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5 pages, 204 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Introduction: Digital Youth and Religion

by Oren Golan

Religions 2023, 14(6), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060704 - 25 May 2023

Viewed by 1261

Abstract

Public and academic discourse on the online activities of youth have been stormy and ambivalent at times (Lynn Schofield Clark 2013) [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

Research

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18 pages, 911 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Muslim Instagram: Eternal Youthfulness and Cultivating Deen

by Farah Hasan

Religions 2022, 13(7), 658; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070658 - 15 Jul 2022

Viewed by 3615

Abstract

This article argues that Muslims have created a specific Muslim Instagram that sustains youthfulness and cultivates their deen (religion). Instagram as a social has become a space for Muslim youth all over the world to share images. These images, being circulated over Instagram [...] Read more.

This article argues that Muslims have created a specific Muslim Instagram that sustains youthfulness and cultivates their deen (religion). Instagram as a social has become a space for Muslim youth all over the world to share images. These images, being circulated over Instagram across localities, create visual representations for other users. For this research, over 500 images with the hashtags #muslim and #islam were analysed to understand how Muslims represent themselves and their religion online. A two-step methodological procedure involved the adaption of iconographical and iconological techniques of visual art interpretation to the images collected. The concept of youthfulness and the Islamic concept of deen will be discussed in relation to the analysed images to demonstrate the emergence of a Muslim Instagram. Muslim Instagram is a translocal space that enables Muslims to simultaneously act eternally youthful and cultivate their deen. By playing with notions of youthfulness, Muslims recontextualise their faith and practice online to cultivate their deen. They thereby embed Islam and subsume Islamic concepts and practices into modern global lifestyle patterns of consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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16 pages, 1783 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Everyone’s Accountable? Peer Sexual Abuse in Religious Schools, Digital Revelations, and Denominational Contests over Protection

by Ben Kasstan

Religions 2022, 13(6), 556; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060556 - 16 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1957

Abstract

Since the emergence of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, online tracts have been employed to publicly reveal experiences of sexual abuse and assault among women and men in religious institutions and to shame abusers, which tend to be examined as an issue of [...] Read more.

Since the emergence of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, online tracts have been employed to publicly reveal experiences of sexual abuse and assault among women and men in religious institutions and to shame abusers, which tend to be examined as an issue of women’s rights or child protection from adult predators. Drawing on the use of digital reporting platforms to testify against peer offences within religious schools, this paper asks how do such testimonies reveal adolescent agency and provoke policy re/actions about the accountability of religious institutions? Digital revelations submitted anonymously to Everyone’s Invited are analysed alongside interviews conducted with educators, parents, and youths in Jewish schools in Britain. Findings indicate how adolescent digital revelations of peer sexual abuse call for accountability by implicating the faith schools in question, which in turn triggers pedagogical and policy debates from educators. Public responses reflect diverging denominational positions on how to balance the protection of young people and safeguard religious self-protectionism. The paper spotlights the agency of youth in shaming peer abusers as much as faith schools and structures of religious authority, and in turn, how online shaming reveals frictions over accountability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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17 pages, 2245 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shia Clerics, Holy Sites, and the Online Visual Culture of the Revolutionary Youth in Iran

by Alireza Taherifard

Religions 2022, 13(6), 542; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060542 - 13 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2095

Abstract

Since the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) called on the clergy to embark on an online jihad to rescue youngsters trapped in the “killing field” of the internet, a vast number of clerics and state-sponsored religious organizations and actors [...] Read more.

