Digital Narratives of Religious Deconstruction: A Six-Component Model of Meaning-Making in Online Communities

• In Event: A Collective of Diverse Narrative Explorations: A Generative Space for Sharing Approaches to Storying, Identity, Equity, and Inquiry

Abstract

Confronted with dissonant perspectives in higher education, millions of young adults find themselves renegotiating the foundations of their religious and spiritual identity. Yet educational researchers lack frameworks for understanding the meaning-making processes behind this critical shift. To address this gap, our team proposed a six-component model of religious deconstruction. Through digital ethnographic analysis, we examined how individuals expressed these components within online communities. We then created visual mock social media threads illustrating each theoretical component, revealing deconstruction as an iterative identity negotiation process marked by sustained meaning-making rather than simple belief rejection. Our aim is to provide educational researchers with tools to understand transformative learning both inside and outside of formal institutions and represent complex processes through visual narratives.

Authors

• Sara E Hall, University of Tennessee

• Leia K. Cain, University of Tennessee