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Mediating Islam in the Digital Age (MIDA)

MIDA is a Marie Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) project that was conducted from February 2019 until March 2023 under the EU Horizon 2020 program. The project aimed to investigate the effects of digitisation and technological innovation on Islam, including its modes of expression and communication of religious messages and traditions, as well as its engagement with society. Fifteen Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) were involved in the project, conducting research, internships, and training programs to develop their skills and expertise in the field.

General Theme

The MIDA project rested on the premise that digitisation and technological innovation have a tremendous influence on Islam, on the modes of expression and communication of religious messages and traditions, and on the modes of engagement with society. The rapid changes that already take place generated a sense of losing control and instability among the general public, politicians, journalists, academics, and not least among Muslims themselves. Consequently, it has shaken up Islam as a field of scholarly study and will impact on the ways Islam is to be studied in the future. Although digitisation of Islam has already been addressed for quite some time by scholars of various disciplinary backgrounds, research agendas are fragmented and ad-hoc. The MIDA project engaged in exploring and mapping the entire field and bringing together researchers from different disciplinary traditions.

Aim of the MIDA project

The MIDA-project assessed these developments in all their dimensions by formulating three meta-questions.

1.          How does digitisation shape Islam much as did past technological revolutions (i.e. beliefs, practices, societies, political organisations, social institutions, and outlooks)?

2.          How does digitisation and technological innovation modify the relation Muslims have with their past and with the transformations previous technological innovations had in the past?

3.          How does digitisation modify and reorganise scholarship and research on Islam?

Research Themes

The MIDA-project was organised as a means to develop a lasting interdisciplinary network of researchers to address Islam in the digital age. The implications of digitisation for Islam as a religious practice and a field of study are diverse and complex and distinguishes five thematic interlocking fields. They dealt with fields where digitisation and technological changes take on specific forms and where specific expertise is needed. These themes included (1) The ways in which technological revolutions shape the performance of selfhood, the modes of personal engagement with society and with Islam, and the political consequences of shifting boundaries between public and private spheres; (2) The role of language and various modes of translation in an ever-expanding digital world; (3) The visual and material mediation of Islam over time and the transformative power of digital technology; (4) The construction and transformation of religious authority [EH1] and religious knowledge production in digital environments[EH2] ; and (5) The new senses of space, place, and flow as a result of  globalisation, migration, displacement, the emergence of modern media[EH3], and the improved means of communication and transportation.

[EH1]Link to:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_authority

[EH2]Link to:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_environment

[EH3]Link to:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_environment