Lab Media and Religion
The Media and Religion Lab is concerned with the interrelation between media and religions and their transformation. Thereby the perspective is a dual one: On the one hand side current as well as religious discourses and their authorities are shaped by media. On the other hand side religious practices are always also media practices and religious identities are always media identities likewise. So, actors respectively groups present, discuss and organise their religious perceptions through diverse media (books, pictures, videos, virtual worlds etc.). In this sense religion is a mediatized phenomenon that is necessary to be analyzed in respect of issues of media communication that accompany them.

Call for Paper for conference: "Beyond Play: The Transformative Power of Digital Gaming in a Deeply Mediatized Society"
4. May 2024

Bodil Stelter: Lecture at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto (Japan) on "Gender-related Valuations in The Last of Us franchise“
In June 2020, the highly anticipated sequel to “The Last of Us” game was released. Within hours of its release, the game’s Metascore dropped to 3.3, while previous reviews from journalistic media had accumulated to a score of 95. What had happened? – The common reading of this “review-bombing” event is that players, unhappy with (…)
3. May 2024

“And also the ice age comes and goes” The Discussion of Climate Change and Values in Gaming Discussion Forums
Professor Kerstin Radde-Antweiler explores climate change in relation to video games and gaming practices, analyzing discussions on environmental games and their narratives. Despite the prominence of climate change themes in games, her research reveals a lack of discussions about their content and connections to real-world events on gaming forums compared to other media platforms. However, (…)
18. April 2024

ZeMKI Visiting Research Fellows 2024
This year, the ZeMKI welcomes a total of four Visiting Research Fellows as part of its Visiting Researcher Program. From over 85 applications, the steering committee of the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research at the University of Bremen selected five researchers who will work together with two ZeMKI labs in interdisciplinary research for (…)
12. April 2024

ZeMKI Member Dr. Dom Ford at Symposium ‘Videogames as Folkworlds: Nationalism – Democracy – Sustainability’ in Regensburg
ZeMKI member Dr. Dom Ford has been invited to give a talk at the University of Regensburg on ‘A World to Escape to: Gameworlds as Otherworlds in Datafied Society’ at the symposium ‘Videogames as Folkworlds: Nationalism – Democracy – Sustainability’, 11–12 April. About the event: Funded by the Vielberth Foundation and sponsored by the Leibniz (…)
9. April 2024

Prof. Dr. Radde-Antweiler: Research Fellow at UNC Greensboro
ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler is currently a Research Fellow at UNC Greensboro. Since last year, UNCG has established an E-Sports Center (https://esports.uncg.edu/), which offers study programs as well as research on the topic of digital gaming. During her three-month stay, she will collaborate with the Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming (https://cas.uncg.edu/ncsv). The stay (…)
9. April 2024

Call for Applications: IASGAR Research Day
The International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion (IASGAR) and the Research Area Digital Gaming at the ZeMKI – Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research is hosting its third IASGAR Research Day. Exclusively for early-stage researchers, graduate students and doctoral students, the workshop welcomes research on media-centered approaches, perspectives of game developers and publishers, and viewpoints (…)
17. March 2024

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler at Symposium on Church History and Game Studies
ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler takes part in a panel discussion at the hybrid conference “Church History and Game Studies? Explorations of Religion and History in Digital Games” at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The conference is a collaboration between the Chair of Church History at the Department of Protestant Theology at Goethe University Frankfurt, (…)
3. March 2024