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

Informazioni relative al progetto

MERGE

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101105541

DOI

10.3030/101105541

Data della firma CE 28 Aprile 2023

Data di avvio 1 Dicembre 2023

Data di completamento 30 Novembre 2026

Finanziato da

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Costo totale

Nessun dato

Contributo UE

€ 288 859,20

Coordinato da

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)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-12-01 al 2025-11-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

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.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

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.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

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.