The impact of digitization on the religious sphere:televangelism as an example

Over the past few decades, televangelism has emerged as one important media phenomenon, inter alia, among Muslim communities. As a phenomenon, televangelism is interesting in many respects; it is a manifestation of the phenomenon of "info-tainment" as televangelists integrate entertainment features such as sound effects and music in their sermons. It is also a manifestation of the rise of the celebrity culture as televangelists have become 'media celebrities' with thousands of hundreds of fans and followers on social media networks. Thematically, this study is divided into two main sections. First. I delineate the characteristics of televangelism as a novel form of religious expression in which televangelists adopt a modern style and use colloquial language; and in which televangelists present religion as a source of individual change. I have argued that these features seem to have granted televangelists popularity particularly among Muslim youth who view televangelism as a new form of religious expression that is modern in appearance and relevant to their everyday lives. The study has further highlighted the importance of digital media technologies in popularizing televangelists' programmes and sermons. Drawing on two case studies of popular televangelists, namely Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf, the study has shown that televangelists draw on a plethora of digital media tools to extend the visibility of their programmes including websites and social media networks. The study has found that televangelists' fans play an important role in popularizing televangelists' programmes. Moreover, the study relates televangelism to the rise of digital Islam. The study has argued that digitization and the increase of literacy rates have changed the structure of religious authority in the twenty first century, giving rise to new voices that are competing for authority. Having provided an explanatory framework for the phenomenon of televangelism, the study moves in the second section to critique televangelism. Drawing on Carrette and King's Selling Spirituality, one issue that the study raises is the extent to which televangelism fits into the modern form of 'spiritualities'. Rather than being a critical reflection of the consumer culture, modern spiritualities seem to 'smooth out' resistance to the hegemony of capitalism and consumerism. I have proposed that it is through a content-related analysis of televangelists' sermons that one can get a nuanced understanding of how the discourses of particular televangelists can possibly relate to dominant (capitalist) ideologies, how structures of power are represented in their discourses and what their texts may reveal about the socio-historical contexts of Muslims in the twenty first century

AHRC-funded Project "Research Design Get Lost":Reflections on Meeting I

Participatory research and design are common and established ways of adults working with young people, with the intention of genuinely including the ideas and creativity of young people. There are concerns, however, that adults create contrived spaces of participation where young people are pushed through a process that has been predefined by the adult researchers’. Instead, DRGL explores the question of how adult researchers might create spaces and opportunities for young people to come together and self-organise to do or achieve something in which they are interested. The project will bring together two groups of 8 young people from Manchester CoderDojo and the Woodcraft Folk to respond to a ‘challenge’ to self-organise a project with a £3,000 budget. This process will be researched from two perspectives: The adult research team will reflect on the process of letting go of power in a research project and how the young people engage with the challenge. The young people will document the project, using the approach and media they most prefer. Principle Investigator: Dr James Duggan, Manchester Metropolitan University Co-Investigators: Dr Sabine Hielscher, Research Fellow, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Dr Giuseppe Salvia, Research Fellow, Nottingham Trent University Shaimaa Zaher El Naggar (Lancaster University

The Discursive Construction of Muslim Identities by Contemporary Muslim Televangelists in the West.

