BLOGGING RELIGIOUS CHANGE IDENTITY, HEGEMONY, AND PLURALISM IN ITALY by GIULIA EVOLVI B.A., University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari,” Italy, 2007 M.A., University of Padua and University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari,” Italy, 2010 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment Of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Media, Communication and Information 2016 i This thesis entitled: Blogging Religious Change Identity, Hegemony, and Pluralism in Italy written by Giulia Evolvi has been approved for the College of Media, Communication and Information _____________________________________________ Dr. Nabil Echchaibi (Chair) _____________________________________________ Dr. Stewart Hoover _____________________________________________ Dr. Shu-Ling Chen Berggreen _____________________________________________ Dr. Michela Ardizzoni _____________________________________________ Dr. Peter Simonson Date: May 3, 2016 The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. IRB protocol #15-0223 ii Evolvi, Giulia (Ph.D, Communication: Media Studies) Blogging Religious Change: Identity, Hegemony, and Pluralism in Italy Thesis Directed by Professor Nabil Echchaibi Italian national media tend to present Italian identity as homogenously Catholic. While the majority of Italians self-identify as Catholic, the Italian religious landscape is rapidly changing: for example, migration is increasing the number of Muslims; less stigma on atheism is motivating some Italians to self-identify as non-believers; and a more open critique of secularism compels conservative Catholics to defend traditional Christian values. A number of alternative voices have recently emerged in the Italian religious public sphere to challenge hegemonic positions of religion and the secular. Through blogs and other social media platforms, they question the terms of religious identity in contemporary Italian society and push the boundaries of both the religious and secular fields. In studying the media practices of these groups, I ask the following questions: what kind of discourses are employed to challenge the perceived religious hegemony? What is the role of the Internet in the articulation of non-mainstream religious identities? Can the digital space create resistance, establish a media presence, and enhance participation? This dissertation argues that the Internet can become a “third space” where hybrid religious identities are articulated in opposition to a perceived Catholic hegemony, as presented by mainstream media. The dissertation uses a qualitative textual analysis of three religious related-blogs, combined with interviews with bloggers and participant observation. The three blogs under analysis are 1) The blog of the UAAR, the national Italian atheist association 2) The blog of the Catholic group Sentinelle in Piedi, which protects traditional family values 3) The blog Yalla, written by young Muslim Italians. The three blogs, while different in scope, similarly engage in dynamic media practices to compel Italian media and society to re-think identity in religious terms. By promoting secularism, a come-back to traditional Catholic values, or religious pluralism, the blogs problematize the lack of participation in consensual Western democracies and unveil anxieties that characterize late modernity in Italy. This analysis of blogs can add some much-needed complexity to religion and media debates in Europe, help define the role of religion in the Italian public sphere, and contextualize the re-thinking of the perceived hegemonic Italian identity. iii Acknowledgments Many people contributed to the creation of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank Professor Nabil Echchaibi, my adviser, for his guidance, suggestions, and precious conversations that helped me understand what I wanted to focus on. I thank Professor Stewart Hoover for his academic help and for his fundamental role as director of the Center for Media, Religion and Culture (CMRC). Being a member of the Center has helped me enormously, and our weekly meetings became a venue where I could challenge myself and build my own intellectual voice. I thank present and past members of the CMRC for support, friendship, and beautiful moments. I would also like to thank my three additional committee members, Professor Shu- Ling Chen Berggreen, Professor Michela Ardizzoni, and Professor Peter Simonson for their invaluable help. Working, studying, and having conversations with them helped me to situate myself as a scholar in relation to the subject I wanted to study. I want to show my appreciation to the bloggers and media practitioners I met and interviewed to collect my data: thank you for showing me your world and making me understand your point of view. I thank faculty and staff of the College for Media, Communication and Information, as well as my PhD cohort and all the graduate students that helped me personally and professionally during the years. I also want to show my appreciation to the Writing Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, who offered me help and support with editing. In the end, I would like to thank my parents, Luigi Evolvi and Cristina Comotti, and my partner, Mauro Gatti, for their constant long-distance support and encouragements. iv CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………1 Religion in Italy…………………………………………………………………………………6 Media in Italy…………………………………………………………………………………..18 Case Studies and Research Questions………………………………………………27 Research Methods…………………………………………………………………………..30 2. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………………………………………40 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….40 Religion and Media………………………………………………………………………….46 Secularization………………………………………………………………………………….51 Public Sphere…………………………………………………………………………………..63 Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony………………………………………………...72 Alternative Media and Media Practices…………………………………………...80 3. THE ATHEIST ASSOCIATION UAAR AND ITS BLOG………………………………………..95 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….89 Atheists in Italy: a Marginalized Minority?........................................106 Italian Media System and Secular Information………………………………111 Equality, Civil and Human Rights…………………………………………………...122 Conclusion: The Utopia of a “Secular Italy”……………………………………138 4. SENTINELLE IN PIEDI, CONSERVATIVE CATHOLICS IN ITALY……………………….145 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..145 Sentinelle in Piedi and Media…………………………………………………………153 Negotiation of Catholic Authority………………………………………………….171 v The Articulation of Catholic Identity………………………………………………181 Conclusion: the Nostalgia of a Utopic Past…………………………………….191 5. BUILDING AN ITALIAN MUSLIM IDENTITY: THE BLOG YALLA……………………..197 Introduction……………………………………………………..…………………………...197 Yalla’s Relationship with Media……………………………………………………..208 Narratives of Islam in Italy……………………………………………………………..220 Articulating a Muslim-Italian Identity…………………………………………….231 Conclusion: the Religious Pluralism Utopia……………………………………243 6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………….251 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………………………..276 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Preparation of a Sentinelle in Piedi protest………………………………….157 Figure 2. Preparation of a Sentinelle in Piedi protest………………………………….158 Figure 3. Sentinelle in Piedi’s veglia……………………………………………………………159 Figure 4. Sentinelle in Piedi’s veglia……………………………………………………………159 Figure 5. Veglia in Brescia………………………………………………………………………….159 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Sister Cristina is a Catholic nun that became famous in 2014 for winning the Italian version of the singing competition “The Voice.” She celebrated her victory by saying, “I have a dream, I want to thank who is above, I want Jesus to be here with us, I want to pray a Pater Noster.” She asked the audience of the show and the other participants to join hands and recite the “Our Father” prayer, even if the program was not religious in scopei. Sister Cristina brought a consistent number of Catholic messages to an entertainment program that airs on national television. The Italian audience is not unused to seeing representations of religion within mainstream media. In Italy there are a number of “liturgic” representations of Catholicism, exemplified by the Mass celebrated by the Pope and aired every Sunday on the national television channel RAI 1. Furthermore, Catholicism is embedded in “spectacular” religious programs, with the aim of entertaining (Martelli, 2004). For example, a popular TV show called “Don Matteo” features a Catholic priest that solves crime cases, and Italian television is rich in fictional drama based on the life of religious figures (Buonanno, 2012). This representation of religion in Italy tends to take into account only Catholicism, the predominant religion of the country. In 2014, among religious programs, 95.5% of news, 88.2% of television dramas, and 73% of movies were about Catholicism (Geca Italia, 2014). This unbalanced representation of religion is important in understanding how Italian mainstream media frame Italian identity. Media are central in the formation of national identity. According to Benedict Anderson (1983), national identity is a “cultural artifact” (p.4). Nationalism is the result of the construction of a common identity and history that provides resources for shared meanings. Nation states are “imagined communities” because