Kathrin Nieder-Steinheuer, M. A.
Curriculum vitae:
| 1982 | born in Cologne |
| 2002 - 2007 | Communication Studies, Modern and Contemporary History and German Philology at the University of Münster |
| 2005 | Practical training at the German Historical Institute in Rome |
| October 2007 | Master of Arts Master’s thesis: “Politik als symbolische Praxis. Ein Vergleich ritueller Formen in vormodernen und medienvermittelten Wahlverfahren” |
| 2004 - 2007 | Student assistant at the Sonderforschungsbereich (collaborative research centre) 496: “Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme vom Mittelalter bis zur Französischen Revolution”, subproject A1 “Urkunde und Buch in der symbolischen Kommunikation mittelalterlicher Rechtsgemeinschaften und Herrschaftsverbände”; as of November 2007 research assistant |
| since July 2008 | PhD student and research assistant at the Graduate School of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, WWU Münster |
Ph.D. project:
Religiotainment. Forms of staging political social order in the mode of entertainment-oriented television formats.
If the “return of religions” or a “new visibility of religious phenomena in mass media” in contemporary society is alluded to, this generally refers to entertainment-oriented forms of the staging of the religious. A close interconnection of Christian religion and entertainment is particularly evident in the case of stagings of media-covered major events such as the Catholic World Youth Day or the Protestant church convention. But “religiotainment” is also found in numerous television shows, series or feature films making use of religious protagonists, issues or events. In recent years, television series about priests and nuns – such as “Pfarrer Braun” or “Um Himmels Willen” in Germany – have repeatedly ranked among the series with the highest market share average. A “comeback of religion” is also being discussed in numerous talk shows, while the number of people attending service on Sundays and the number of members of the Christian churches in Germany continues to decline.
A central thesis of this dissertation project is, thus, that “religioform” communication in the field of entertainment-oriented mass media and “religion as such” are in no way antagonistic but that “religiotainment” is the very mode in which the people as a rule currently experience and practice (Christian) religion.
In communication and media research, however, there have so far been no systematic analyses of the functions of “religiotainment” for the politico-social production of meaning of contemporary media societies. Discussions mostly reduce the symbolic-expressive dimension of public religions – particularly in the area of visual media publics – to its “blinding aesthetic form”.
Based on a systematisation of the forms of media stagings of religious communication, the dissertation project is to investigate how cultural evidence can be updated or even challenged in the interrelation of religious and entertainment-oriented communication in contemporary society. Patterns of staging that are intrinsic to a programme type are to shed light on typical forms of appearance and functions of public religion in contemporary society. Apart from concepts of staginess, both concepts of symbolic communication and (image-) discourse-theoretical approaches may be advantageous in the analysis.
Above all, findings on the interrelation of fictional and non-fictional forms of communication as well as on religious and political identity propositions in contexts of religious collectivisation and media entertainment culture are expected.
Contact
Kathrin Nieder-Steinheuer M. A.Geiststraße 24-26
Room 120
D-48151 Münster
Germany
Tel.: +49 251 83-23574
Fax: +49 251 83-23500
k_nied04@uni-muenster.de
Supervisor
Prof. Dr. Ulrich WillemsInstitute for Political Science
Scharnhorststraße 100
Room 214
D-48151 Münster
Germany
Tel.: +49 251 83-25352
Fax: +49 251 83-29356
ulrich.willems@uni-muenster.de
Supervisor
PD Dr. Armin SchollDepartment of Communication
Bispinghof 9-14
Room E 230
D-48143 Münster
Germany
Tel.: +49 251 83-21305
Fax: +49 251 83-28394
scholl@uni-muenster.de
