ASC211 Lecture 9: Digital Religion - Week Nine ASC211
Deakin University ASC211 World Religions Trimester One 2018
Week Nine - Digital Religion
• Significant changes in communication technology influencing religion
• ie. Cyberchurches, Second Life, online rituals, pilgrimages, gaming
• internet, facebook, twitter, instagram
• Digital platforms – extend and alter religious practice
• Olie ad offlie spaes hae eoe leded ad itegated
• Heidi Campbell 2012
Digital Religion - What?
• Community
• Identity
• Authority
• Authenticity
• Practices/rituals
• Spaces/realities
• Lived religion
• Activism
Case Study - Cybersisters: Countering Gender Inequality in Global Buddhism
Global Buddhisms are widely diverse:
• geographical and social location
• the type of Buddhism practiced
• lay and ordained
• traditional and/or modern
• convert/Western and/or heritage/ethnic
• individual dispositions
Buddhist identity and practice increasingly hybrid and complex:
• ie. children of Western Buddhists can no longer be called converts
• heritage/ethnic Buddhists are practicing diverse Buddhisms some taught by Western teachers
• the traditional and modern co-exist within diverse traditions
Buddhism and Gender Inequality
• Shared experience of ueual oppotuity and status for women in Buddhism
• gender egalitarianism frequently cited as a central component of modern Buddhism (Wilson 2011)
• Yet, gender disparities persist globally in Buddhist societies and organizations
• linked to cultural and religious beliefs and practices that allocate a lower status to women
• most Buddhist archetypes of enlightenment are male
• positions of power and privilege within the majority of Buddhist organizations continue to be held by
men
Cybersisters - Digital Activism
• Since the late 1980s, Buddhist scholars, nuns and practitioners have been at the forefront of global
Buddhist social movements such as Sakyadhita, challenging gender disparities and striving for
equality for women in all Buddhist traditions.
• More recently shift to digital activism - supporting processes of democratisation and peacebuilding
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Case study - cybersisters: countering gender inequality in global buddhism. Global buddhisms are widely diverse: geographical and social location the type of buddhism practiced lay and ordained traditional and/or modern convert/western and/or heritage/ethnic individual dispositions. Buddhist identity and practice increasingly hybrid and complex: ie. children of western buddhists can no longer be called converts: heritage/ethnic buddhists are practicing diverse buddhisms some taught by western teachers the traditional and modern co-exist within diverse traditions. Since the late 1980s, buddhist scholars, nuns and practitioners have been at the forefront of global. Buddhist social movements such as sakyadhita, challenging gender disparities and striving for equality for women in all buddhist traditions: more recently shift to digital activism - supporting processes of democratisation and peacebuilding. Sakyadhita the alliance for bhikkhunis the yogini project. Following the death of king suddhodana, mahapajapati, buddha(cid:859)s step(cid:373)othe(cid:396) a(cid:374)d au(cid:374)t, first asked him to ordain her, however declined her request three times.
