Religious Speech as a Resource

Besuch eines Imams aus Mekka in Bishkek - Copyright: Yanti Hölzchen Visit of an imam from Mekka in Bishkek | © Y. Hölzchen

Subproject:
C 04 Religious Speech as a Resource in South and Central Asia. Guidance, Medialization and Commercialization

Project leadership:
Prof. Dr. Ruth Conrad, Prof. Dr. Roland Hardenberg

Staff:
Dr. Deepak Kumar Ohja, Gulniza Taalaibekova M.A., Sophia Margarethe Schäfer

Regions:
India, Kyrgyzstan

What role does religious speech play as a resource? What is changing through new forms of medialization and propagation?

Due to its transforming effect on the listener as a resource, religious speech has a decisive role in the emergence, preservation and shift of religious institutions. In the first case study in Kyrgyzstan, especially the speeches of the Imams in the mosques of the capital will be examined. The two other case studies analyze the speeches of representatives of different Hindu religions and Christian institutions in Odisha, India. The project is based on the observation that the medialization of religious speech is playing an increasingly important role. Therefore, the transnational distribution of religious discourses and their commercialization on real and virtual markets also move into the center of research.

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