Articles by Marta Kolodziejska
Religion, 2022
This article follows the actor-centered approach in studies on deep mediatization and religion in... more This article follows the actor-centered approach in studies on deep mediatization and religion in the aim of introducing the concept of 'media settlers', which refers to how churches, being corporate actors, actively use digital media and respond to the trends and consequences of deep mediatization. In so doing, churches undertake actions defined as strategies intended to both expand and maintain communityand assert authority. The article draws on the results of qualitative analyses of the media ensembles of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and Orthodox Churches in Poland and the UK, along with interviews with media professionals from these churches. The conclusion is that the media settlers concept expands and develops our grasp of the religious-social shaping of technology [Campbell, Heidi A. 2010. When Religion Meets New Media. London: Routledge] by investigating how religious organizations actively shape their media to attain institutional goals, and in consequence transform their media ensembles.
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Current Psychology, 2022
The study analyses how the functions and purposes of mindfulness meditation practices are constru... more The study analyses how the functions and purposes of mindfulness meditation practices are constructed in the narratives of the Headspace mobile application. The quantitative component deployed a semi-automatic, computer assisted text analysis of 964 posts on the Headspace blog, and involved topic modelling and keyword co-occurrence analysis. This step identified dominant topics within the sample, and key term associations, which informed the in-depth qualitative text analysis of the recordings of four Headspace meditation packs, and 45 blog posts written between 2014 and 2018. The analysis focused on identifying the narratives, defined as structured storylines with plots, actors, and attached meanings. The analysis has shown that in the Headspace narratives, the function and purpose of mindfulness is constructed with reference to science and medicine, which also positions the app and the services it offers among scientific achievements, rather than spirituality or alt-med movements. The medical authoritative framework manifests itself in links to research, and referring to problems and solutions in medical or therapeutic terms. Apart from the medicalization of the practice, its healthicization is also manifested in the repetitive encouragement to monitor one's health and actively improve one's wellbeing. In effect, the narratives associate taking care of one's health with the morally desirable behavior. The study concludes that the medicalization and healthicization of mindfulness identified in the app narratives shift the meaning and function of the practice from spiritual growth and enlightenment to a "will to health" and the obligation of constant self-monitoring.
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Volume edited by Jenny Vorpahl and Dirk Schuster This book brings together case studies dealing w... more Volume edited by Jenny Vorpahl and Dirk Schuster This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity. The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest. The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.
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Religion, 2016
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Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 2017
The following article aims to show that on Catholic Internet forums in Poland, religion—in this c... more The following article aims to show that on Catholic Internet forums in Poland, religion—in this case Roman Catholicism—serves as a mediated chain of memory fulfilling two main functions simultaneously: an integrating function and a differentiating function. The analysis will be based on Hervieu-Leger’s concept of religion as a chain of memory (2000, 2006) and Davie’s modified concept of religion as memory that mutates (2000, 2006).A thread from 2011 on one of the most popular Catholic forums in Poland—forum.wiara.pl—will be used as a case study. It will be shown that through voicing various notions of the meaning of religion, faith, the institutional Church, and the connection between science and religion, users both distinguish themselves from and integrate themselves with other users, as well as with their representation of ‘average’ Catholics in Poland.
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Digit. Humanit. Q., 2020
This paper presents a multicase study protocol for meta-research in Digital Humanities, prepared ... more This paper presents a multicase study protocol for meta-research in Digital Humanities, prepared by Digital Methods and Practices Observatory (DiMPO) Working Group of the Digital Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities in Europe (DARIAH). The protocol is intended to help researchers in conducting meta-research and adopting this methodology for different purposes, disciplines and approaches. As many of the issues raised here are already covered in manuals for social research, our focus is the specificity of meta-research in the DH environment. The specificity of DH in this respect relies on an intrinsic challenge of bringing together generally undertheorised approaches of the humanities with very formal and process-driven ICT approaches. The main assumption behind this research is that a meaningful change in scholarly practices is taking place and is worth investigating. Moreover, a full assessment of this transformation should not focus exclusively on pioneering research, but rat...
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Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe, 2017
Drawing on a popular Catholic online forum in Poland, this study examines the interaction between... more Drawing on a popular Catholic online forum in Poland, this study examines the interaction between top-down (traditional institutional) and bottom-up (informal expert) forms of religious authority. In adapting Campbell's concept of online religious authority, this study shows how both forms of authority emerge in varying contexts and serve distinct yet mutually supplementary functions. Top-down authority occurs in relation to general topic and background of discussions and appears mostly through references to religious doctrine. Informal experts in turn emerge through groups of most active users and gain status through the recognition of fellow patrons for their expertise, experience and interpretation skills. The aim of the latter is less to undermine or replace traditional religious authority than to intervene in those areas where the institutional representation of the Church may fail or disappoint the expectations of fellow believers.