Televangelism or the use of satellite television/YouTube to preach religion has become one important media phenomenon, inter alia, among Muslim communities in minority contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America (e. g. see Echchaibi, 2011). In a similar way to public figures, televangelists have become "media celebrities" with hundreds of thousands of fans and followers on YouTube and social media networks. The aim of the PhD thesis is twofold: first, to provide an explanatory framework for the rise of the phenomenon of televangelism, explore the broader dynamics it relates to and its characteristic features; second, to examine three case studies of American Muslim televangelists popular in the West, who belong to three different generations, namely Yusuf Estes (born 1944), Hamza Yusuf (born 1958) and Baba Ali (born 1977). The "celebrity status" that these televangelists have acquired (see Chapter 1 of the study) raises the question of what self-presentation strategies televangelists draw upon (e. g. see Goffman 1959), i. e. what identities they present for themselves and what multi-modal features they use to construct their identities and appeal to their audiences. Further, the post 9-11 context, which has witnessed the rise of anti-semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric raises the question of how the three televangelists, that have achieved popularity among Muslim communities in the West, represent Muslim identities in their sermons, for example, if they draw on particular legitimation strategies to respond to anti-Muslim rhetoric. In fact, over the past few decades, many scholars in different disciplines (e. g. psychology, sociology and linguistics) have explored the concept of identities' construction (e. g. see Triandafyllidou and Wodak 2003 and Anderson 2006). Discourse-language in use- can be one domain for constructing identities (e. g. Hall 1996: 17 and Wodak et al 2009:22). Through discourse, individuals can instruct others and be instructed as to who they think they are, with whom they should align, and from whom to distance themselves; from that perspective, identity is a discursive construction (e. g. Wodak et al 2009:22). From this perspective, this study seeks to: a) explore the multimodal and discursive strategies televangelists use to self-represent their identities and b) construct Muslim identities in their sermons. Given the nature of the topic of the study and the many features that are related to this phenomenon (e. g. use of entertainment, use of websites and social networks), a Critical Discourse Studies (thereafter, CDS) approach is well-suited for the study. CDS can be briefly defined as an approach towards exploring complex social phenomena that pays particular attention to the relationship between language, ideology and power (e. g. Wodak and Meyer 2009; Angouri and Wodak 2014). A critical approach will enable us to go beyond perceiving televangelism as a "novel" phenomenon towards raising the question of what might be at stake in televangelism and what might be the wider interactions that have contributed to the shaping of this phenomenon and maintaining its existence. This study employs an innovative synergy of the Discourse Historical Approach and the theory of Visual Grammar to deconstruct the layers of contexts surrounding the phenomenon of televangelism and to explore televangelists' discourses. I argue that televangelism is a complex phenomenon that can be seen within the contextual prism of media power, transnationalism, info-tainment and rise of digital Islam, among other aspects (Chapters 1-4). The study makes general and more specific claims about televangelism and the discourses of the three American Muslim televangelists under investigation. First, the study illustrates that televangelists' sermons and YouTube excerpts represent hybrid multi-modal fields in which televangelists navigate through different discourses and modes to self-represent their (multiple) identities, and gain wider constituencies of audiences, which testifies to the understanding of this type of religious celebrity who can play multiple roles (see Chapter 6). Second, one finding of the study is that the three televangelists are -in varied ways- addressing the socio-historical context of Muslims in the West (e. g. awareness of misrepresentation in mass media), which could be one reason for their popularity. In terms of the representation of Muslim identities in televangelists' sermons, using the DHA, I explore the nomination, predication and argumentation strategies, among other aspects and explain that one feature of the sermons of the three televangelists is that they are also addressing non-Muslims, attempting to bring about change of attitudes towards the perception of Islam. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Magnetic resonance imaging of head and neck vascular anomalies: pearls and pitfalls

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe typical MRI features of the head and neck vascular anomalies and the possible diagnostic pitfalls.Patients and methods: Patients with extracranial vascular anomalies of the head and neck, who underwent MRI examinations between January 2013 and January 2016, were included in the study. Precontrast and postcontrast T1-WI,T2-WI, with and without fat saturation were acquired. When indicated, a noncontrast MR angiography was performed. Dynamic postcontrast MRI techniques were available in six children.Results: The study included 33 patients (age ranged from 10 to 20 years, mean: 49 months). MRI confirmed the clinical diagnosis in equivocal cases, and provided proper determination of lesion extension and/or associated intracranial anomalies. The study included 10 cases of vascular tumors (hemangioma), whereas the remaining 23 cases had the diagnosis of vascular malformations (one patient with arteriovenous malformation, one with capillary malformation, seven with venous, nine with macrocystic lymphatic, and five with microcystic lymphatic malformations).Conclusion: Vascular anomalies in the head and neck are mostly diagnosed on clinical basis; however, when the history is uncertain or the diagnosis is equivocal, a well-tailored MR examination can be a single valuable diagnostic tool providing structural and functional information.Keywords: children, head and neck, hemangioma, lymphatic malformation, magnetic resonance angiography, venous malformatio

ISIS propaganda and how to counter it

An article that gives an account, from a multi-modal perspective, of the manipulative effects of two of ISIS's media outputs, propaganda video and nasheed (chants). In addition, it advocates the call on a critical approach to the understanding of religious texts

About the International Summer School of Dresden, piratenpad.de and (online) revolutions!:Digitization and its impact on society

A report about my participation in the International Summer School held in Dresden, Germany (September 29- October 5, 2013

Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in the discourse of Muslim televangelists:the case study of Hamza Yusuf

In this paper, I apply the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) (e.g. Wodak and Meyer 2009) to discourse on religion. Discourse on religion has been taken for granted (e.g. Chilton 2004: xi) and little is known about its characteristic discourse features. A few studies (e.g. Neuman et al 2001; Muchnik 2005) have explored discourse on religion, focusing on particular features (e.g. irony, and narratives). These studies, however, have overlooked the broader socio-political and historical contexts that intertwine with discourse. The present study aims to fill that gap by exploring processes of persuasion in one speech by the Muslim televangelist Hamza Yusuf. Two main processes will be explored: interdiscursivity and intertextuality. Interdiscursivity indicates that discourses can be linked to discourses on other topics or sub-topics; intertextuality refers to the link to other texts through invoking a topic, an event or a main actor (e.g. Richardson and Wodak 2009b:46). As I will show in the data analysis, the speaker invokes some discourses and dismisses others to serve his specific persuasive intentions. In addition, religious terms are recontextualised in contemporary contexts to link the speech to the religious realm and to present religion as a force of change