Course Description
Over the last fifteen years, the intersection of religion and the digital media has developed into an exciting academic field. On the one hand, the use of computational methods for the study of religious communication in textual, visual or numeric forms have shed fresh insights into the history of religious traditions. On the other hand, applying methods ranging from ethnographic research, content analysis of websites or interviews with online communities, scholars have mapped out the contours of new religious phenomena.
This seminar will examine the relationship between Buddhism, Hinduism and the digital media and explore how online environments shape our perception of these religious traditions or afford new forms of Buddhist and Hindu practices and teachings. Based on the analysis of case-studies that consider Buddhism and Hinduism within various technological contexts – digital scientific corpora, virtual worlds, social media, mobile devices (Apps), or video-games – students will investigate how the digital world alternatingly offers a platform for the (re)definition of religious identities, the (re)negotiation of notions of authority or the (re)mediation of religious semantics and practices.
Ultimately, giving attention to both the digital study of religion and the study of digital religion, this seminar will ponder how we are to understand Buddhism and Hinduism in the 21st century.
- Kursleiter/in: Jessie Pons