nm u Ottawa l.'Univcrsilc ainndicmic Canada's linivcrsily mn FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES IM4M FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES U Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES I.'University canadienne Canada's universily Wendy Martin AUTEUR DE LA THESE / AUTHOR OF THESIS Ph.D. (Religious Studies) GRADE/DEGREE Department of Classics and Religions Studies FACULTE, ECOLE, DEPARTEMENT / FACULTY, SCHOOL, DEPARTMENT Seeking Through the Small Screen: Television as a Resource for Negotiating and Constructing Personal Spirituality TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Peter Beyer DIRECTEUR (DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS SUPERVISOR CO-DIRECTEUR (CO-DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE /THESIS CO-SUPERVISOR EXAMINATEURS (EXAMINATRICES) DE LA THESE / THESIS EXAMINERS Lori Beaman Marie-Fran^oise Guedon Naomi Goldenberg Lynn Schofield Clark Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seeking Through the Small Screen: Television as a Resource for Negotiating and Constructing Personal Spirituality By Wendy Martin Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, University of Ottawa As partial requirement for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies © Wendy Karthryn Martin, Canada, 2007 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49379-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49379-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract One of the noted changes in religious behaviour in North Atlantic societies, has been the movement away from traditional institutionalized religions and towards non-institutional religion and personal forms of spirituality often characterized by individuals' mix and match various religious and secular ideas, beliefs and practices in order to form personal forms of 'religion' (Luckmann 1967; Bibby 1987, 1991, 2001; Roof 1993, 1999; Wuthnow 1998; Zinnbauer 1999; Heelas 2002; Heelas and Woodhead 2005). Such trends then beg the questions, specifically how are people constructing their personal religions? Are there common resources helping to shape and influence individual's personal forms of spirituality? How are elements such as individualism, consumerism and communication and information technologies impacting upon and reflected in contemporary religious practices? Inspired by these research questions, this thesis investigates how television functions as a cultural resource for negotiating and constructing personal forms of spirituality. Using in-depth interviews with 30 research participants this project examines how self-identified 'spiritual' individuals define and describe the relationship between their spirituality and their television viewing. Combing insights from sociological literature examining contemporary spirituality, with the research participants' definitions and descriptions of spirituality, I come to interpret spirituality as both a product and a process; that is, spirituality as 'specific beliefs and practices' and spirituality as 'the act of learning, thinking, talking about transcendent meaning' (Besecke 2002; 2005). The term 'transcendent' as it is used in this context refers to the postulation by individuals or collectives, that there is some form of reality and meaning outside, beyond or underneath every day, objective reality (Luckmann, 1967: 58; Berger 1969: 53; Wuthnow 1976: 71; Dawson 1987: 228; Besecke 2005:183) Based on this understanding of spirituality as product and process, I argue that television programs play a role in cultural dialogues about transcendent meaning, offering a platform through which viewers reflexively explore a variety of spiritual themes, topics and issues. To support this argument, I present interview data demonstrating how the participants in this study use television programs as way to help define what counts as spirituality; to shape and inform their spiritual beliefs, general worldviews and concepts of morality; to foster curiosity, learning and open-mindedness; as an outlet for working through different possibilities, options and potential forms of ultimate meaning, as evidence of ii transcendent reality; and importantly, as a way to satisfy their interest in spirituality. Further, I argue that participants use television as a resource for a particular form of spiritual consumption as they continuously seek out both new and more information, knowledge, and ideas related to an assortment of religious, spiritual and transcendent themes. iii Acknowledgements I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone that has contributed to this endeavor. I thank all of the participants for generously sharing their time and stories. I feel privileged to have met and gotten to know each of them. It truly was an enriching experience academically and personally. I hope some of them found it rewarding as well. I also extend my thanks to the four wise women that comprised my thesis committee for their help - directly and indirectly. I thank Dr. Lori Beaman for her detailed and thoughtful recommendations and comments regarding this project, for being a friendly and encouraging face at conferences and assisting me with my academic publications. I express my appreciation to Dr. Marie-Francoise Guedon both for her thoughts regarding this project and for her encouraging me to look at the world through different lenses. I also would like to thank her for introducing me to the work of Tony Buzam and for helping me develop techniques to order my creative, but often chaotic thoughts and theories. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark for her willingness to be part of my thesis committee. As Dr. Clark has been a pioneer in the field of media, culture and religion, particularly through her ethnographic studies of teens and the media, and because her work has been so foundational to how I have come to think about media, religion and culture, it truly was an honour to receive her recommendations, advice and encouragement! Further, I also thank Dr. Naomi Goldenberg for being such a source of inspiration and for introducing me to academic theories of religion and popular culture in my days as an undergraduate student and helping me to develop them further during my doctoral studies. I also wish to thank Dr. Goldenberg for her mentoring, providing me with practical advice for developing my academic career, and for bringing me to my first academic conferences. And last, in this list of academic mentors, but most importantly, I thank my thesis supervisor Dr. Peter Beyer. To him I extend my absolute gratitude for all of the practical advice, personal encouragement, and for making me hand this research in regardless. I am sincerely grateful for his patience, for his ability to help me articulate what I was thinking, and for helping me develop my academic skills and portfolio through providing me with research, teaching assistant and sessional lecturing opportunities. I truly could not have had a better thesis supervisor and academic mentor. I also owe much to the people around me - family and friends that have provided endless support, comfort, and much needed breaks. While there are many people to whom I owe thanks, I especially would like to express my appreciation to Beth, Paulette and Mel for being such wonderful friends throughout the ups and downs of this process. Also, I must thank my fabulous family and extended network of loved ones, I so greatly appreciate the constant encouragement, that always seemed to arrive at just the right time. In particular I would like to thank Doris Jamieson whose best wishes I could always feel and Janet Martin for her constant encouragement and interest in my work - even when she could no longer understand it. I also wish to thank (in writing)