Cybertheology: Thinking Christianity in the Era of the Internet (original) (raw)
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The growing presence of Hinduism and its adherents in India's cyberspace has led to the conceptualization of the categorical identity the 'Internet-Hindu.' Using Castell's theorizing of communication in a network society, this paper articulates a critique on the nature of cyberspace and its use by the Hindu community in the construction of online religious identities. The context of this paper derives from the globalization of technology and computer-mediated communication, which brings to the fore an imperative discourse demanding the critique of whether the presence of Hindu adherents in cyberspace is not an emerging paradox. The thesis of this paper is that information and communication technologies are opening up unlimited horizons of creativity and communication, with possibilities of exploring new dimensions of religious identity in online social action and interaction, thereby challenging our societies to engage in a process of structural change. This paper aims to articulate some introductory comments to this crucial area of exploration.
Digital religion and Hinduism in the United States
World Englishes, 2018
As religions migrate from their native contexts, they adopt new languages for their communication. Additionally, in the 21st century, digital media is being used for religious practices such as ritual worship, sermons and discourses. This article focuses on the case of Hinduism in the US diaspora where the Hindu community (unlike its native counterpart in India) uses the English language and the digital media for the Hindu religious practices. In particular, this article discusses the ways in which the use of the English language and digital media is more conventionalized in the context of discussion about religion (in the discourses of satsang), as opposed to the experience of religion (for example, in puja 'worship ritual'). 1 INTRODUCTION Language is a powerful medium for expressing, communicating and experiencing religion. However, as languages and religions travel across cultures away from their native lands for various reasons, such migrations of religious communities, colonization, and trade, the equation of language and religion changes. That is, new language(s) are used for the migrating religions in the new context of the new homelands. Additionally, in the 21st century, digital media is being used for many religious practices as it is readily accessible to larger community, and it is less constrained by the space and time. Devotees can perform online rituals from anywhere and anytime in the world. This process of adaptation of religions to new languages and media, has raised questions of legitimacy/authenticity of the religious experience through the non-native /new languages and digital media. In my earlier work, I have discussed the use of English in the Hindu religious practices in the US (Pandharipande, 2006, 2010, 2013). This article discusses the use of English and the digital media in the Hindu practices in the US diaspora. Two questions are in focus: (i) why some Hindu devotees and saints accept the legitimacy of the use of new language and new digital media while others do not? and (ii) why their legitimacy is readily acceptable to most of the devotees in some religious contexts and not in others? The major claim of the article is that in the new social context of the Hindus in the US, the introduction of the new language and digital media in the Hindu practices is part of the larger process of what I call 'reconfiguring the symbolic universe' (Pandharipande, 2016). In the US, new symbols (signifiers), the English language and digital media are used to convey religious meaning (signified).The authenticity (efficacy) of the new symbols to signify the religious meaning is authenticated by some Hindu saints who are considered as authority in Hinduism. The relationship between the new symbols (the English language/digital media and religious meaning) has not yet been conventionalized across the entire Hindu community in the US. Therefore, their authenticity is not established for all Hindus. The second claim of the article is
Religious subjectivities and digital collectivities on social networking sites in India
Studies in Indian Politics, 2021
This article analyzes how the infrastructural architecture of Social Networking Sites (SNS) is conducive to the emergence of religious subjects and digital collectivities. I argue that SNS enable social connections, and subjectivities created to reify discriminatory religious and political practices and discourses online. This study identifies and responds to three critical arguments about SNS and religious subjectivities. First, it challenges the liberal assumptions that advancement in SNS will lead to the creation of depoliticized and more rational societies. I argue that SNS deepens the already existing social segregations in the society through the creation of digital collectivities. Digital collectivities inform functional possibilities (ontology) and discursive modes (epistemology) of enacting religious subjectivities. These collectivities not only shape the ways in which users articulate their religious and political allegiance but also the content of their online presence. Finally, in unpacking the formation and existence of digital
Book Review: Digital Culture and Religion in Asia
Digital Culture and Religion in Asia By Sam Han and Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir London and New York: Routledge 2016, 129 pages. ISBN: 978-0-415-52185-7 Reviewer: Denzil Chetty, University of South Africa
Internet Piety: Cyber-Hinduism and the Performance of Online Devotion
"Performing Devotion: Religious Rituals, Religious Practices
The development of the Internet has ushered in new ways of relating to oneself and one’s environment by allowing geographically disparate communities to gather and discuss issues specific to their interests and cultural backgrounds. Alternately, the same Internet apparatus fosters conflict through the clash of these diverse online communities. Hindu temples and their communities, both in India and the European, American, and Southeast Asian diasporas, have consistently used the Internet as a means of reaching a wider audience and appealing to their established congregations. Since the late 1990’s, forums such as USENET, which operates as a general discussion site, have offered sections dedicated to talking about different religious traditions, Hinduism among them. More recently, Hindu temple administrations have created online sites specific to their temples, offering virtual congregation services (puja) to their lay communities. Ritual services available for purchase online include (but are not limited to): aarati (light offering), alankara (adorning an icon with flowers), the offering of prasad (consecrated food), as well as seasonally specific offerings made for festival icons or processional deities. This paper examines the shifting orientation to the comportment of Hindu ritual made possible through the apparatus of the Internet and attempts to unpack its relation to canonical representations of bhakti (devotional ecstasy). The online sites and ritual offerings of California Hindu temples are the focus of this paper and constitute an expression of Hindu religious comportment and identity in the North American Hindu diaspora.
