Fundamentalism in the Modern World

Volume 2

How does religious fundamentalism operate in modern global society? This two-volume work analyses they dynamics of fundamentalism and its relationship to the modern state, the public sphere and globalisation. This second volume explores the links between fundamentalism and communication: the rise of fundamentalism as a mass media phenomenon, fundamentalist communication in the public sphere, national cultural identities and the rise of a 'global society'. Expert scholars in the field address specific contemporary and past fundamentalist movements that have emerged from within mainstream Islam, Christianity, Baha'ism, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism.

The developments in interactive media now allow individual consumers to become co-producers and to take part in public debates through the media, and these forms of communication are extensively utilised by fundamentalist movements both to demarcate their borders and to proselytise. The authors explore the pertinent issue of how the global public sphere and its forms of communication of fundamentalist movements, but their content and influence as well. Here is a thorough and authoritative study of the ways in which the ritual communications of fundamentalist movements have been refashioned by the modern world. Here, various phenomena around the globe are explored, such as 'Cyber Buddhism', where websites have been set up with the intention of lobbying the Thai government, or the forms of dialogue following the 2005-6 furore over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

However, the latest developments in global communication and interactive media have not solely aided fundamentalist groups, but as part of a multicultural global society they also pose challenges and problems.

Ulrika Martensson is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies.

Priscilla Ringrose is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages.

Jennifer Bailey is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Political Science

Asbj°rn Dyrendal is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies.

All are based at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.