The Power Of Networks And Information Flows--In Circuits Of Power Perspective On Online Religion

This paper examines the tension between ICT users and legitimate authority in a network society. To explore this tension, this study reports a case study in the setting of a Taiwanese Christian church, particularly how the church authority was affected by the adoption of new technology. Drawing from a circuits of power perspective, the result of this study reveals that the intertwined relationship among information technology, social structure and users during the process of technology adoption and assimilation. The findings indicate that the implementation of Internet technologies in the church has challenged the traditional role of authority and distorted the power of information flow among stakeholders in the church. Our work shed light on how Internet technologies shape, and are shaped by the membership and belief in the context of religion

'Gatekeepers' of Islamic financial circuits : analysing urban geographies of the global Shari'a elite

This paper analyses the importance of 'Shari'a scholars' in the Islamic Financial Services (IFS) sector, which has been a growing global practice since the 1970s. Based on Shari'a Law, IFS firms provide banking, finance and insurance respecting faith-based prohibitions on interest, speculation and risk taking. Although IFS firms operate across a variety of scales and involve a range of actors, this paper focuses on the transnational capacities of Shari'a experts employed by IFS firms. These scholars use their extensive knowledge of Shari'a Law to assess the 'Islamic' character of a firm's operations, and assist the development of Shari'a-compliant products. As they embody necessary entry-points into Islamic circuits of knowledge and authority, members of what we dub the 'global Shari'a elite' can be regarded as 'gatekeepers' of Islamic financial circuits. Drawing on a comprehensive data source we present a geographical analysis of Shari'a board membership, nationality and educational background of 253 Shari'a scholars. The results show that the global Shari'a elite connects a limited number of IFS hubs (e. g. Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, Manama, and London) to knowledge and authority networks falling outside 'mainstream' business and service spheres

Energy and Economy: Recognizing High-Energy Modernity as a Historical Period

This introduction to Economic Anthropology’s special issue on “Energy and Economy” argues that we might find inspiration for a much more engaged and public anthropology in an unlikely place—19th century evolutionist thought. In addition to studying the particularities of energy transitions, which anthropology does so well, a more engaged anthropology might also broaden its temporal horizons to consider the nature of the future “stage” into which humanity is hurtling in an era of resource depletion and climate change. Net energy (EROEI), or the energy “surplus” on which we build and maintain our complex societal arrangements, is a key tool for anthropologists as we bring our trademark cross-cultural, ethnographically grounded knowledge and perspectives to bear in examining the complex interplay of material infrastructures, energy flows, social organization, and culture. We are now mindful of the always already cultural nature of such circuitry and interactions—in ways obviously unavailable to our nineteenth-century forebears. And yet even as our energy futures are neither predetermined nor inevitable, neither are they as unfettered by material constraints as many have come to think. A robust anthropology of energy informed by awareness of the energetic basis of the historically specific moment in which we find ourselves seems poised to help us get beyond the developmentalist ideas of Morgan and Tylor and to overcome a seeming inability to think comprehensively about the human predicament in simultaneously general and particular terms. We have a chance in the space now opening to get beyond the antinomies—materialist—mentalist, infrastructure—superstructure, agency—structure, objective—subjective, and so on—that dominated much of twentieth-century anthropology

SciTech News Volume 71, No. 2 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor 3 Division News Science-Technology Division 5 Chemistry Division 8 Engineering Division 9 Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division 12 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction and Design Section of the Engineering Division 14 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews 16 Advertisements IEEE

Everyday mobilities, place and spirituality: Constructing subjective spiritual geographies in contemporary Bristol, UK

The New Mobilities Paradigm (Urry, 2007) and contemporary geographies understand places as sites of movement and flow that are dynamically related to other spaces (Massey, 1994). However religious places are traditionally treated as static or fixed entities and privilege institutional, rather than personal, spatialities of religion. As contemporary sociologies of religion (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005; Davie, 2006) recognise a shift from communal obligation models of social life to an emphasis on personal fulfilment and wellbeing, geographies of religion (Kong, 2010) have also addressed the individual’s spiritual practices and beliefs outside of the ‘official’ institutional spaces of religion.This research examined the interaction between everyday mobilities and personal spiritual practices of Baptist church and Buddhist meditation centre attendees using a mixed methods approach (participant-observation; questionnaires; diary-interviews) to evidence a variety of practices at home, work, recreation and the journeys made between such sites. Local and global flows of virtual, communicative and imagined mobilities in the churches and meditation centres were also identified.Participants were found to thread together a variety of sites on their everyday time-space paths into what I term ‘subjective spiritual geographies’ in which they could engage and maintain their spiritual practices and beliefs. Participants drew upon a wide range of materials and mobilities in both pre-planned ‘strategic’ and improvised ‘tactical’ sets of response to situations and in doing so created critical spaces of contemporary secular, mobilities infiltrated society.The thesis contributes to existing geographies of religion literature by evidencing the personal spiritual practices of the individual as well as local and global scales of religious places of congregation. It builds upon this literature by suggesting the implication of a range of mobilities is a key component in constructing places for spiritual practices and destabilises assumptions of the identity and distinction between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ spaces

