COMM4443 · Communication

Seeing God and Hearing Ghosts: Spirituality in US Media

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Satisfies one of two writing intensive courses required within the Communication major. Restricted to Juniors and Seniors. This writing intensive course will explore the intimate connections between the development of media technologies and the emergence of religious movements in the U.S. Emphasizing the unique relationship of religion and media in American public life, this course will focus on how the disestablishment of religion creates a competitive marketplace in which religions engage with new media technologies to make meaning, maintain community connections, and reach new members. Students will examine how the development of new media technologies presents both opportunities and challenges to various religious groups in the U.S. Cases to be discussed in the class include: how access to mass printing technologies enables publications and sacred texts from emerging religious groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Nation of Islam, and the Jehovah's Witnesses; how radio waves and photography influenced the popularity of spiritualism after the Civil War; how cable networks provided the opportunity for Evangelical Christians to ascend to the center of American public life; or how social media create space for young Muslim Americans to express their faith in contrast to mainstream media stereotypes.