Digital Religion: Research and Methods Research Day (CRPL and SOCREL); 11th July 2017
11th July 2017, Liberty Building, G33, University of Leeds: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/campusmap?location=5112
ALL WELCOME, lunch included
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Dr Caroline Starkey (c.starkey@leeds.ac.uk), stating any dietary requirements.
External Speakers:
- Dr Abby Day, Reader of Race, Faith & Culture, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Dr Tim Hutchings, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Stockholm
The relatively new field of ‘digital religion’ examines not only how religion is performed online but also how religious communities have adapted, responded to, and engaged with digital culture (Campbell and Altenhofen 2016:1). As new technologies have given rise to online communities and identities, scholars examining these phenomena are required to continuously examine their rationales for using particular research methods and approaches while assessing ethical dilemmas and situations to ensure the protection of participants in the digital world.
A key question for those examining digital religion is to understand what is truly new in terms of experience and engagement, and how best to study the impact of new technologies on these experiences and engagement. This CRPL research day which is being organised in conjunction with SOCREL (the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group) looks to provide a space for attendees to collaboratively and critically think about the evolution of digital religion, to examine how religion is changing in the face of new technologies and to explore the research methods, ethical issues and advantages and disadvantages faced when studying religion in the digital environment.
In addition to the external speakers who will be presenting their research case studies in the morning, the afternoon will consist of a workshop examining the use of research methods to study digital religion. This workshop open to all participants will allow attendees to examine how they might use these methods in their own work.
Programme in Brief
9.30-10: Registration and Refreshments
10-10.15: Introduction: Dr Jasjit Singh, University Academic Fellow in Religious and Cultural Transmission, University of Leeds.
10.15 – 11.00 Dr Abby Day: ‘Media Logics in a Digital Age’
11.00-11.45 Dr Jasjit Singh: ‘Media representations of British Sikhs’
11.45 – 12.00 Refreshments
12.00-12.45 Dr Tim Hutchings ‘Existential Media: Religion, Death and the Digital’
12.45 – 1.45 Lunch
13.45 – 15.30 Digital Methods Workshop, led by Dr Tim Hutchings