The Welcoming Pope: Images of Pope Francis in the Catholicism under mediatization

In the context of the society in mediatization more and more the social fields are inserted in an ambiance in which borders are constantly tensioned, meaning that social practices are crossed by the logic of other fields, rather than their own place of knowing. It is perceived that the social/political/religious conjuncture interpenetrates with the logic of mediatization, and this phenomenon arouses transformations in all Christianity. The objective of this work is to analyze the circulation of Pope Francis' images in the media which formulate, in the collective imaginary, a mediated totem image of the Pope of embrace or of the welcoming Pope, what adheres to the new media technologies

Religion and Immigration: A Comparative Study Among Ethnic Churches in Europe

Questa tesi di dottorato desidera contribuire ad un’emergente campo di ricerca che indaga le intersezioni tra la religione e la migrazione. Se l’Islam ha fin ora assorbito la maggior parte degli studi, questo lavoro si concentra invece sulle chiese etniche erette da migranti cattolici, sia nella città di Milano che di Londra. Negli ultimi decenni, i flussi migratori hanno infatti contribuito a modellare nuove forme di pluralismo religioso, anche all'interno delle denominazioni cristiane storiche, come nel caso della Chiesa cattolica. In particolare, questa tesi esamina come la religione diventa una componente significativa dell'esperienza della migrazione e analizza in che modo contribuisce ai processi di integrazione. Combinando differenti dati qualitativi, questo lavoro spiega inizialmente come le chiese etniche siano diventate importanti snodi urbani in entrambe le città, trasformando di fatto il panorama locale in un'arena transnazionale. Quindi, indaga le attività spirituali promosse internamente, ed esamina in che modo le chiese fungono da piattaforme di welfare. Infine, si discutono le sfide legate a questo nuovo cattolicesimo etnico. Pertanto, dettagliando le varie funzioni sociali svolte dalle chiese etniche, questa tesi di dottorato mostra come la religione rappresenti una forza alternativa e mediatrice in grado di supportare i processi di integrazione dei migranti, un ruolo che è ancora sottostimato nella letteratura europea.This PhD thesis wishes to contribute to an emergent body of research that inquires into the intersections between religion and migration. Beyond the common target on Islam, this work focuses instead on ethnic churches established by catholic migrants both in the city of Milan and London. Over the last decades, migration flows have indeed contributed to shape new forms of religious pluralism, even inside the Historical Christian denominations, as in the case of Roman Catholic Church. In particular, this thesis examines how religion becomes a significant component of the experience of migration, and analyses in which ways it contributes to integration processes. By combining qualitative data, initially this work explains how ethnic churches have become significant urban hubs in both cities, de facto transforming local panorama in a transnational arena. Then, it investigates the types of spiritual activities promoted internally, and examines in which ways churches serve as welfare platforms. Finally, this work discusses the challenges related to such new ethnic Catholicism. Thus, by detailing the various social functions of ethnic churches, this PhD thesis shows how religion represents an alternative and mediating force able to support migrants’ integration processes, a role which is still understudied into European literature

Neurorhetoric, Race, and the Law: Toxic Neural Pathways and Healing Alternatives

Neurorhetoric is the study of how rhetoric shapes the human brain. At the forefront of science and communication studies, neurorhetoric challenges many preconceptions about how humans respond to persuasive stimuli. Neurorhetoric can be applied to a multiplicity of relevant legal issues, including the topic of this Maryland Law Review Symposium Issue: race and advocacy. After detailing the neuroscientific and cognitive theories that underlie neurorhetoric, this Essay theorizes ways in which neurorhetoric intersects with the law, advocacy, and race. This Essay explores how toxic racial stereotypes and categories become embedded in the human brain and what can be done about it