Faith, Consumption and Digital Culture: Reconfiguring Religious Debates in Platformed Societies

An International Symposium by the NetCath Project (SACRU Network)

April 29, 10:00–12:00
Cowork Room, Faculty of Communications, UC Chile (Santiago)

This international symposium explores how digital platforms are reshaping the communication, identity, and consumption of religion in contemporary societies. Hosted by the Faculty of Communications at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the event is part of the NetCath project, a transcontinental netnographic study examining how Catholic universities engage with digital culture across Latin America and Europe.

The NetCath project is funded by the XXII Concurso de Investigación y Creación para Académicos of the Dirección de Pastoral y Cultura Cristiana (UC Chile), and comparatively studies four institutions: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and Universitat Ramon Llull (Spain).

Focusing on the challenges faced by research-intensive Catholic universities, the symposium examines how institutional identities and missions are communicated in platformed environments, particularly to Generation Z audiences. It invites reflection on how algorithms, social media practices, and digital cultures are transforming religious authority, participation, and meaning-making.

The discussion brings together leading scholars from the SACRU network and partner institutions, contributing to ongoing debates on religion, media, and digital society, and fostering collaborative research on the future of faith in platformed worlds.

Speakers:

  • Liliana De Simone (UC Chile, NetCath Project Lead)
  • Miriam Díez-Bosch (Blanquerna Observatory on Media, Religion and Culture, Universitat Ramon Llull)

Discussant:

  • Rayen Condeza (UNESCO Chair in Media and Information Literacy in Digital Spaces, UC Chile)

Organised by: OCCS – Observatory of Consumption, Culture and Society (FCOM UC Chile)
In collaboration with: Blanquerna Observatory, STReaM Research Group, and the SACRU Network.

This event is part of a broader research agenda advancing comparative, interdisciplinary approaches to digital Catholic identity, platform communication, and the technocultural transformation of religion.