#IAMHUSSEINI: television and mourning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sparey, Rhys Thomas
• Is Part Of: Religion. Volume 52:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 284
• Page End: 305
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- intercorporeality -- Religion and media -- religious broadcasting -- Muharram; Religion -- Periodicals; Religions -- Periodicals; Theology -- Periodicals; Religion -- Périodiques; Théologie -- Périodiques; Religion; Religions; Theology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 200.5
• DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2053038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0048-721X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article is a study of mourning among Shi'a Muslims during the COVID-19 pandemic through a call-in talk show called #IAMHUSSEINI . By analyzing the discourses of callers and presenters and locating them within a visual context of the television studio, this article shows how the viewership of #IAMHUSSEINI constitutes a televisual majlis (Arabic: 'assembly') composed of more than passive asynchronous consumption and resembling what Patrick Eisenlohr refers to as 'atmospheres'. This article argues that the COVID-19 pandemic drove #IAMHUSSEINI to recalibrate to expectations of a spatially proximate ritual, rather than sustaining a 'natively digital' aesthetic, repurposing Richard Rogers' approach to digital methods. This change brought about a tacit understanding of the televisual majlis among #IAMHUSSEINI's viewers. This article therefore posits a difference between 'spatial intercorporeality', in which bodies are mediated by spatial proximity, and 'functional intercorporeality', in which they are mediated by the material preconditions of a shared activity.