MERGE- Media, religion, and gender: transnational digital media actions of progressive and conservative social movements

Project Information

MERGE

Grant agreement ID: 101105541

DOI

10.3030/101105541

EC signature date 28 April 2023

Start date 1 December 2023

End date 30 November 2026

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 288 859,20

Coordinated by

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MERGE (MERGE- Media, religion, and gender: transnational digital media actions of progressive and conservative social movements)

Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project MERGE looks at how transnational Catholic social movements use digital communication to discuss gender-related issues. The project is highly relevant for several reasons: first, it assesses the role of digital media for the spreading of narratives that can impact public opinion about religion and gender; second, it considers religion as a fundamental identity character for transnational social movements; third, it discusses gender as a contested site of political and social actions regarding issues such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, sex education.

The project has three main objectives:
- Identifying which discourses around gender and religion are more likely to develop transnationally and as part of global networks of actors
- Comparing and contrasting movements that are on the conservative or progressive end of the political spectrum, showing how some themes and ideas can pertain to opposite ideologies
- Discussing the affordances of digital media when it comes to activist strategies of transnational social movements connected to religion and gender

The project is innovative both in theoretical and methodological terms. Theoretically, it puts into conversation literature in digital religion studies, gender studies, and social movement studies, something that has seldom been done before. Methodologically, the project combines various social sciences and digital humanities approaches, employing computational methods to collect big datasets from social media and analyze them qualitatively and quantitatively, and pairing them with interviews and observations.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project MERGE has obtained several achievements, which include:
- An in-depth analysis of social media data about two transnational social movements
- Contacts with activists and participation in events that offered a direct account of the social movements’ actions and strategies
- Three articles published or accepted for publication
- Talks at conferences and universities, including an invited keynote speech
- Online articles and podcasts (see Communication Activities for more details)

These actions are significant as they merge data from social media with interviews and observations with activists. Specifically, the fellow has been able to compare the narratives that transnational social movements present online with the experiences of activists, which sometimes present different results. This was favorably received at conferences and in publication venues, as the fellow was invited to speak and write about the research extensively.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project’s results lead to some key considerations that are relevant both for the future development of the fellow’s research and as contributions to the field of study. In particular, these considerations regard:

- The relationship between gender and religion: while several scholars consider that female emancipation comes from a rejection of traditional religious authorities, religious people can use their faith as a source of gender equality and social justice
- The role of social media: online narratives tend to be different from what activists report, as social media present political and social aspects of the social movements, while activists’ experiences usually center on religion
- The notion of “progressive” and “conservative”: groups holding opposing ideologies include people with nuanced viewpoints, as they might agree with other activists regarding an issue but discuss other problems in completely different terms.

These considerations reinforce the scientific need to study gender, religion, and digital media by approaching the issue through a mixed-method approach and considering the nuanced experiences of people engaged with transnational social movements.