The Study of Propaganda and Religious Communication

[ChristoWitch87]

Hey all, the title of my post is largely self explanatory. I'll break down my question(s) as follows:

1. Do these topics belong to Communication, Political Science, or both?

2. What scholars/institutions are big in these fields (even better if they work in the intersection of them)?

3. What sort of education preparation is desired in a PhD applicant in these fields?

I am particularly interested in the use of various media platforms to disseminate religious extremist narratives (ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Iranian Shiite Extremist Proxies, etc) and their relative efficacy. Closer to my theological roots (Currently a candidate for ordination and beginning my M.Div next year) I am also interested in preaching and liturgy as a social phenomena and how the experience of them changes based on media platform (Ex: does a church goer feels as connected to their congregation by watching an online feed of the liturgy as they do if they attended personally? How does this change based on whether or not the feed is live or after the ritual's conclusion, whether or not its their home church, etc.).

If I decide to do doctoral studies I will have a BA in Philosophy/Math, two graduate degrees in Religion/Theology, and one in Public Policy by the time I apply. What can I do to set myself up to be competitive?

Thanks in advance!

[ProudCatMom]

 

 

45 minutes ago, ChristoWitch87 said:

Hey all, the title of my post is largely self explanatory. I'll break down my question(s) as follows:

1. Do these topics belong to Communication, Political Science, or both?

2. What scholars/institutions are big in these fields (even better if they work in the intersection of them)?

3. What sort of education preparation is desired in a PhD applicant in these fields?

I am particularly interested in the use of various media platforms to disseminate religious extremist narratives (ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Iranian Shiite Extremist Proxies, etc) and their relative efficacy. Closer to my theological roots (Currently a candidate for ordination and beginning my M.Div next year) I am also interested in preaching and liturgy as a social phenomena and how the experience of them changes based on media platform (Ex: does a church goer feels as connected to their congregation by watching an online feed of the liturgy as they do if they attended personally? How does this change based on whether or not the feed is live or after the ritual's conclusion, whether or not its their home church, etc.).

If I decide to do doctoral studies I will have a BA in Philosophy/Math, two graduate degrees in Religion/Theology, and one in Public Policy by the time I apply. What can I do to set myself up to be competitive?

Thanks in advance!

At Cleveland State University I took courses with and have  the "master" in Persuasion (Richard Perloff) on my thesis committee. He has done a lot of work on religious extremist organizations/cults in his textbook (and I'm assuming in other work too). His BA was in philosophy, and then his MA & PhD were in mass communication. He was a post-doc at Ohio State working for Social Psych, Journalism, and Communication and now is a professor with appointments in Communication, Political Science, and Psych. Unfortunately CSU does not have a PhD program but he may be worth reaching out to and getting his perspective. Here is his bio: http://facultyprofile.csuohio.edu/csufacultyprofile/detail.cfm?FacultyID=R_PERLOFF

 

[whitmanifesto]

This completely falls within Communications, specifically programs that focus on Cultural Studies, Critical Studies, Discourse Analysis, and Political Communications. Herman and Chomsky's "Propaganda Model" and works on cultural hegemony are the major influences on studies of Propaganda and Fake News. This year these topics are the one of the main focuses in the Union for Democratic Communications (I'm on the steering committee, so I've seen a lot of the upcoming papers) Conference in Chicago. If you visit the website, you'll see the program in a month or so and you can scout out what professors are focusing on this right now. Also, Discourse & Society is a good journal for this kind of work. Programs that focus on New Media, like UCLA, UC Irvine and UIC are good your particular interests.

Try to get stuff written, like for conferences. With that many Masters degrees you will be expected to have a lot of writing out there, maybe even a publication. Too many degrees and not enough research could actually put you behind, not at an advantage. You don't want to look like a "career student" they want researchers. International Communications Association and National Communications Association (US) are our main conferences, but look for regional places as well. Political and Religious studies conferences are also good.

Edited February 14, 2018 by whitmanifesto