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Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 2020
The paper analyses the emic conceptualisations of “religious identity” among the users of two onl... more The paper analyses the emic conceptualisations of “religious identity” among the users of two online Catholic forums in Poland, dyskusje.katolik.pl and forum.wiara.pl, with the use of computer-mediated discourse analysis (cmda). This study aims to contribute to the debates on online religious identity construction, in particular within heteronomous and/or contentious communities (Abdel-Fadil, 2017; Davidson & Farquhar, 2014; Kimmons et al., 2017). The paper argues that religious identity on the forums has an individual and collective dimension, and that the fillings of the term “religious identity” often involve non-verbatim, covert references to religion and faith, which makes them similar to a division into “us” vs. “them.” It will be argued that the mediatised religious identities of forum users, while flexible and transformable, are also grounded in non-media contexts, for instance a church or a religious community, or a certain understanding of religion and religiosity.
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Culture and Society, 2017
Meditation, one of the most ancient forms of religious practice, appears to be undergoing a late ... more Meditation, one of the most ancient forms of religious practice, appears to be undergoing a late modern revival. One of the key expressions of this contemplative turn has emerged in the current popularity of mindfulness-a form of meditation originally derived from the Buddhist Theravada tradition. Following the groundwork laid by the global expansion of yoga, meditation is thus widely considered to represent the latest ripple in the easternisation of the West. This article seeks to offer a renewed examination of this subject by presenting the first qualitative study of mindfulness in Poland. Drawing on interviews with leading practitioners in the Polish public landscape, we present evidence showing that mindfulness denotes a much more spiritual form of practice than typically assumed. These findings call us to offer a fresh look into the increasingly complex ways in which our existing categories of religion, spirituality, and now the secular are currently being played out in relatively overlooked parts of the European continent.
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Religion in Times of Crisis
This chapter provides a brief overview of the traditional Catholic community in Poland and its tr... more This chapter provides a brief overview of the traditional Catholic community in Poland and its transformations in recent years. It then analyzes the ongoing research on Catholic online forums in Poland. The characteristics and functions of online communication communities are identified. The chapter argues that Internet forums should not be regarded merely as a means of communication, but as a highly expressive environment with features including: fluent/flexible authority and mutual user control, a broad understanding of religious community, reference to the teachings of the Catholic Church as a base of interaction, as well as support and advice as incentives to participate. As such, Catholic forums have community-building potential, but this community goes beyond traditional parish boundaries. Online religious communities reflect the tensions between the need to participate in church-based communities and to create new ones. In that sense they also embody the dynamic between communal and individualistic religious pursuits. Keywords: Catholic Church; Poland; religious communities; traditional Catholic community
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Religion and society in Central and Eastern Europe, 2016
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Communicating Religion and Atheism in Central and Eastern Europe, 2020
Volume edited by Jenny Vorpahl and Dirk Schuster
This book brings together case studies dealing ... more Volume edited by Jenny Vorpahl and Dirk Schuster
This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity.
The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest.
The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.
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A guide to digital humanities meta-research. DARIAH-EU Digital Methods and Practices Observatory Working Group, 2020
The aim of the pilot study we agreed on during the next meeting in December 2017 was to find out ... more The aim of the pilot study we agreed on during the next meeting in December 2017 was to find out if the opinions on the functions of digital technologies in science translate into their own scientific work, dissemination of results and communication between scientists / institutions / disciplines, how digital technologies change these aspects of researchers' work (analysis of actual examples of tc use), and how scientists assess their own research environment in terms of the use of ICT and digital practices. We believed that this would allow us to obtain information on the values assigned to digital technologies in the context of their use in science, as well as to identify particularly useful existing and missing digital technologies and potential problems / technological “white spots” in the work of Polish scientists. For the purpose of the study, we conducted a small pool of interviews deploying the episodic interview framework. The chapter summarizes the approach and our research protocol.
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Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 2020
The paper analyses the emic conceptualisations of “religious identity” among the usersof two onli... more The paper analyses the emic conceptualisations of “religious identity” among the usersof two online Catholic forums in Poland, dyskusje.katolik.pl and forum.wiara.pl, with theuse of computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA). This study aims to contribute tothe debates on online religious identity construction, in particular within heteronomousand/or contentious communities (Abdel-Fadil, 2017; Davidson & Farquhar, 2014;Kimmons et al., 2017). The paper argues that religious identity on the forums has anindividual and collective dimension, and that the fillings of the term “religious identity”often involve non-verbatim, covert references to religion and faith, which makes themsimilar to an “us” vs. “them” division. It will be argued that mediatised religious identityof forum users, while flexible and transformable, is also grounded in non-mediacontexts, for instance that of a Church or a religious community, or a certainunderstanding of religion and religiosity
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CULTURE AND SOCIETY. Journal of Social Research, 2017
Meditation, one of the most ancient forms of religious practice, appears to be undergoing a late ... more Meditation, one of the most ancient forms of religious practice, appears to be undergoing a late modern revival. One of the key expressions of this contemplative turn has emerged in the current popularity of mindfulness- a form of meditation originally derived from the Buddhist Theravada tradition. Following the groundwork laid by the global expansion of yoga, meditation is thus widely considered to represent the latest ripple in the easternisation of the West. This article seeks to offer a renewed examination of this subject by presenting the first qualitative study of mindfulness in Poland. Drawing on interviews with leading practitioners in the Polish public landscape, we present evidence showing that mindfulness denotes a much more spiritual form of practice than typically assumed. These findings call us to offer a fresh look into the increasingly complex ways in which our existing categories of religion, spirituality, and now the secular are currently being played out in relatively overlooked parts of the European continent.
