Blue Sky Workshop: The Challenge of Religion in the Field of Media Studies

Session Submission Type: Meeting

Abstract

This workshop will facilitate a discussion of how religion can be addressed within media and communication scholarship. Religion persists in social, cultural, and political spheres in the 21st century; it is argued media and processes of mediation largely account for this persistence. While fields that constitute contemporary religion scholarship have begun to take media seriously, and a separate vibrant discourse around “media and religion” research has also emerged, religion remains a lacuna in media studies. This workshop, featuring voices from the fields of media studies and religious studies, will provide an opportunity for scholars to consider the challenge religion poses to established conceptual, theoretical, and methodological approaches within our field. It will feature prominent scholars from both media studies and religious studies and will seek to begin a dialogue both between these fields and within media studies that might lead to renewed attention to the problem of religion at ICA and elsewhere.
The workshop will be structured as an open dialogue featuring brief provocations followed by substantial time for discussion.

Sub Unit

• Sponsored Sessions

Chair

• Stewart M. Hoover, U of Colorado Boulder

Participants

• Johanna Maaria Sumiala, U of Helsinki

• Sarah McFarland Taylor, Northwestern U

• Knut Lundby, U of Oslo

• Heidi Ann Campbell, Texas A&M U