Since the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) called on the clergy to embark on an online jihad to rescue youngsters trapped in the “killing field” of the internet, a vast number of clerics and state-sponsored religious organizations and actors have expanded their online activities. The growing body of Islamic online contents produced by the IRI’s promoters and the proliferation of social media-related practices in religious places and events have shaped the online visual culture of the Iranian revolutionary youths. To explore this under-researched area, this study concentrates on three sets of visual tropes: (1) selfies with martyrs, (2) selfies taken by revolutionary clerics in disaster-stricken areas, and (3) shared images of the holy shrine of Imam Reza on Instagram. In addition to online documents (including posters, photographs, and reports), the data includes selectively chosen Instagram postings retrieved by searching pertinent accounts, hashtags, and locations on the platform. The investigation inquires the ways in which online image-making has been incorporated in the construction of holy sites and the culture of sacrifice and martyrdom propagated by the IRI as ideal youth aspirations. The findings demonstrate the extensive appropriation of social media and intensive integration of online image-making in this field. The study contributes to understanding of the online spaces and practices aimed at extending the influence over the online youth culture in Iran in line with the IRI’s cultural plans and policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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16 pages, 1680 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Reactions to Muslim Identity Building through Social Media: User Comments on YouTube Street Interview Videos

by Enes Abanoz

Religions 2022, 13(6), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060498 - 30 May 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2284

Abstract

With the expanding digital public sphere, social media have worked as tools that construct and maintain the boundaries and descriptors of social identity among members, by portraying and reinforcing content shared by communities and cultures. Religious leaders and groups have used social media [...] Read more.

With the expanding digital public sphere, social media have worked as tools that construct and maintain the boundaries and descriptors of social identity among members, by portraying and reinforcing content shared by communities and cultures. Religious leaders and groups have used social media to make themselves more visible and to communicate their faith’s mission. The scope of this study is to use Henri Tajfel’s social identity theory to examine the viewers’ comments on the content created by a religious individual/group for the production, shaping, and reproduction of the Muslim identity through YouTube. We have used Corpus Linguistics (CL) methods to examine relative frequencies and emerging statistical significance of lexical patterns in viewers’ comments. This analysis shows that a strong “we” versus “you” dichotomization exists between the in-group, Muslims, and the out-group, persons who are systematically degraded as being low-informed religious, or non-religious, in street interviews. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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13 pages, 870 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Legitimation of New Media for Religious Youth: Orthodox Elites’ Approach to Adolescent Youngsters’ Engagement with Digital Worlds

by Oren Golan and Yaakov Don

Religions 2022, 13(6), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060484 - 26 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1959

Abstract

The promulgation of new media has generated substantial dilemmas for religious communities in terms of its use, implementation, and impact on youth’s socialization. Previous research has echoed religious authorities’ concern regarding the widespread integration of new media yet has done little to delineate [...] Read more.

The promulgation of new media has generated substantial dilemmas for religious communities in terms of its use, implementation, and impact on youth’s socialization. Previous research has echoed religious authorities’ concern regarding the widespread integration of new media yet has done little to delineate their narratives of legitimation. Ergo, the question is begged, how do religious communities legitimate the use of new media? Utilizing a case study approach, this study focuses on the social construction of new media’s legitimacy within the Jewish Religious-Zionist community in Israel, through an analysis of the community’s educational elite. To this end, 26 in-depth interviews with the community’s prominent educational leaders were conducted. Findings indicate 4 primary narratives that are employed to legitimate new media use: (1) acclaiming modernity; (2) sanctifying the new media; (3) promoting solidarity; and (4) religious study and the public’s ability to choose. Understanding these narratives of legitimation towards new media sheds light on the ways that modern ideas are incrementally being integrated into religious communities, and the ways the elite negotiate its integration through what can be seen as their most weighty tool, that of youth socialization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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15 pages, 317 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Islam and Muslim Millennials: How Social Media Influencers Reimagine Religious Authority and Islamic Practices

by Bouziane Zaid, Jana Fedtke, Don Donghee Shin, Abdelmalek El Kadoussi and Mohammed Ibahrine

Religions 2022, 13(4), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040335 - 08 Apr 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 10310

Abstract

Digital platforms have empowered individuals and communities to re-negotiate long-established notions of religion and authority. A new generation of social media influencers has recently emerged in the Muslim world. They are western-educated, unique storytellers, and savvy in digital media production. This raises new [...] Read more.

