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The Media, Religion and Culture Working Group
invites proposals for papers
to be presented at the IAMCR Conference
in Mexico
21st-24th of July 2009.
Religion and the Media
Since we as a working have an agreement with a publisher to edit a sort of Handbook for Religious Communication, we agreed already in Stockholm and in the group correspondence afterwards that we want to discuss particularly the outline of this handbook and also the first ideas for chapters. The convenor will set up sessions open to all interested persons, dedicated to these discussions.
Everybody who wants to become involved with this handbook is invited to discuss the general book outline, and especially to suggest a chapter's subject which she or he are capable of contributing to the book.
There is hardly an established canon of research in this wide field, but some nuclei in the current research agenda can still be identified.
Firstly, there are descriptive studies of various social or media phenomena, which come and go with the phenomena themselves. Televangelism, fundamentalism, and missionary campaigns at large form one cluster of favourite research, the common denominator of which are media as instruments of religious activity. Another cluster is the treatment of religious subjects (in the double sense of the word) in secular media. Most prominently figures news reporting, casting religious life into narratives; but fictional, documentary, or a combination of both approaches in film, television entertainment, theatre have also considerable interest for research.
Secondly, on the more theoretic side, we find topics closer to the very core of the constitution of the public sphere. Religion has proved to be functional for all kinds of legitimisation or delegitimization. Religion has been brought into a relationship with violence, but also with social reconciliation, which also concerns media (at least marginally).
This working group invites proposals for papers dealing with the complexities of religious agencies in the magnet field of public opinion; it has many interesting constellations, and there are a number of different scientific approaches to this interrelation, theoretical, semiotic, empirical (or a combination).
This working group continues to be interested in quality papers treating media in central religious communication processes, from community building to proclamation, art to expression of faith, apologetic and propagandistic media usage and reception.
All approaches are welcome for proposed papers, provided they offer good quality and interesting, novel perspectives in their respective methodological nature.
Send your 500 words abstract by February 16, 2009 to ehrat @ unigre.it. Presenters will be advised by March 29, 2009 of the acceptance of their paper proposals. The full text of accepted papers must be submitted no later than 15th of June 2009.
Convenor:
Johannes Ehrat S.J., PhD
Prof. communication sciences, film theory & semiotic
Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana
Piazza della Pilotta 4
I-00187 Roma
ehrat @ unigre.it
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