A new project based at the Social Science Research Council — including the folks who previously developed digital forums like The Immanent Frame and Frequencies, such as the SSRC’s Jonathan VanAntwerpen and Kathryn Lofton of Yale — is gearing up to take a long, hard look at how the digital turn affects the production, circulation, and consumption of knowledge about religion in a global context. We see THATCamp as a potentially integral player in this process, and we’d like your help starting now, at the ground floor.
I propose to facilitate a discussion about how an SSRC-driven publication project can jumpstart the kinds of discussions that THATCamp is bringing to AAR and beyond. What would a hypothetical collaborative manifesto on digital religion scholarship and journalism look like? What Buddhas need to be killed (so to speak); what idols need to be smashed? What groundwork needs to be laid? This is a unique opportunity to help shape a concrete, large-scale academic and public-facing project that’s very much in line with what brings us together for THATCamp in the first place.
As a lover of manifestos, I look forward to this collaborative conversation.
And for those interested, there is an AAR panel addressing many of these questions scheduled for Saturday:
“Making (the study of) Religion Online: New Media and the Study of Religion”
Featuring: Kathryn Lofton (Yale), Paul Raushenbush (Editor, HuffPo Religion), Jeff Sharlet (Killing the Buddha), Jonathan VanAntwerpen (SSRC), and moderated by yours truly (Kathryn Reklis, Fordham University)
Saturday, 4-6:30 p.m. in room 329, Baltimore Convention Center
I hope many THAT Campers will bring the energy, questions, and insights from our discussions to the AAR panel – we will have lots of time for broader discussion with the panelists.
Yes, thank you for mentioning this! There will definitely be significant overlap between this discussion and the AAR panel. But we’re excited about the way in which THATCamp will allow us to hold a much more participatory, project-oriented, open-ended discussion rather than a traditional panel.