The Online Eventification in Religious Communities in Denmark

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

As the summer vacations come to an end in Denmark, we can reflect upon the current work the Danish Recovira team is undertaking. In the last blogpost, we investigated the importance of the senses in relation to how members of religious groups conceptualized the feeling of community. We highlighted how digital tools clearly had limitations in the construction of ‘authentic’ community for our informants. Nevertheless, there are ways in which the communities employ digital tools, and we will present these in this blogpost.

It is clear from our data that all religious groups do in fact have digital presences across various media such as Facebook, Instagram and websites. The ideational dimension of the homepages show that community building is indeed important for the groups as shown through advertising their offline activities. Members can get knowledge of others in the community, they can communicate with each other, the community as such can communicate to its members, and it can share values and history on the digital platforms. There is, however, one particularly important function that social media fulfill: the communication of events in the religious groups or the eventification in these groups. Eventification (sometimes used interchangeably with festivalization) encompasses the “social phenomenon that seems to compensate for the lack of physical contact in modern life and cyberspace, but also the lack of meaning in an overly material world. Humans like (and need) to be together, to touch, hug, celebrate, experience, feel happy. Intentional communities, free cultural spaces, parties, and festivals make us feel connected, tolerant, and inclined to share” (Sala 2021). While meeting in the digital sphere thus seemed less meaningful to an overwhelmingly big proportion of our informants, the online meditation of physical events taking place in the various groups was an essential feature of social media and should not be underestimated. We are told in interviews that informants routinely check the websites and Facebook pages of their respective communities, and that this eases accessibility as well as entrance to the groups. We explore this theme in a forthcoming article and promise to return to this point.

image credit: Photo by Nitin Dhumal: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-lens-sunglasses-on-sand-near-sea-at-sunset-selective-focus-photography-46710/

Theorizing the Concept of Community

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

As the spring approaches, we in the Danish team are preparing for our upcoming writing retreat in Barcelona. Each national team in the RECOVIRA project must contribute with at least two articles and it is our ambition to dig deep into the writing of our two articles during our retreat. For now, we have planned that the first article will present analyses of the findings from the Danish fieldwork while the second article will compare results from the Danish fieldwork with the quantitative survey data formerly collected in Denmark as part of the “COVID-19: Religion and Existential Wellbeing” project [1]. While the articles are still being set up, we do have some specific ideas as to their content, especially the first article.

This first article – which will be in Danish – will dig into the theme of community and how it is conceptualized among the informants in the different religious groups. In our last blogpost, we described how the senses came into play, when the informants described how they had missed meeting physically with their group. Touching and hugging each other, having eye contact, smelling each other, and smiling to each other were described as key factors in constituting the feeling of connection and we will examine this more closely in the first article. However, while the article is based on empirical analyses, we have also been working on shaping a theoretical framework which can inform our analyses.

The concept of community is a category of practice used among folks in their everyday conversations, but it is also a category of analysis used among academics. Community has been defined and discussed by several academics, and we have chosen to focus specifically on the way sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and Axel Honneth examined the concept, since they are some of the most distinguished modern sociologists, but also because they approach community in quite different ways. Bauman, on the one hand, is rather pessimistic in how he views communities. While he acknowledges that community to many is a concept of positive connotations that symbolizes security and social coherency, he also argues that being part of a community is always in opposition to being a fully free individual, since being part of a community according to Bauman requires ‘absolute obedience’ and thus forces the individual to give up upon its freedom and trust in individuals outside said community. Honneth, on the other hand, underscores the liberating potential of communities. He argues that when the individual is part of a well-functioning, caring community, it enables the individual to express itself fully and safely, thus experiencing the community as a extending its freedom rather than limiting it.

Thus, there are quite different approaches to community, and we are inspired by this diversity in our empirical analyses. We look forward to engaging further with these perspectives as we continue with our writing and hope it will contribute with fruitful thinking to the overall RECOVIRA project.


