And while Rogelio thanked his God, Xiomara was praying to hers (…) the one and only Paulina Rubio (Jane the Virgin, Episode 9, Netflix) My Catholic Italian grandmother used to light candles in the church for people. It was a kind and sweet gesture, we all agreed, but also a bit of an ongoing joke … Continue reading “I’ll pray for you”: Twitter, Facebook prayer button, and prayer apps

“When it comes to dressing well, American culture is so self-fulfilled that it has not only disregarded this courtesy of self-presentation, but has turned that disregard into a virtue. "We are too superior/busy/cool/not-uptight to bother about how we look to other people, and so we can wear pajamas to school and underwear to the mall.”― Chimamanda … Continue reading How to apply for a PhD in the US

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be" (JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) One of the perks of my job is teaching. My favorite class ever in Rotterdam has been "Digital Media& Cultural Identities." There are several reasons why I loved it so much. First, because … Continue reading Digital Media and Cultural Identities: Course Syllabus

Like many of you, I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix. I disliked it. The interesting part is that I agree with most of its main points, but I still disliked it. The main reason why I dislike it, is that I literally wrote a Ph.D. and a book about the Internet, I teach classes … Continue reading The Social Dilemma: A Short Guide to Criticize it

It could be worse. It could be raining (Young Frankenstein) Sometimes very exciting things happens. Since I am a simple person with a boring life, my incredibly exciting thing for 2020 was being invited as a keynote speaker for the ESA RN-14 Sociology of Religion conference in Groningen, "Religion and the Urban, Natural, and Virtual … Continue reading My Very COVID Keynote Now Available Online

I have recently wrote some articles surveying the state of religion and digital media. Something that I noticing doing it is that there is a lot of work done in English, about English-speaking countries, and more in generally about Christianity and Europe/US. I really felt I needed to broaden my horizons to other contexts, such … Continue reading CFP: Religion and Digital Media

 "God is dead. Marx is dead. And I don’t feel so well myself" I wanted to write an incredibly informative&smart piece on how to successfully teach online, but truth is, I have been trying Canvas and Teams and Zoom for three weeks and only yesterday I managed to blur my background so my partner doesn't … Continue reading Notes from COVID-19

“East, West, South or North makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey, a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.” ― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love I just realized that a work of mine exists as poster, video, and article. … Continue reading Islamophobia and Twitter: my Research as a Poster, a Video, an Article

I like organizing workshops and inviting my favorite people as speakers. I have indeed organized already a couple of workshops about religion and media (here and here). In this post, I will talk about a recently organized workshop, summarizing the main topics and discussing methodologies. You’ll also find articles and resources that are hopefully helpful … Continue reading Digitalization and Religious Contact: Topics, Methods, and Resources

“Once again, I arrived at my usual conclusion: one must educate oneself.” ― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Recently, I was very glad to be invited by my colleague Rasool Akbari as speaker at the Autumn School "Approaching Religion at the intersection of culture, society, language, and politics" at University of Mashhad, Iran.   … Continue reading Hypermediation: Approaching Religion in Iran