s submission. Muslim women{\textquoteright}s digital narratives positively associate the materiality of the burkini with safety and freedom and focus on secular values rather than religious meanings.}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2019.1658936?journalCode=cjcr20}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2829, title = {The Myth of Catholic Italy in Post-Fascist Newsreels}, journal = {Media History}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This article analyzes how Catholicism had a central role in the identity-creation process after the War. The study employs the online archive of the national agency {\textquoteleft}Istituto Luce{\textquoteright} to analyze 261 newsreels about religion released between 1946 and 1965. The article uses (i) Benedict Anderson{\textquoteright}s work on imagined communities and (ii) Roland Barthes{\textquoteright} concept of mythology as theoretical frameworks. This study indicates that the majority of newsreels presented Catholicism as intertwined with Italian politics, and as a central element of both tradition and modernity. These findings suggest that the newly formed Italian democracy used the media to emphasize certain aspects of Catholicism, while overlooking others, such as its implications with the Fascist regime. In this way, the media contributed to create a post-war myth where Catholicism represented a moral resource for the country{\textquoteright}s leaders and citizens. This historical process contributes to explain the contemporary pervasiveness of Catholicism in Italian media. }, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2016.1207510?journalCode=cmeh20}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2799, title = {Hate in a Tweet: Exploring Internet-Based Islamophobic Discourses}, journal = {Religions}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Islamophobia is the unfounded hostility against Muslims. While anti-Muslim feelings have been explored from many perspectives and in different settings, Internet-based Islamophobia remains under-researched. What are the characteristics of online Islamophobia? What are the differences (if any) between online and offline anti-Muslim narratives? This article seeks to answer these questions through a qualitative analysis of tweets written in the aftermath of the 2016 British referendum on European Union membership (also known as {\textquotedblleft}Brexit{\textquotedblright}), which was followed by a surge of Islamophobic episodes. The analysis of the tweets suggests that online Islamophobia largely enhances offline anti-Islam discourses, involving narratives that frame Muslims as violent, backward, and unable to adapt to Western values. Islamophobic tweets also have some peculiar characteristics: they foster global networks, contain messages written by so-called {\textquotedblleft}trolls{\textquotedblright} and {\textquotedblleft}bots,{\textquotedblright} and contribute to the spreading of {\textquotedblleft}fake news.{\textquotedblright} The article suggests that, in order to counteract online Islamophobia, it is important to take into account the networked connections among social media, news media platforms, and offline spaces.}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/10/307/htm}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {2828, title = {Hybrid Muslim identities in digital space: The Italian blog Yalla}, journal = {Social Compass}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Islam is often regarded as being incompatible with European values. In Italy, for example, anti-Islamic points of view reiterate the religion{\textquoteright}s alleged inconsistency with Catholicism and secularism. This article argues that narrative practices can challenge this idea by articulating Muslim hybrid identities that are compatible with Italian culture and society. The second-generation blog Yalla Italia represents a {\textquoteleft}third space{\textquoteright} where young Italian Muslims contrast dominant media stereotypes, thereby creating {\textquoteleft}disruptive flows of dissent{\textquoteright}. A textual analysis of the blog and interviews with some of the bloggers reveal that three main topics are employed to overcome marginalization: (1) critiques of mainstream media (2) narratives about family lives and the practice of Islam, and (3) advocacy of a quicker procedure for gaining Italian citizenship. The bloggers adopt a storytelling style to press for social and institutional change and explain how they succeed in adapting Islam to Italian society. Their religious diversity is thus perceived as providing a potential for Italy, rather than being a mark of marginalization. }, keywords = {internet, Islam, Italy}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0037768617697911}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @book {2738, title = {Blogging My Religion: Secular, Muslim, and Catholic Media Spaces in Europe}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Religion in Europe is currently undergoing changes that are reconfiguring physical and virtual spaces of practice and belief, and these changes need to be understood with regards to the proliferation of digital media discourses. This book explores religious change in Europe through a comparative approach that analyzes Atheist, Catholic, and Muslim blogs as spaces for articulating narratives about religion that symbolically challenge the power of religious institutions. The book adds theoretical complexity to the study of religion and digital media with the concept of hypermediated religious spaces. The theory of hypermediation helps to critically discuss the theory of secularization and to contextualize religious change as the result of multiple entangled phenomena. It considers religion as being connected with secular and post-secular spaces, and media as embedding material forms, institutions, and technologies. A spatial perspective contextualizes hypermediated religious spaces as existing at the interstice of alternative and mainstream, private and public, imaginary and real venues.By offering the innovative perspective of hypermediated religious spaces, this book will be of significant interest to scholars of religious studies, the sociology of religion, and digital media.}, isbn = {9780367584870}, url = {https://www.routledge.com/Blogging-My-Religion-Secular-Muslim-and-Catholic-Media-Spaces-in-Europe/Evolvi/p/book/9780367584870}, author = {Evolvi, Giulia} } @article {347, title = {Witchcraft: Changing Patterns of Participation in the Early Twenty-First Century}, journal = {The Pomegranate}, volume = {11}, year = {2009}, pages = {165-180}, chapter = {165}, abstract = {There are indications that the phenomenal growth of Witchcraft and Paganism during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century may be slowing, based on statistics from selected search engines, websites, and blogs. In particular, inquisitive inquiry about contemporary Witchcraft{\textemdash} that is, those who are not Witches but are looking for information about it, such as seekers, dabblers, researchers, students doing term papers, and newspaper reporters{\textemdash}has declined since 2004. This decline, however, does not indicate that the religion is {\textquotedblleft}dying out{\textquotedblright} because while the rate of increase has slowed it has not been eliminated; and of greater import, community networking appears to have remained stable, or possibly to have increased. Community networking can be seen in the use of Internet sites to share information about Witchcraft, upcoming rituals, or books and teachers, those participating in dialogue, or using the Internet as part of their spiritual work or for communications between coven meetings, or with coven members who are unable to attend. The statistics suggest that contemporary Witchcraft and Paganism may be in a period of change, in which there is a consolidation of membership with a slowing of the rate of new members, particularly among the young. Community building on the Internet continues to be important, but the intensity appears to be lessening, with indications of more people {\textquotedblleft}posting{\textquotedblright} but doing so less frequently. We suggest that this indicates that Witchcraft is now entering a new phase of consolidation with less intense participation by members.}, keywords = {alternative religion online, paganism online}, author = {Douglas Ezzy and Berger, Helen} }