Algorithmic Religiosity: Social Media Algorithms and the Emergence of Salafist Digital Authority, Community, and Piety in Northern Nigeria

• Applicant: Murtala Ibrahim, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 536924206

This project will explore the role of Facebook algorithms in the Salafi mode of building religious authority, community, and piety in northern Nigeria. As social media has made significant penetration into Nigerian society, many Salafi religious leaders (digital imams) and groups (digital communities) have adopted Facebook and have applied its algorithmic affordances as a medium of building religious authority, collectivity, and religious self-cultivation (digital piety). The research will also determine the influence of algorithmic quantification (the number of subscribers, likes, shares, and comments) on Salafi digital authority, digital content, and choice of themes. Although much research has been performed on religion and new media, there have been no attempts to construct a theoretical model that accounts for the role of algorithms in shaping religious engagement within the social media space. Moreover, the major theories of religion and media do not provide a balanced account of the complex nexus of religious users and social media platforms. Using the methods of netnography and ethnography, this study will fill these gaps and develop a grounded theory that can account for both the agency of religious users and algorithm-mediated social media platforms. By inserting algorithms into the analysis of religion and new media, this study will push the boundaries of digital religion, digital anthropology, and the anthropology of religion.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants