This exciting volume uses the spatial metaphor of a third space to explore how religious meaning and identities are generated and performed in our present digital media ecosystem. It is essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary religion, media and religion, sociology of religion, and popular culture.
Nabil Echchaibi is Associate Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture in the College of Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder. His work focuses on Muslim media, Arab cultural production and aesthetics, and decoloniality.
Stewart M. Hoover is Professor Emeritus of Media Studies and Director Emeritus of the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture in the College of Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder. A theorist of media audiences and audience research, his research is located at the intersection of religion and modern media of communication.
1. Introduction: Media Theory and the Third Spaces of Digital Religion Stewart M. Hoover and Nabil Echchaibi 2. Neda: Religious Manifestations of a Digital Martyr Samira Rajabi 3. Identity, Confession, and Performance in PostSecret Stewart M. Hoover and Rachael Liberman 4. Queer Muslim Identity in the Third Space of Tumblr Kristin M. Peterson 5. The Sacred Tech: Identity, Aesthetics, and Practice in Neo-Pagan Digital Spaces Giulia Evolvi 6. Facebook as a Third Space of Digital Catholicism: The "Catholic" in Circulation and Reconstruction Moisés Sbardelotto 7. Rewriting Religion: How LGBTQ Individuals Are Finding a Place of Belonging Online Patrick M. Johnson