Digital platforms have empowered individuals and communities to re-negotiate long-established notions of religion and authority. A new generation of social media influencers has recently emerged in the Muslim world. They are western-educated, unique storytellers, and savvy in digital media production. This raises new questions on the future of Islam in the context of emerging challenges, such as the openness of technology and the often-perceived closedness of religious and cultural systems within Muslim societies. This paper uses a multiple case research design to examine the roles of social media influencers in reimagining Islam and reshaping spiritual beliefs and religious practices among young people in the Gulf Region, the Arab world, and beyond. We used thematic analysis of the Instagram and YouTube content of four social media influencers in the Gulf Region: Salama Mohamed and Khalid Al Ameri from the United Arab Emirates, Ahmad Al-Shugairi from Saudi Arabia, and Omar Farooq from Bahrain. The study found that social media influencers are challenging traditional religious authorities as they reimagine Muslim identities based on a new global lifestyle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

14 pages, 263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Muslim YouTubers in Turkey and the Authoritarian Male Gaze on YouTube

by Esma Çelebioğlu

Religions 2022, 13(4), 318; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040318 - 02 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4977

Abstract

The increased digitalization in today’s world, including social interactions online, as well as digital practices and performances, has a significant impact on the identity formation of youth and reflects their self-representation in society and the global world. This article examines how gender identities [...] Read more.

The increased digitalization in today’s world, including social interactions online, as well as digital practices and performances, has a significant impact on the identity formation of youth and reflects their self-representation in society and the global world. This article examines how gender identities shape online representations of religious youth in Turkey. To this end, this study particularly focuses on young Muslim YouTubers whose religious identity appears either as a part of their images (i.e., veiled women/hijabi YouTubers) or through the contents they create (Muslim male YouTubers). Presenting similarities and divergences between online representations of Muslim YouTubers, this study sheds light on how Muslim youth express religiosity as a part of their online identities through the digital content they create. Furthermore, this analysis explores different modes of utilization of YouTube by young female and male Muslims as manifested through their videos. Following Schiffer’s categorization of the functionality of objects, I will argue that socialization and individuality are highly prioritized in the contents created by hijabi YouTubers. At the same time, an ideological and authoritarian perspective becomes prominent among the YouTube videos created by Muslim male YouTubers in Turkey. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

15 pages, 520 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Religious “Bubbles” in a Superdiverse Digital Landscape? Research with Religious Youth on Instagram

by Christoph Novak, Miriam Haselbacher, Astrid Mattes and Katharina Limacher

Religions 2022, 13(3), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030213 - 02 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3887

Abstract

Religious activities are no longer confined to local religious communities, but are increasingly taking place online. In that regard, social media is of particular importance for young believers that connect with their peers via platforms such as Instagram. There are conflicting views on [...] Read more.

Religious activities are no longer confined to local religious communities, but are increasingly taking place online. In that regard, social media is of particular importance for young believers that connect with their peers via platforms such as Instagram. There are conflicting views on the functioning of social media platforms: they are either conceptualized as superdiverse spaces, in which social boundaries can be overcome, or as resulting in separate bubbles that foster exclusive exchanges between like-minded people sharing certain characteristics, including religious affiliation. This article assesses online religious activities based on qualitative research involving 41 young, urban, religious Instagram users of different faiths. We demonstrate how young believers’ interactions on social media produce thematically bound content bubbles that are considerably homogeneous when it comes to religion, but superdiverse in other areas. Religious activities online often have an affirmative effect on religious belonging. This is especially true for young people that perceive themselves in a minority position and search for like-minded people online. We have found that religious content bubbles are clustered around religious traditions. Interreligious exchange (e.g., between Christians and Sikhs) is largely absent, whereas intrareligious boundaries (e.g., between Lutherans, Catholics, and Pentecostals) become blurred. This suggests that differences within religious traditions are losing significance in a digitalized world, while interreligious boundaries remain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Youth and Religion)

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