Considering religion and mediatisation through a case study ofJ+K's big day(The J K wedding entrance dance): A response to Stig Hjarvard

Abstract

This article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of Hjarvard's theory of the mediatisation of religion. By suggesting actor-network theory as a methodological approach to the study of the mediatisation of religion, this article proposes a case study of the viral wedding video, J K wedding entrance dance, to highlight problems with the assertion that the media are replacing or displacing religion's authoritative role in society. Drawing upon recent theories of how digital and mobile media are reshaping society by enabling participation, remediation and bricolage, I suggest instead that the media do not bring about secularisation, but rather that the media are contributing to a personalisation of what it means to be religious (or not). This article thus introduces an alternative definition to the concept of mediatisation: that mediatisation may be understood as the process by which collective uses of communication media extend the development of independent media industries and their circulation of narratives, contribute to new forms of action and interaction in the social world and give shape to how we think of humanity and our place in the world.

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