Seeking your wisdom

as i do a little research on progressive identity formation

OK, it has been a WHILE. I apologize! Grad school is absolutely kicking my butt.

I owe you a re-schedule of the Disability Visibility Book Group! That will happen January 21 at 8pm eastern (5pm pacific). Register HERE. And I pray I don’t get sick again!

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So here’s what I’m asking, with a little bit of foreground:

As part of my PhD, I am supposed to do 15-20 hours of research per week with my advisor. I’m really lucky, because my advisor is Dr. Desmond Patton, who has a whole research lab, the SAFE Lab, that works on the intersection of youth violence and social media, primarily from an Afro-centric perspective. And that means I’m researching with a whole team of folks dedicated to equity, justice, and, it turns out, JOY.

So I’ve been given the chance to do research in my area of interest, because the SAFELab is pretty expansive in its scope. I just got to share my idea with the team and solicit their wisdom, and it crosses my mind you might have equally great ideas to share!

BACKGROUND:

When I was doing multifaith religious left organizing in the late 1990s, when the internet was still kind of new territory, I noticed that right wing extremists were miles ahead of us in using the web for recruitment. They’re still miles ahead of us. If a teenage boy goes on YouTube to look for videos on how to ask a girl out, he’s about two recommended videos away from a Jordan Peterson video. (Or Andrew Tate, one of my colleagues helpfully pointed out. As if I needed more depressing things to mull.)

People who de-program white nationalists are really clear on one thing: no one becomes a Neo-Nazi for the ideology. They do it for the community.

Because it doesn’t stop with youtube videos. Those videos point to online community. And they create a container, a framework, for all the struggles and frustrations a person has. They begin a path toward identity formation. And they point to action that person can take to deal with his frustrations.

WHAT I’M PONDERING AND WHAT IT COULD LOOK LIKE:

For years I’ve wondered why we’re not as good at this online identity formation, and what it would look like if we were.

The SAFE Lab, as I mentioned, started out focused on violence and the internet. That evolved in the direction of Black grief. And now it’s iterating into a focus on Black joy.

You’ve been on my journey with me long enough to maybe have noticed how over the years my own organizing strategy has shifted from fighting against bad things to building good things instead. So when I started brainstorming, I was particularly interested in figuring out the role of religion in online radicalization of right-wing extremists, particularly those engaging in hate crimes against people of other religions.

And then I realized it might be more useful for my own work, and yours, if I instead sought out and studied examples of online community building and identity formation that lead to progressive, compassionate, or justice-oriented action.

WHAT I’M ASKING FROM YOU:

I got to pitch this project to the other members of the SAFE Lab team yesterday, and they had some great ideas, but also it was hard work. So I thought I’d ask you if you can think of anyone I should be studying.

Can you think of any group that fits the following criteria:

• digital community (that is, online ways for people to connect and create community, even if they also have in-person opportunities to connect)

• engages in some form of identity formation (helping people think through who they are in the world)

• points people towards some sort of action (this could be acts of service, although also political engagement or social justice action are even better—action oriented towards making life better for a community, ideally not at the expense of someone else)

Also, I obviously have a personal interest in spirituality, but that’s not a necessary component of what I’m looking for.

My colleagues came up with everything from Breadtube to Birds Aren’t Real to the Our Bible app. One of them let me know that Union Seminary has launched a technology-driven innovation fund.

So if you can think of anyone I should be interviewing for a “qualitative research study,” I’d be absolutely delighted!

And now you have the tiniest glimpse into what I’ve been up to.

Wait til the next newsletter for paid subscribers on how I recently learned about how corporations are responsible for our celebration of the Fourth of July and for the rapid decline of religion-labor solidarity that dominated the politics of the 1900s - 1950s. WHAT?! School is really letting me nerd out. :)

I’m also working on a paper on the gap between racial justice commitments and actual racial justice expenditures by philanthropic foundations between 2020 and today. I have thoughts. We’ll see if the research backs them up. :)

Thanks for letting me share some reflections. Grateful for any wisdom you can send my way!

BTW, I’m still learning how to use Substack, but I believe that if you refer three people to me, you can get several paid posts for free. I think I set that up correctly, anyhow.

peace,

Sandhya