Religion and Popular Culture: Tensions in the Digital Age
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 October 2022) | Viewed by 2369
Special Issue Editors
Interests: contemporary religion; lived religion; new religions; religion and popular culture; sociology of religion
Interests: mythology; anthropology of religion; contemporary religion and popular culture; digital storytelling; online re-ligions
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As the academic study of religion and popular culture approaches maturity, research is moving beyond reductive binaries of religion and popular culture as distinct categories which occasionally interact with one another. In fact, the two are often entangled together in ways which are increasingly difficult to separate. This does not, however, mean that all who experience the digitisation of religion, or the religious growth of their digital media, are equally happy or able to access the changes as they occur. This Special Issue seeks to explore the new directions and contested discourses surrounding religion and popular culture as meshed categories.
Digital religion has also been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; however, these issues run deeper than simply ‘doing religion online’ due to safety restrictions. This issue welcomes contributions exploring how digital religions can be understood in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on the tensions and barriers which arise in online religious discourse.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Fandoms;
- Digital schismatics;
- Emerging digital religions;
- Invented and hyper-real religions;
- Controlling narratives in online spaces;
- Digital experiences of ritual;
- Mythology in and as popular culture narratives;
- Accessibility of digital religion(s);
- Contested ideas of digital religion, and religion that is digital;
- Wider digital publics.
We encourage papers to not only present situations of religion, popular culture, and digital media, but to dig into the deeper experiences, tensions, and fringe experiences that make up the wider landscape of contemporary digital religious spaces and mediums.
We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.
Dr. Aled Thomas
Dr. Vivian Asimos
Prof. Dr. Alana Vincent
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- religion and popular culture
- digital religion
- contested discourses
- online religion
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