Religion, Hypermobility and Digital Media in Global Asia

Religion, Hypermobility and Digital Media in Global Asia

Faith, Flows and Fellowship

leaders use digital media to engage with their congregations who now are not confined to single locations and physical structures. The faithful are part of online communities which allow them a space to worship and to find fellowship. Migrant and mobile subjects thus are able to be connected to their faith -- whether home grown or emerging -- wherever they may be, providing them with an anchor in unfamiliar physical and cultural surroundings. As Asia rises, mobilities associated with Asian populations have escalated. The notion of ‘Global Asia’ is a reflection of this increased mobility, where Asia includes not only Asian countries as sites of political independence, but also the transnational networks of Asian trans/migrants, and the diasporic settlements of Asian peoples all over the world. This collection features cutting edge research by scholars across disciplines seeking to understand the role and significance of religion among transnational mobile subjects in this age of digital media, and in particular, as experienced in Global Asia.
  • Cover
  • Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgements
    • List of Illustrations
    • Introduction
      • Catherine Gomes, Lily Kong and Orlando Woods
  • Section 1: Community Creation: The Role of Digital Media in Faith-Based Groups
    • 1. The Creation of Digitally-Mediated Christian Migrant Communities in Singapore
      • Orlando Woods
    • 2. The Blog as a Platform for Spiritual Heritaging and Family Reconciliation: A Case Study
      • Tan Meng Yoe
    • 3. Material Expressions of Religious Culture
      • Anna Hickey-Moody and Marissa Willcox
  • Section 2: Connectivity Through Faith: Maintaining Transnational Connections Through Religion
    • 4. This-worldly Buddhism: Digital Media and the Performance of Religiosity in China
      • Han Zhang and Junxi Qian
    • 5. Forging Chinese Christian Digital Fellowship: Social Media and Transnational Connectivity
      • Francis Lim and Sng Bee Bee
  • Section 3: Preaching the Faith: The Rise of Digital Pastors and Preachers
    • 6. The Global Appeal of Digital Pastors: A Comparative Case Study of Joseph Prince, and Brian and Bobbie Houston
      • Catherine Gomes and Jonathan Y. Tan
    • 7. The Open Letter to the Evangelical Church’ and its Discontents: The Online Politics of Asian American Evangelicals, 2013-2016
      • Justin K.H. Tse
    • 8. Title Preacher Playlist: Reception and Curation of Celebrity Pastors in the Korean Diaspora
      • Hyemin Na
    • 9. Virtual Rohingya: Ethno-Religious Populism in the Asia Pacific
      • Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir
  • Afterword
    • Robbie B. H. Goh
  • Index
  • List of Illustrations
    • Figure 3.1. A future city, developed in a Manchester primary school in 2018. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 3.2. A future city, made in a Manchester primary school in 2018. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 3.3. A future city, made by a church group in Adelaide. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 3.4. ‘Evil Queen’ self-portrait made by a girl in Adelaide Church youth group. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 3.5. ‘Picture of anger’ made by a boy from Adelaide Church youth group. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 3.6. Materialising religion, a map of important things, made by a girl in a London primary school. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 5.1. Mixing of media types. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 5.2. Intercontextuality: Prayers and Origami. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 5.3. Transnational fellowship and solidarity on WeChat. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 5.4 and Figure 5.5. Reflections on Bible passage and teaching of catechism. (Source: Author’s Own)
    • Figure 5.6 and Figure 5.7. Commentary on society and morality. (Source: Author’s Own)