"Based on a wealth of primary data collected during five years, Reality Television and Arab Politics analyzes how reality television stirred an explosive mix of religion, politics, and sexuality, fueling heated polemics over cultural authenticity, gender relations, and political participation in the
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Arab world. The controversies, Marwan M. Kraidy argues, are best understood as a social laboratory in which actors experiment with various forms of modernity, continuing a long-standing Arab preoccupation with specifying terms of engagement with Western modernity. Women and youth take center stage in this process. Against the backdrop of dramatic upheaval in the Middle East, this book challenges the notion of a monolithic “Arab Street” and offers an original perspective on Arab media, shifting attention away from a narrow focus on al-Jazeera and toward a vibrant media sphere that compels broad popular engagement and contentious political performance." (Publisher description)
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"This article introduces issues associated with Islamic apps for mobile devices, and surveys some of the products that have emerged into the market. It considers the potential impact of mobile phone interfaces in relation to interpretations of Islam and the use of Islamic resources, given that mobil
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e devices have widened potential audiences for online materials in various forms, especially in areas where other forms of digital access may be more problematic. The article also explores some of the religious and ethical concerns associated with mobile phone use." (Abstract)
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"This book examines the incorporation of newly accessible mass media into practices of religious mediation in a variety of settings including the Pentecostal Church and Islamic movements, as well as the use of religious forms and image in the sphere of radio and cinema." (Publisher description)
"This book charts the development of professional journalism in Iran since the 1979 Revolution that replaced the monarchy with an Islamic Republic. Written to pay homage to Iranian journalists, the book focuses on newspapers, radio and television providing a fuller picture of Iran's media environmen
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t." (Publisher description)
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"This volume breaks down disciplinary walls in numerous ways. First, it combines information about the intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, and societal levels of communication into a single resource. At the intrapersonal level, new issues are raised about communication between individuals and deity
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: Why is religious experience difficult to explain in rational terms? Why is silence more sacred than spoken prayer in some religious communities? What is the nature of “thought communication” in religious meditation? Why is the use of profanity justified in some religious circles? How does idolatry reinforce religious customs and values? Why was chanting one of the first forms of religious communication?
Religious information is also exchanged between individuals at the level of interpersonal communication. This volume identifies rituals that have not been adequately analyzed in terms of communication aspects: Why do some sects require public confession? Why is body decoration an acceptable form of worship in some religious groups, but not in others? How does dance communicate the sacred through metaphoric movement? What are the multiple forms of communication with the dead? Why are feasts a form of religious worship in all major religions? How does the study of organizational communication apply to religion?
This volume also aids study of mediated communication to larger groups both inside and outside religious denominations. Throughout history, technology has simultaneously aided and impeded communication processes; this also applies to religious culture: How did religion change during the historical transition from orality to literacy? How did printing contribute to the diffusion of religious values in the world? Why have religious novels grown in popularity? Is television considered a religious medium? How has the Internet affected religious congregations and communities? What is religious media literacy?
These are only a few of the questions addressed by this encyclopedia. Articles also deal with (1) concepts such as information, communication, and censorship, (2) denominations which exhibit different communication practices, and (3) the various media used in religious worship. Entries were contributed by scholars from various disciplines, including religious studies, communication, anthropology, sociology, ancient studies, religion and modern culture, theology, and many others." (Introduction, page xiii-xiv)
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"This book contains the presentations of a Roundtable of invited scholars organized by the FABC-Office of Social Communication (FABC-OSC) October 3-7, 2005 at Assumption University Huamak campus in Bangkok, in cooperation with the Graduate School of Philisophy and Religion of Assumption University a
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nd the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication (ARC) at St. John's University, Bangkok. The concern of the roundtable with some 20 participants was a deeper understanding of Social Communication in Religious Traditions of Asia. Social Communication defined as the communication of and in human society is part and parcel of every religion. The question was: How is this seen and practiced in the different religious traditions of Asia? With the publication of this volume, we would like to make people, especially communication scholars and theologians, more aware of the communication dimenstion of religions in Asia. Communication is not just the use of technical means and instruments like the mass media. It is a dimension of human and spiritual life which should be essential for any religious thinking and practice. It is also because of this that we purposely maintained and use the Vatican II expression 'Social Communication' which refers to all communicative processes and practices in human society." (Publisher description)
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"Increasingly, Pentecostal, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and indigenous movements all over the world make use of a great variety of modern mass media, both print and electronic. Through religious booklets, radio broadcasts, cassette tapes, television talk-shows, soap operas, and documentary film
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these movements address multiple publics and offer alternative forms of belonging, often in competition with the postcolonial nation-state. How have new practices of religious mediation transformed the public sphere? How has the adoption of new media impinged on religious experiences and notions of religious authority? Has neo-liberalism engendered a blurring of the boundaries between religion and entertainment? The vivid essays in this interdisciplinary volume combine rich empirical detail with theoretical reflection, offering new perspectives on a variety of media, genres, and religions." (Publisher description)
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"Religion Online provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core is
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sues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation." (Publisher description)
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"Emblematique du processus de mondialisation, le developpement des nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication a bouleverse la configuration du paysage mediatique dans le monde arabe. Ce phenomene manifeste de maniere exemplaire une articulation inedite des espaces national, trans
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national et mondial dans un ensemble arabe tiraille entre multiples cadres de reference identitaire melant differentes versions du panarabisme et du panislamisme aux diverses allegeances communautaires et nationalistes. Aux politiques etablies differenciees de cloture et d'ouverture des territoires nationaux face a l'accroissement des flux informationnels repondent des pratiques sociales visant a contourner les contraintes de la censure et a construire de nouveaux modes de communication et de sociabilite qui contribuent a redefinir les echelles de la mondialite. Apres la proliferation des antennes paraboliques qui, au milieu des annees 1980, herissent les toits des habitations, c'est aujourd'hui la multiplication des cafes-internet qui constitue le principal marqueur spatial de la recomposition des horizons de reception. Des televisions satellitaires a internet, en passant par la communication publicitaire et les nouveaux modes de diffusion de l'ecrit, les etudes presentees dans cet ouvrage explorent les strategies economiques et politiques, les reglementations juridiques, les savoirs professionnels, les formes et les contenus mediatiques que suscitent ces nouveaux espaces de communication. Ce travail, fruit d'une recherche collective ayant reuni des chercheurs arabes et europeens, constitue le premier ouvrage en francais sur les evolutions recentes de la scene mediatique arabe." (Résumé)
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