Paper short abstract:

Drawing on the classical tradition in sociology of religion and newer approaches of functional sacred, I discuss the construction of solidarities in digital contexts in recent Romania, theoretically addressing the (quasi-)religious expressions of collective commitment .

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on the classical tradition in sociology of religion, theories of anomie and recent approaches of functional sacred (Demerath 2010), I discuss the construction of collective commitment in digital contexts in recent Romania, emphasizing the theoretical potential of questioning the (quasi-)religious expressions of solidarities against certain social evils.

The situation that steadily grew to become the most significant civic attitude in recent Romania was caused by a “moral shock” (Jasper 1997): the fire that killed 64 people in a nightclub in Bucharest in 2015 led to an unprecedented strong public response to a flawed management of death. The pandemic and the war deepened the crisis expanding the need to cluster around absolute moral values.

In anomic times (gaps between social goals and social means, uncertainty, lack of trust, dissatisfaction with the mechanisms of democracy), extraordinarily pure moral values give rise to spirituality-infused civic solidarities. Rising “like one man” (Arendt 1965) against corrupted evil-doers prompts the feeling of being anchored in one mystical Common Will. Functionally, there is no difference between exercising a civil right and exorcising an evil.

How "authentic" are such solidarities? In a Durkheimian tradition, "authentic” communities are maintained through genuine sacred emotions rooted in reality. For Durkheim (1912), sacred is very real (not synthetically induced), that is 1. not the consequence of one’s passion and 2. not something invented by emotionally skilled individuals. Instead, the sacred reflects one’s capacity to feel faith together with others (with whom one is in immediate relation) and the capacity to act in accordance with that faith. As Durkheim further suggested, only tight collective entities can sustain the sacred and form “real” communities. Finally, we may wonder whether virtual networks - rooted in vicarious experiences, not on actual emotional bonds and moral engagement among members - can actually forge "authentic" collective life.

Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses the ritual organised by Old Believer community of Daugavpils city in April 2020 to protect from Covid-19. They flew over the city with a myrrh-streaming cross singing religious songs. In the result, Daugavpils was the last city to experience the first wave of pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

Daugavpils is one of the last cities in Latvia survived the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The local Old Believer community explains it with the protection of higher powers that was reached by organising a flight at the beginning of April 2020. Representatives of local parishes and spiritual leaders flew over the city with a myrrh-streaming cross singing religious songs. By analysing the video of the flight and the information in mass media it is possible to study the ritual itself and its interpretation by representatives of other religious groups. This case becomes even more unique taking into consideration that Old Believer community stands itself as very conservative and willing to keep old traditions as long as possible. The use of an airplane is very revolutionary in Old Believer religious practice, and the coincidence, which postpone the beginning of a mass disease of the city residents, made Old Believers believe in the power of the faith of their community.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation is dedicated to the social media meme "Saint Javelin", which spread globally as a digital form of solidarity in response to the Russian war in Ukraine. It attempts to explain how stereotypical identity is formed and consumed through the depiction of a stylized armed virgin.

Paper long abstract:

With the beginning of Russia's attack on Ukraine, many forms of solidarity have quickly developed globally. Especially within social media such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok those have spread quickly. One of these phenomena is "Saint Javelin", a meme of a stylized Madonna holding a US anti-tank weapon in her hands.

The stylized use of an armed virgin in the context of the iconography of orthodox Christianity in its use as a pop-cultural propaganda Symbol for the Ukrainian resistance allows for the exploration of intriguing relationships and connections in the context of Religion and national Identity.

While the low-key interpretation corresponds to a mass appeal in the sense of modern media, it reflects forms of exoticization of Eastern European orthodoxy in order to simultaneously construct an stereotype of Ukrainian nationality, which needs to be questioned.

The presentation will try to show how pop culture uses religious imagery while constructing an external stereotype of quasi-national-religious ukrainian identity.