[1] https://ccrs.ku.dk/research/centres-and-projects/covid-19–religion-and-existential-wellbeing/

Diving into the data and sensing the importance of senses

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

As the RECOVIRA project proceeds, we are still in the process of analyzing the data in both Denmark and in the other participating countries. In our former Danish blogpost, we emphasized to clear trends in the data: First, that all the Danish religious communities we have visited have returned to meeting physically and second, that resources are highly conditional for how the groups adapt digitally. As we plan the articles we will write this spring, out interest in understanding the community aspect has only increased. What is it about community which is so hard to replicate online and which makes people go back to meeting face to face rather than digitally? To near an answer to this question, we will present just a few quotes from informants in the study. Interestingly, both informants in their quotes mention the importance of the senses:

 “I mean, the many, many smells are an important element. I have – on a regular Sunday – counted the many, between 8-12 nationalities at a regular Sunday service (…) The sensual, the sensual means something, I mean in my lecture this Sunday I will touch upon Grundtvig’s thesis of how we’re human first and then Christians, there is something about how being human opens for the sensual which then becomes an opening towards the divine”

“Well, if I should tie this up, then I would say that what is essential to me is the community where we look each other in the eyes and sense each other, it has been the smells, it can be different things, and that can never be replaced by digital, by a digital presence”

Clearly, to both informants the senses which come into play in the presence of other community members are an important part of feeling connected and clearly this is lacking in a digital service. It seems as if smelling each other and gaining eye contact are key factors in feeling part of the group, which could potentially have interesting explanations founded in theories from the fields of psychology and evolutionary biology as well as aesthetic studies. There is much more to unpack in terms of what constitutes community, but we have a strong feeling of this being an important starting point, which we will pursue over the next few months of analysis.

Et indblik i digital religion blandt unge i Danmark

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

Dataindsamlingen i den danske del af RECOVIRA-projektet er stadig undervejs, og vi har nu vendt blikket mod to religionsgrupper, der primært har både unge medlemmer og unge ledere. I dette blogpost giver vi en smagsprøve på de første fund fra feltarbejdet i disse to grupper og relaterer det til tidligere præsenterede pointer og temaer i det forrige danske blogpost.

Det fremstår forholdsvist tydeligt, at de yngre grupper bruger digitale værktøjer og sociale medier i højere grad end grupper med ældre medlemmer og ledere. I den ene gruppe ser vi således en helt specifik grafisk vision og en gennemtænkt strategi for brugen af særligt Facebook og Instagram samt en professionel ansat til at varetage blandt andet denne kommunikation. Her anvendes Facebook særligt i to henseender; for det første som et kalenderredskab, hvor ’begivenheds ’-funktionen bruges til at skabe overblik over de mange events, gruppen har; for det andet har gruppen en række mindre, kreative fællesskaber, og disse fællesskaber har typisk en selvstændig Facebook-gruppe, som anvendes til intern kommunikation, og som dermed er fællesskabsunderstøttende. Instagram bruges i stedet til at give løbende, levende updates fra de daglige arrangementer i gruppen, særligt via ’story ’-formatet, og gruppen er desuden bevist om, at den ungegruppe, de rækker ud til generelt, bruger Instagram mere end Facebook, hvorfor de lægger en vedvarende indsats i at være nærværende på Instagram.

Den anden religionsgruppe er mindre organiseret og mere frivilligt drevet, hvorfor helhedsindtrykket er lidt mindre organiseret. I denne religionsgruppe bruges også både Facebook og Instagram, i mange henseender på samme måde som i førstnævnte gruppe; til at dele ud af fællesskabets aktiviteter og koordinere disse samt til at give et løbende indblik i gruppens daglige liv. Grupperne har derfor en række fællestræk i forhold til deres inddragelse af det digitale, men hvad der er særligt interessant er at vi selv i disse grupper, som så aktivt inddrager det digitale, ser, at den digitale indsats ikke kan stå for sig selv, men i stedet anvendes til at få brugerne til at komme til de fysiske aktiviteter. Endnu en gang virker det således tydeligt, at der er elementer ved dét at skabe et autentisk, meningsfuldt, sammenhængende religiøst fællesskab, som skal skabes i det fysiske fremfor det digitale samvær.

Vi kan også forsigtigt konkludere, i tråd med en pointe fremsat i den sidste danske blogpost, at den digitale indsats konkret ofte er betinget af hvilke konkrete ressourcer, der er til rådighed i religionsgrupperne. Er der finansielle og/eller menneskelige ressourcer til at varetage den digitale indsats, bliver denne typisk mere konsekvent, hvorimod grupper med mangel på disse ressourcer ofte får en mere fragmenteret digitalt præsens på sociale medier. Den danske dataindsamling går nu ind i den mere afsluttende proces. Over de næste par måneder er det således vores ambition at runde det fysiske og digitale feltarbejde af samt foretage de sidste interviews, for dernæst at påbegynde en dybere analyse af materialet.

