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Zoroastrians on the Internet, a Quiet Social Movement: Ethnography of a Virtual Community

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Zoroastrians on the Internet, a Quiet Social Movement: Ethnography of a Virtual Community UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 2009 Zoroastrians on the Internet, a quiet social movement: Ethnography of a virtual community Helen Gerth University of Nevada Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Mass Communication Commons, and the Religion Commons Repository Citation Gerth, Helen, "Zoroastrians on the Internet, a quiet social movement: Ethnography of a virtual community" (2009). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 49. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/1363773 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ZOROASTRIANS ON THE INTERNET, A QUIET SOCIAL MOVEMENT: ETHNOGRAPHY OF A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY by Helen Gerth Bachelor of Arts Occidental College, Los Angeles 1991 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Anthropology Department of Anthropology College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 2009 Copyright © 2009. Helen Gerth All Rights Reserved. ABSTRACT Zoroastrians on the Internet, a Quiet Social Movement: Ethnography of a Virtual Community by Helen Gerth Dr. William Jankowiak, Ph.D., Examination Committee Chair Professor of Anthropology University of Nevada, Las Vegas Zoroastrians today are a small but vibrant ethno-religious diaspora estimated at 130,000- 258,000. They are members of the oldest monotheistic world religion originating in the Inner Asian steppes in approximately 1500 B.C. living as a religious minority in widely dispersed communities across the world. Increasingly they have turned to the Internet to discuss challenges of declining population, maintaining an ethno-religious identity, conversion, and intermarriage. The question grounding this research is how does this small ethno-religious minority maintain its boundaries and cohesion in the modern world? This study found that Zoroastrians maintain group boundaries and cohesion in the modern world, in part, through utilizing the Internet to provide resource sites, communities of affirmation, social networking resources, and through its function as a transmovement space facilitating face to face contact. It also explores the effectiveness of traditional ethnographic techniques applied to the Internet, or ‘virtual’ ethnography, as a primary data source for yielding an understanding of Zoroastrian inter- and intra-group dynamics within the continuing anthropological trend of multi-sited fieldwork. The following will summarize how some Zoroastrians have created and use over 100 websites, numerous email lists, YouTube videos, and the social networking site Z-book to shape contemporary Zoroastrian identity. It will examine how they translate Zoroastrian identity into a third diasporic wave into the virtual world and how the Internet has given greater visibility and ‘voice’ to minority opinions which, for the first time in over 3500 years, threaten to fragment the global Zoroastrian community. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 14 Research Design, Goals, Intent ................................................................................................ 14 Foundational Premises ........................................................................................................ 16 Challenges, Limitations, Revelations ................................................................................... 18 Ethical Considerations, Respondent Partnership ..................................................................... 24 Protocol ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Survey 25 Participant Observation and Interviews ............................................................................... 26 Sampling Characteristics .......................................................................................................... 27 Sampling Groups ...................................................................................................................... 27 Zoroastrian Online Toolkit ......................................................................................................... 30 Usenet Groups ..................................................................................................................... 31 Electronic E-mail Lists ......................................................................................................... 31 Social Networking Groups ................................................................................................... 35 Websites .............................................................................................................................. 37 Historical Development of Zoroastrian Internet Usage ............................................................. 39 CHAPTER III THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ......................................................................... 42 Concepts as Boundary Markers and Movers ........................................................................... 43 Community ........................................................................................................................... 44 Diaspora and Identity Dynamics .......................................................................................... 45 Culture 49 Ethnicity, Religion, and Identity ........................................................................................... 52 Internet: Contextual Reference and Viability ............................................................................ 56 Emergence of the Internet ................................................................................................... 56 Zoroastrians on the Internet- Predictive Patterns ................................................................ 59 Society from Communication: Internet as Social Narrative ................................................. 61 Internet Metaphors: Power to Change the World ................................................................ 64 Community ........................................................................................................................... 65 Current Research: Online Communities ................................................................................... 69 Reality or Illusion ................................................................................................................. 71 Today’s Online Communities and Social Networking .......................................................... 75 Anthropology and the Internet: CyberAnthropology ................................................................. 78 Virtual Ethnography ............................................................................................................. 81 Online Zoroastrian Community: Current Research .................................................................. 86 Interpretive Frameworks ........................................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS: ZOROASTRIAN ETHNOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE ONLINE ............... 94 iv General Overview of Zoroastrianism: Voices Online ................................................................ 96 Prophet or Sage, Divine Vision or Enlightened Guidance ...................................................... 100 Demographics ......................................................................................................................... 102 Is a Rose by any other name a Rose? Self-Selection is Self-Reference ............................... 109 A “Zoroastrian” Defined........................................................................................................... 113 Traditions, Cosmology, and Doctrine ...................................................................................... 115 Doctrine ............................................................................................................................. 117 Observances .....................................................................................................................
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