Pay Attention!: Media, Performance and Discourses on Authenticity
Fabricating Authenticity - Jason W.M. Ellsworth
Daniel Jones [+]
Independent Scholar
Daniel Jones is an independent scholar, editor, writer, and educator whose research focuses on the intersection of religious, environmental, resource extraction, and science and technology discourses. Daniel received an MA in Religious Studies from Missouri State University, and currently edits the American Religion section of the journal Religious Studies Review.
Description
Building on Alexander’s argument, Jones considers a recent controversy regarding Charismatic preacher Perry Stone’s use of his cell phone while purportedly speaking in tongues (glossolalia) to examine how ritual practices, media and technology, and notions of attention work to (de)legitimize the “authenticity” of performance. Jones further considers how normative assumptions of “attention” reify ableist and neuronormative ideologies by establishing neurotypical behavior as the standard for “authentic” or “sincere” religious performance.