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Paper short abstract:

Drawing on a virtual ethnography among Pentecostal Gitanos, including the collection of WhatsApp and Facebook messages and videos produced by my Gitano interlocutors, in this paper, I interrogate how Pentecostal Gitanos made use of social media and internet technologies during the pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on a virtual ethnography among Pentecostal Gitanos, including the collection of WhatsApp and Facebook messages and videos and other sorts of content produced by my Gitano interlocutors, in this paper, I interrogate how Pentecostal Gitanos made use of social media and internet technologies during the pandemic. Here, I explore an understudied dimension of Gitano human experience: the intersection of ethnicity and religion and the virtual world while adding to a growing scholarship concerned with the relevance of social media to understand the construction of individual personae and the communitarian dynamics of religious communities Also, this paper engages with broader anthropological and conversations regarding the role of religion and technology in the communicative and public spheres of European societies.

I will first examine the historical entanglement of protestant religion and technology, emphasising how technological advancements have boosted the propagation of protestant ideas. Then, I will explore how social media have played a significant role in defining believers´ views about the pandemic. Finally, I will provide some insights to understand how social media facilitated the creation and reproduction of a strong sense of religious togetherness. This sense of togetherness, I argue, was vital for believers to cope with the negative emotional consequences of the pandemic and its tragedies.