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RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, 2016
Drawing on a popular Catholic online forum in Poland, this study examines the interaction between... more Drawing on a popular Catholic online forum in Poland, this study examines the interaction between top-down (traditional institutional) and bottom-up (informal expert) forms of religious authority. In adapting Campbell’s concept of online religious authority, this study shows that both forms of authority emerge in varying contexts and have distinct yet mutually supplementary functions. Top-down authority occurs as topic and background of discussions and appears mostly through references to religious doctrine. Informal experts in turn emerge from the group of most active users and gain their status through the recognition of fellow patrons for their expertise, experience and interpretation skills. The aim of the latter is less to undermine or replace traditional religious authority than to intervene in those areas where the institutional representation of the Church fails or disappoints fellow believers.
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The aim of this paper is to connect the debates on individualisation and mediatisation of religio... more The aim of this paper is to connect the debates on individualisation and mediatisation of religion and transformations of religious authority online on theoretical and empirical basis. The classical and contemporary concepts of individualisation of religion, rooted in the secularisation debate, will be connected with Campbell’s (2007) concept of four layers of religious authority online. The empirical material consists of a joint analysis of German Christian and Polish Catholic internet forums. In a transnational comparison, the findings show similar tendencies of individualisation and emerging communities of choice, as well as a lasting significance of textual religious authorities, although different levels of authority are negotiated and emphasised to a varying extent. However, in both cases critique of the Church and religion usually emerges offline, and is then expressed online. While the forums do not have a subversive potential, they facilitate adopting a more independent, informed, and reflexive approach to religion.
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Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 0048721x 2012 697816, 2012
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Polish Sociological Review, Apr 1, 2013
"ABSTRACT The article focuses on the use and transformation of religious symbols in popular ... more "ABSTRACT The article focuses on the use and transformation of religious symbols in popular culture. The Polish popculture “Machina” magazine was chosen as a case study. Popular culture, based strongly on visual communication, has fluid canons and is of an (auto)ironic nature. Symbols from different domains are transformed within this culture so that they fit its rules of communication. Religious symbols have been used extensively in “Machina” in a conventional, humorous, and deriding manner. According to the results of the analysis, the use of religious symbols in popular culture is inevitably connected to the overlapping of religious communication and popcultural communication, which creates a particular ambivalence of the meaning of the symbol. One should ask if resulting adaptations of religious symbols by popular culture might be considered to be a process of desacralisation. On the basis of the above-mentioned case study, one cannot give an unequivocal answer. Although popcultural communication may lead to simplification and deconstruction of symbols, one cannot claim it is de-symbolised as such. Desymbolisation and desacralisation are ongoing processes, but they are parallel to the process of creation and transformation of symbols as well. The research may be an inspiration for further analysis of the way religious symbols function within the realm of popular culture. "
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Nordic Jornal of Religion and Society
The following article aims to show that on Catholic Internet forums in Poland religion ‒ in this ... more The following article aims to show that on Catholic Internet forums in Poland religion ‒ in this case Roman Catholicism ‒ serves as a mediated chain of memory fulfilling two main functions simultaneously: an integrating function and a differentiating function. The analysis will be based on Hervieu-Léger's concept of religion as a chain of memory (2000; 2006) and Grace Davie's reformulation of the thesis with a concept of memory that mutates (2000; 2006). A thread from 2011 on one of the most popular Catholic forums in Poland ‒ forum.wiara.pl ‒ will be used as a case study. It will be shown that through voicing various notions of the meaning of religion, faith, the institutional Church, and the connection between science and religion, users both distinguish themselves from and integrate themselves with other users, as well as with their representation of "average" Catholics in Poland.
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Articles by Marta Kolodziejska
This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity.
The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest.
The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.
This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity.
The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest.
The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.
Using the top three online forums used by Polish Catholics as a case study, this project explores the formation of these online communities. It then looks at the alternative authority structures that emerge online and how these lead to an individualised form of religious engagement that can develop independently of mainstream doctrine. Through highlighting how religious discourse in Poland is appropriated and creatively modified by users in fulfilling their own spiritual needs, this work reveals the constant interplay between online and offline religious contexts.
This monograph includes cutting edge research on online expressions of religious community, authority and individualisation and as such will be of keen interest to scholars of religious studies and the sociology of religion, as well as communication studies.