Digital technology is changing the world. In response to global challenges, diverse grassroots faith-based organisations, indigenous or otherwise, are using digital technologies to activate for justice. These activists draw on contextual wisdom and religious resources and express their activist commitments publicly in social media forums. Some of these organisations describe themselves as indigenous. Others find terms like grassroots more helpful. Academic analysis of these local digital activisms provides ways to learn with and from online theologies that are immediate, provisional and contextual.
We live in a society that places increased importance on visual communication. A feature of grassroots digital activism is the use of visual images to activate for change. These include posting digital images, still and moving, that communicate Indigenous ways of knowing, repurposing memes to elevate local approaches and the use of emojis to centre the visual in activist communication. The visual grammar of digital activism provides rich resources for studying grassroots theologies.
Decolonial methodologies offer ethically formed and academically fruitful ways to research with and among grassroots digital activists. Digital and visual ethnography provides ways to learn with and from local communities. Sharing initial research findings with activists generates further learning in hermeneutical spirals of insight. Case study approaches provide ways to amplify the local and bring diverse contexts into conversation with other local contexts.
The Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium invites papers that explore questions around grassroots digital faith-based activism. Themes could include:
- Case studies of faith-based activist organisations from diverse grassroots contexts, Indigenous or otherwise
- Insights from cross-indigenous case study comparisons
- Examination of the theologies present in grassroots digital faith-based activism
- The formation, development, identities and motivations, either of individual activists or grassroots organisations
- The role of gender in grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism
- The interplay between local theologies and established theologies
- Theological and ethical issues in the interplay between online and offline identities in activism
- Ways that online images interrogate, destabilise and complexify established hierarchies, whether religious, cultural or political
- Theologies and philosophies present in the grassroots repurposing of memes
- The challenges of activism given the pressures of surveillance, ideologies and political states
- The interplay between online visual identities and Indigenous epistemologies
- The ways that online Indigenous activisms are conceptualising relationships between religious resources and local cultures, religion and science, technologies, or politics
Reflective and evaluative presentations by grassroots faith-based online activist groups are welcomed.
Organisors and supporting groups include:
- Steve Taylor, Director AngelWings Ltd, Research Affiliate, University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
- Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh, expressing the 2021-2024 Decoloniality research focus.
- Researching Indigenous Studies and Christianity network
- Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Edinburgh
- Centre for Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh
Timeline:
Submissions open: 1 December 2024
Submissions close: 15 January 2025
Acceptance notices by: 1 February 2025
Draft paper of 2000 words by: 21 March 2025
All proposals will be blind peer-reviewed. Face-to-face attendance is not required, as the colloquium organisers will offer different ways to engage across diverse time zones, including paper presentations and breakout discussions. The colloquium is organised with a view to an academic book publication and runs in parallel with a public engagement project that will use podcasting to amplify activist voices (if funding application is successful).
Questions and paper proposals to: Steve Taylor, kiwidrsteve@gmail.com, Director AngelWings Ltd, Research Affiliate, University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.