Mediatized Religion in Asia: Studies on Digital Media and Religion (Routledge Research in Digital Media and Culture in Asia)

This edited volume discusses mediatized religion in Asia, examining the intensity and variety of constructions and processes related to digital media and religion in Asia today. Individual chapters present case studies from various regions and religious traditions in Asia, critically discussing the data collected in light of current mediatization theories. By directing the study to the geographical, cultural and religious contexts specific to Asia, it also provides new material for the theoretical discussion of the pros and cons of the concept mediatization, among other things interrogating whether this concept is useful in non-'Western' contexts." Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 12 List of Contributors 14 Introduction 18 1 Mediatized Religion in Asia: Interrelations of Media, Culture and Society beyond the “West” 20 PART 1 East Asia 34 2 “Does Anyone Know a Good Healer?” An Analysis of Mediatized Word-of-Mouth Advertising of Spiritual Healers in Japanese Online Question and Answer Forums 36 3 Religious Mediatization with Chinese Characteristics: Subaltern Voices of Chinese Muslim Youths 56 4 “Aren’t you happy?” Healing as Mediatized Nationalism in a Compressed Modernity 70 PART 2 Southeast Asia 86 5 Facebook and the Mediatization of Religion: Inter-/Intrareligious Dialogue in Malaysia 88 6 On-Offline Dakwah: Social Media and Islamic Preaching in Malaysia and Indonesia 106 7 Church Digital Applications and the Communicative Meso-Micro Interplay: Building Religious Authority and Community through Everyday Organizing 122 PART 3 South Asia 136 8 Ravidassia: Neither Sikh nor Hindu? Mediatized Religion in Anti-caste Contexts 138 9 Digitalizing Tibet: A Critical Buddhist Reconditioning of Hjarvard’s Mediatization Theory 156 PART 4 West Asia 180 10 Being Religious through Social Networks: Representation of Religious Identity of Shia Iranians on Instagram 182 11 Understanding Jewish Digital Media in Israel: Between Technological Affordances and Religious-Cultural Uses 207 PART 5 Critical Reflection 226 12 Religion as Communicative Figurations – Analyzing Religion in Times of Deep Mediatization 228 Index 242 This edited volume discusses mediatized religion in Asia, examining the intensity and variety of religious constructions related to digital media in Asia today.