Giulia Evolvi - Blogging My Religion

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.

Giulia Evolvi is a Research Associate in Religion and Media at Ruhr University, Germany. Her research interests include religion and materiality, secularization, Islam, and Islamophobia. She has published various articles and chapters on these subjects in publications such as Media History, Social Compass, and Information, Communication & Society.

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Blogging My Religion

Secular, Muslim, and Catholic Media Spaces in Europe

Giulia Evolvi

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/religion/series/RDC

Giulia Evolvi

First published 2019
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2019 Giulia Evolvi

The right of Giulia Evolvi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Evolvi, Giulia, author.

Title: Blogging my religion : secular, Muslim, and Catholic media spaces in Europe / Giulia Evolvi.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge studies in religion and digital culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018031148 | ISBN 9781138562110 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351357210 (pdf) | ISBN 9781351357203 (epub) | ISBN 9781351357197 (mobi)

Subjects: LCSH: EuropeReligion21st century. | Blogs. | Social mediaSocial aspects.

Classification: LCC BL695 .E96 2018 | DDC 200.94/09051dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018031148

ISBN: 978-1-138-56211-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-71006-7 (ebk)

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Writing this book has been a long but fun and interesting process. It is based on my doctoral dissertation, and I wrote it during the first two years of my postdoctoral research, so its publication is both the best conclusion of my Ph.D. and hopefully the first step of my academic career.

My thanks go, first and foremost, to my Ph.D. adviser, Nabil Echchaibi, who is not only a brilliant mind but also a kind and compassionate person who pushed me to become the best scholar I could be. I would like to thank also the members of my dissertation committee: Stewart Hoover, the example of how extremely smart scholars can also be supportive and caring; Shu-Ling Chen Berggreen, who has been for me a wonderful mentor and a friend; Michela Ardizzoni, a strong and passionate professor who is a constant inspiration; Peter Simonson, who is an intellectual guide and whose refined rhetoric I will never end to admire. I am also very grateful to Janice Peck, Andrew Calabrese, Paul Voakes and all the professors and graduate students at the College of Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder who have helped and inspired me during my Ph.D. A special mention goes to Martha LaForge, who has always been there for graduate students in any way possible.

I would also like to thank all the members of the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture at the University of Colorado Boulder for providing me with an intellectually challenging and friendly environment to conduct my research. I thank Krissy Peterson for being such a smart and wonderful friend and Samira Rajabi for always inspiring me with her strength. Thanks to Susanne Stadlbauer, who has been my friend and colleague in both Colorado and Germany. I would like to mention in particular also Deborah Whitehead, Art Bamford, Ryan Bartlett, Patrick Johnson, Rachel Liberman, William Ramsey, Nathan Schneider, Brad Breiten, Henrik Reintoft Christensen, Laurens de Rooij, Brooke Edge, Ahammed Junaid, Raoof Mir, Jin Kyu Park, Fazlul Rahman, Lei Su, Sara Souza, Adriana do Amaral, Hugo Cordova. I thank Seung Soo Kim, Rianne Subijanto, Ashmi Desai for supporting me until the end, when I defended my dissertation. My Ph.D. was particularly pleasant thanks to Megan Hurson and Tyler Rollins, the best cohort for whom I could have hoped. Special thanks to Lynn Schofield Clark, who is the first person who suggested that I apply to CU Boulder for my Ph.D. and has been an inspiration ever since.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues from the Center for Religious Studies at Ruhr University, which was my intellectual home while writing this book. Thanks to Volkhard Krech, Alexandra Cuffel, and Kianoosh Rezania for providing a great leadership to the Kte Hamburger Kolleg (KHK) project of which I am part. I would like to mention my KHK colleagues Tim Karis, Jessie Pons, Eduard Iricinschi, Licia Di Giacinto, Knut Martin Stnkel. I also thank my media and religion people, in particular Frederik Elwert, Anna Neumaier, Samira Tabti. I would like to thank in particular Adam Knobler, who edited my book and was the first person to read the full manuscript.