Identity

Professor of the Sociology of Religion at Uppsala University in Sweden, Mia Lövheim, has stated in her studies of constructing and performing identity in religion, “As digital media are becoming more integrated and naturalized in individual everyday life, studies of religious identity online increasingly become integrated in studies of religion in everyday life. In this process, findings on how religious identities are formed and expressed through digital media also contribute to our understanding of the transformations of religious identity in contemporary society” (17).

This particular quote deems true in the Wicca faith in regards to their perceptions and conceptions of identity. As I have noted in recent blog posts, the Wiccans consist of a small population, specifically within large geographical areas, and therefore the Internet and digital media is key in accessing Wiccan organizations that have already constructed identities and/or provide the opportunity to perform and share one’s identity within the religion and outsiders as well.

The Wiccan community does not currently have established churches or buildings dedicated for their worshiping/service purposes, and therefore turning to digital media helps and guides them in identifying and socializing with a particular Wiccan sect in a context of their choosing.

The only other option for Wiccans to learn to form and practice and identity besides having contact with other Wiccans, is through books that teach them what they need to know. However, many books are now available online and the capacity to be in touch with other Wiccans is much higher, so the virtual world is their best commodity to fully construct and  perform their identity.

Looking at it in this way (the digital way), perhaps identity might seem, as Professor Heidi Campbell has put it in a blog post, “constructed as something we are socialized into to the post-modern notion of identity being fluid and fragmented” (http://comm480tamu.blogspot.com/ Mar 16, 2012).

An example I have discovered on the internet is a website called http://mysticwicks.com/.

They have a forum section (http://mysticwicks.com/forum.php) in which they teach each other Pagan religious subjects, read, share their experiences and troubles, ask for help or advice, provide each other with Wiccan tools, or just talk about anything that may be on their mind.

So maybe for Wiccan followers being socialized into it seems to be the better option if they desire to “have increased freedom of experimentation with the presentation of one's identity” (H. Campbell, http://comm480tamu.blogspot.com/ Mar 16, 2012) as well as having a form of communication and contact with others of the faith. Therefore, it’s not so much that it’s fluid and fragmented but it provides more of an opportunity for those to actually feel like they hold an identity and share it with others. In this case, digital media strengthens the individual's ability to construct and/or perform their religious identity.   

Lövheim, Mia.  Identity.  

Chapter in:

Heidi Campbell, editor, (forthcoming) Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. London/New York: Routledge.