Cavalcanti de Arruda, G.A.A., de Freitas, D.M., Soares Lima, C.M. et al. (2 more authors) (2022) The production of knowledge through religious and social media infrastructure : world making practices among Brazilian Pentecostals. Popular Communication, 20 (3). pp. 208-221. ISSN 1540-5702
Abstract
Following Robertson’s discussions on epistemic capital, the article analyses worldmaking procedures being used by members of one of the biggest neo-Pentecostal churches in Brazil – Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus. According to the popular narrative, social media, especially WhatsApp groups, contributed in a crucial way to the spread of sets of conspiracy theories aimed to question “established narratives” and creating an image of Jair Bolsonaro, currently the president of Brazil, as the sole hero (“the messiah” and “the myth”) fighting against the “corrupted” Brazilian state and the “globalist/communist cabal.” The article discusses interactions between members of so-called families created by the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus. These families could have between a few or around one hundred members, and they are in regular communication (at least a few times per day) through WhatsApp. Most members of one family do not live in walking proximity; therefore, using WhatsApp is often the primary way they interact. The article puts families into a broader context of the media ecosystem owned or influenced by Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus and contextualizes the church as a religious “infrastructure of knowing.” The article discusses sources of legitimization of particular knowledge produced and mediated between families. The article argues that communication in families contributes to the creation of unique epistemic tools crucial in re-creating individual worldviews of members Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. |
Keywords: | Pentecostalism; Brazil; epistemic capital; social media; IURD; UCKG |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Architecture (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 May 2022 10:05 |
Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2022 15:06 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/15405702.2022.2074997 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:187359 |