Draft:International Society for Media, Religion, and Culture

The International Society for Media, Religion and Culture is a learned society dedicated to the international and interdisciplinary study of institutions and practices at the intersections of media, world religions, and cultures. The society includes scholars from the disciplines of religious studies, media studies, anthropology, sociology, art history, political science, and other fields primarily in the humanities and social sciences. The society was incorporated in 2010, has hosted biennial academic conferences since 1994, and hosts a website at https://www.ismrc.org/.

Activities
The first international conference of this interdisciplinary field took place in 1994 in Uppsala, Sweden. The second took place in 1996 in Boulder, CO (US). Conferences have been held approximately every other year since that time. Several edited volumes have been published as a result of these gatherings, including
 * Rethinking Media and Culture, edited by Stewart Hoover and Knut Lundby (Sage Publishing 1997)
 * Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media, edited by Stewart Hoover and Lynn Schofield Clark (Columbia University Press 2002)
 * Mediating Religion Studies in Media, Religion and Culture, edited by Jolyon Mitchell and Sofia Marriage (T&T Clark 2003)
 * Key Words in Religion, Media and Culture, edited by David Morgan (Routledge 2008)
 * Fundamentalisms and the Media, edited by Stewart Hoover and Nadia Kaneva (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009)
 * Media, Spiritualities and Social Change, edited by Stewart Hoover and Monica Emerich (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011)
 * Media, Religion, and Gender, edited by Mia Lovheim (Routledge 2013)

The Society publishes the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture with Brill Publishers. , including a Special Issue on Public Scholarship on Media and Religion in the Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture. It also publishes the multi year Media, Religion and Culture book series through its partnership with Routledge and the Digital Religion and Culture series, also with Routledge.

Several research networks and research centers are also associated with the Society, including
 * The Center for Media, Religion, and Culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder (US): https://www.colorado.edu/cmrc/
 * The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies at Texas A & M University (US): https://digitalreligion.tamu.edu/
 * The Center for Religion and Media at New York University (US): https://as.nyu.edu/departments/religiousstudies/center-religion-and-media.html
 * HERMES: The Helsinki Research Hub on Religion, Media, and Social Change (Finland): https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/religion-media-and-social-change
 * The Blanquerna Observatory of Media, Religion and Culture in Barcelona(Spain): http://www.obsblanquerna.com/en/
 * The Center for Religion and Civic Culture at University of Southern California (US): https://crcc.usc.edu/
 * The Religion, Media, and Culture Division of the American Academy of Religion:
 * The Religion, Media and Culture working group with the International Communication Association

Conferences

 * 2023 Bochum, Germany, Center for Religious Studies at Ruhr University Bochum
 * 2021 Online event
 * 2018 Boulder, Colorado USA, Center for Media, Religion and Culture at University of Colorado Boulder
 * 2016 Seoul, Korea, Hanyang University
 * 2014 Kent, UK, University of Kent
 * 2012 Eskesehir, Turkey, Anadolou University
 * 2010 Toronto, Canada, Ryerson University
 * 2008 Sao Paulo, Brazil, Metodista Universidade Sao Paulo
 * 2006 Sigtuna, Sweden, Uppsala University and Sigtuna Foundation
 * 2005 Tehran, Iran, Tehran University
 * 2004 Louisville, Kentucky, USA, University of Kentucky
 * 2003 Jyvaskyla, Finland, Jyvaskyla University
 * 1999 Edinburgh, Scotland, University of Edinburgh
 * 1996 Boulder, Colorado USA, University of Colorado at Boulder
 * 1994 Uppsala, Sweden, University of Uppsala