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Literatures and Media of Religions
Research profile
It is common knowledge among the public and academics that our modern lives are increasingly being shaped and reshaped by the media. Thus, religious discourses are also closely linked to media: modern (mass) media, such as film, television, radio, internet and virtual worlds, shape the religious landscape and impact on the identity formations of religious actors. Increasingly, these actors also make use of media to (re)present and negotiate their religious identity, for example on weblogs, in social networks or via special broadcasting formats, such as special-interest religious channels. Increasingly, media are also used by institutional as well as non-institutional religious groups to transport content to a broader public. Therefore, on the one hand, media reflect processes of cultural and social construction as well as their changes; on the other hand, they are also able to shape, change or create these constructions.
In various research projects, members of the Institute investigate the connection between media and religions and their processes of change. The research we conduct encompasses two separate objects of investigation and methodological approaches:
1. Analysis of media discourse
Actors or groups present, discuss and organise their religious ideas by means of diverse media formats (books, pictures, video, www, etc.), which form different objects of investigation and whose analysis calls for different methodological approaches, such as literary analysis, film analysis, etc. The perspective of this research field is both synchronic and diachronic: we examine both contemporary forms of mediatised religion in film, television, radio, internet and virtual worlds as well as historical reception processes of figurative, motivic and argumentative topoi. The research in this area is on print media as well as on auditory, audiovisual, multimedia and interactive media.
2. Socio-empirical investigation of religious actors in their mediatised life worlds
In contrast to previous research approaches, media per se are no longer seen as the cause of change processes: rather, the interplay of various socio-cultural processes must be put in correlation to mediatisation. For this reason, the methodological focus of the analysis is no longer on any specific medium, such as television or the internet, but on the individual actors in their respective mediatised worlds. To this end, empirical research projects are carried out and a constant intra- and interdisciplinary exchange is maintained. This field of activity is affiliated with the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) Bremen and is responsible for the Media and Religion lab. It is also involved in the research group Communicative Figurations of Mediatised Worlds, which was recognised as a profile network by the Academic Senate of the University of Bremen in 2011 and is a joint initiative of the Universities of Bremen (ZeMKI) and Hamburg (the Research Centre for Media and Communication,RCMC) together with the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research (HBI).
The construction of mental health among Muslims on social media
Samira Ghozzi-Ben Miled
This dissertation project examines how mental health is constructed among Muslim influencers and their followers on Social Media.
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Research field esports – Negotiating the notion of the nation and discussing value formations
Dr. Dr. Lisa Kienzl
Video game cultures are central parts of contemporary societies. Considering ethical questions, negotiating identity and discussing the position of technology in society are vital elements in the field of esports.
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GOD – reliGion gOes viDeo
Dr. Dr. Lisa Kienzl, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler
The aim of this project is to prepare differentiated facts visually and comprehensibly in video clips together with students as part of different thematic courses. Students should learn how to design explanatory videos on religious traditions or topics related to religion, which can then be used as teaching material in other courses and in school lessons.
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gamevironments
This peer-reviewed online journal aims to create and promote a platform for scientific discussions of video games. The aim is to explore both established approaches and new frontiers of research into video games in culture, religion and society.
ISSN 2364-382X
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Video Game Development in Asia. Cultural Heritage and National Identity
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler et al.
The role of media for the construction of cultural heritage and national identities is well accepted and partly researched already. However, much the research is so far limited on mass or social media. The role of video games, though one of the most influential media genres especially for the younger generation and an important factor in social and cultural education, so far has been overlooked.
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Value formations in a video-game-franchise
Bodil Stelter
I investigate value-formations by actors in the vicinity of video games (gamevironements). I examine how negotiations of values take place through different interrelated contexts (USK age-rating, journalistic reception, social media discourse, gaming practice) in the German-speaking context.
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Gaming the Nation. An Intersectional Investigation of Nation, Identity and Video Gaming
Dr. Kathrin Trattner
The research project addresses the multiple interrelations between video gaming and constructions of national identity by connecting two often juxtaposed research perspectives – media aesthetics and communication studies.
moreMapping Study of Religion
Mapping Study of Religion
Dr. Dr. Lisa Kienzl; Bodil Stelter
The project ‘Mapping The Studies of Religion2 arose from a collaboration between young academics from the Universities of Bonn, Bremen and Munich, and provided the impetus for mapping the field of Studies of Religion in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It combined a digital workshop format and video interviews with central representatives to connect researchers in the field.
moreMinorities and the Media
Minorities and the Media
Dr. Łukasz Fajfer, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler
In our project we research the role of the contemporary media for modern religious communities. We concentrate on the digital (webpages) and on the printed media (journals, newspapers). We aim to answer the following questions: Who is responsible for the media in particular churches? How is the media content prepared? How do the churches understand their identity nowadays?
moreCommunicative Figurations
Communicative Figurations
ZeMKI Research Project - published 2017
Radde-Antweiler, K., Grünenthal, H., and Gogolok, S., 2018. ‘Blogging Sometimes Leads to Dementia, Doesn’t It?’ The Roman Catholic Church in Times of Deep Mediatization. In: A. Hepp, A. Breiter, and U. Hasebrink, eds. Communicative Figurations. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 267–286.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65584-0_11
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