An initial analysis of the Danish data

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

RECOVIRA-projektet skrider fremad, og i denne blogpost – det første af sin slags på dansk – giver vi et indblik i de fund, vi indtil videre har identificeret i de danske data. I vores sidste blogpost var vi i det første stadie af feltarbejdet og havde indsamlet data primært i den buddhistiske gruppe. Siden da har vi gennemført dataindsamling i en af kirkerne samt interviewet forskellige repræsentanter for andre religiøse grupper. Grupperne, som disse repræsentanter tilhører, bliver ikke genstand for feltarbejde, men disse mere fritstående interviews har alligevel givet en større bredde til projektet, i det flere grupper får en stemme. Vi har nu etableret kontakt til den næste kirke, hvor der skal indsamles data. Desværre har det vist sig svært at få en muslimsk gruppe til at deltage i projektet, men vi forsøger via forskellige netværk at se, om ikke det alligevel kan lade sig gøre.

For nu har vi altså indsamlet lidt over halvdelen af data, og vi kan således begynde at se nogle trends i materialet, om end vi ikke endnu har lavet en dybdegående analyse. Vi vil her præsentere to tendenser.

For det første er det en gennemgående tendens, at grupperne er vendt tilbage til at møde fysisk til deres praksisser. Mange informanter fremhæver, at dét at mødes fysisk og være nærværende sammen i samme rum ikke kan erstattes digitalt, fordi følelsen af fællesskab og sammenhørighed ikke på samme måde kan genskabes igennem det digitale. Dét at få øjenkontakt med et andet medlem eller med lederen eller at dufte og sanse rummet og at mærke stemningen fremhæves af mange som absolut essentielt og meningsgivende for dem i deres religiøse liv. Videre har flere informanter også pointeret at forskellige ritualer, såsom nadvere eller belæringer, virker mest autentiske og virkelige, når den religiøse leder er fysisk present. 

For det andet kan vi se, at håndteringen af pandemien og den digitale omstilling, grupperne har gennemført eller forsøgt at gennemføre, er stærkt afhængig af de lokale ressourcer, gruppen har til rådighed. Disse ressourcer relaterer sig blandt andet til de generationer, der er repræsenteret i gruppen, de digitale ressourcer og udstyr, der har været adgang til og diversiteten i gruppen. Grupper med yngre medlemmer, medlemmer, der har digitale kompetencer og generelt grupper med flere medlemmer er lykkedes bedre med at omstille sig til det digitale end mindre grupper med ældre og færre medlemmer.

Vi ser frem til at have det samlede materiale indsamlet og til at påbegynde en dybere analyse, både på den danske såvel som på de andre landes data, men for nu kan ovenstående give et første indblik i projektets fund.

Image credit: image provided by the author

A few preliminary findings from the Danish context

Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University

When researchers write an application for a project, we always try to visualize the many different stages of said project as well as predict the possible pitfalls and difficulties we can run into at each stage. While the RECOVIRA project is an international, collaborative project spanning seven different European countries with a thoughtful plan for administration, each of these seven different countries have their own national research culture, logics and law. This can produce challenges, which became evident when we in Denmark in January began to plan our field work and applied for ethical approval of the data collection.

Though the RECOVIRA project might have been approved in terms of research ethics at the hosting university of Manchester Metropolitan University, we were also obliged to have the collection of empirical data in Denmark approved by a research ethical committee at Aarhus University before we began our investigation. This was one element we had to respond to; however, as we began to prepare our ethical application, another important element came into play, namely The General Data Protection Regulation. Essentially, we had to make sure that the way we collect data is both ethically sound and follows the GDPR, which might seem fairly simple. However, what proved to be difficult was to make sure that the many aspects of the fieldwork lived up to both. The RECOVIRA project is based upon the integration of many sources of data: fieldwork – both online and offline -interviews as well as observations of rituals, preferably in the form of pictures and video. The latter proved to be difficult. When we first submitted our ethical application, the board responded with concerns in terms of how we would ensure ethical consent from all participants who would be depicted on pictures and video; however, even if we manage to do this, our legal advisor also pointed to us that any type of personal data collected must live up to the GDPR, which makes such data collection further difficult, since video material is very hard to pseudonymize compared to for instance interview data. The ethical board instead encouraged us to reapply with an application for just field work and interviews.

We have now just received an approval for this application and are eager to initiate the Danish data collection; however, we continue to reflect upon how we will collect data on rituals in a manageable, ethical and data secure way. For now, we know that when planning empirical research project one should be prepared to set aside time for ethical applications and educate themselves on GDPR and recognize that this can a more time-consuming process than one might expect.

Image credit: AI image generated by craiyon.com “Illustrate the concept of data privacy and security”

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