Religion, Hypermobility and Digital Media in Global Asia
Amsterdam University Press eBooks, 2020
International migration for work, study, humanitarian and lifestyle reasons is increasingly commonplace, representing an unprecedented movement of people, globally. With these transnational mobilities comes the emergence and establishment of migrant societies with their own distinctive cultures and socialities. These migrant societies however are not necessarily oriented to particular fixed ethnic nor national identities. Instead, they may be formed through other identity signifiers such as feelings of commonality of specific experiences. Migrant societies, moreover, may not be confined to geographical boundaries but due to the digital turn where media and communication technologies and products are ubiquitous parts of everyday life, may exist transnationally in the digital environment. This book series is dedicated to engaging and understanding the role, impact, breadth and depth of culture, media and communication practices in and across migrant societies. The series showcases high quality and innovative research from established and emerging scholars to engage readers in exciting and informed conversations on migrant societies.
Religion in Cyberspace: An Ethnographic Study on Theyyam Ritual in Kerala
Social science researchers have started to look at digital technologies and internet-mediated communications (IMC) soon after their budding. The digital and cyber became a matter of serious scholarly enquiry for the social and cultural aspects associated with it and the novelty in it. In the field of anthropology, the early 1990s saw the beginning of researches on it. Escobar's (1994) contribution can be considered as one among the pioneering works through which anthropological enquiries stepped onto cyberspace. The mutual interaction between humans and technology; computer and internet-based ones particularly is a matter of wide debate on various matters ranging from time, space, identity, reality and so on and the subject field of psychology has made a special deal with these. Sociality, knowledge, and language especially in the social and cultural life of humans is an essential part in the studies related to the new information and communication technologies (Kelty, 2010). Morton (2001) argues that computer-mediated communication (CMC) with the technologies associated with it, like electronic mail, the internet, CD-ROMs has a profound influence on social interactions. It has an influence on the academic field also on teaching as well as in research. The author observes the challenges CMC poses on the various basic aspects of community, society, identity, authenticity and subjectivity. At this juncture, cyber-ethnography that exploits the scope of the same new technologies has advantages in dealing with the research. Here the text in the electronic medium acts as the field and the social group being studied scatters across the world (Morton, 2001: 5). Regarding the methodologies in this Morton
Minority representation in 'The Digital': Narratives from Christian Communities in Delhi
Technology has become ubiquitous in modern life, propagating digital media as a means to social equity and empowerment. Digital culture is believed to provide opportunities for religious communities to reshape their identity based on virtual group interactions. The digital universe has provided a platform for Christian minorities to re-represent themselves beyond the mainstream media’s projection of them as a community that uses education, health and other benevolent social services for religious conversion. Such representation has left the Christian community in Delhi victimised by a series of attacks that has taken place since the arrival of the new political regime. Media houses perceive the attack to be a consequence of ‘Hindutva’ Hindu Nationalist ideology. The communal propaganda of ‘Hindutva’ imposes a parochial notion of purity and a drive for a majoritarian theocratic state, which puts minority religious communities at high risk. This paper presents the findings of a study conducted with the Christian communities in Delhi. This study represents nine Christian denominations and seeks to understand their digital religious representation. The embodiment of the digital has assisted in empowering as well as oppressing these Christian communities. The new efficacies of digital religious participation have empowered the Christian community to exercise digitally their Constitutional rights of freedom of religion. On the other hand, it has heightened anxiety and fear for digitally active members through online threats and abuses.