Authority, Agencies, and the Digital Public Sphere: The Dynamics of Female Clerics’ Leadership on Social-Media
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.62446/averroes.v3i03.226Keywords :
female ulama , digital leadership , religious authority , public sphereAbstract
Background Study: The digital leadership of female religious scholars on social media is a rapidly growing phenomenon alongside the transformation of Indonesia’s religious ecosystem in the digital age; however, the intersection of agency, patriarchal structures, and digital religious public spheres remains underexplored. This study aims to analyze the dynamics of the digital leadership of Indonesian female religious scholars by bringing together three dimensions that have traditionally been studied separately: individual agency, structural-patriarchal challenges, and the construction of the digital religious public sphere.
Methods: Using the Literature Review method, this study analyzes the data through thematic analysis, comparative analysis, and theoretical synthesis.
Key Findings: The study identified three key findings: (1) social media functions as an alternative public sphere that expands female religious scholars’ access to religious authority; (2) effective digital leadership by female religious scholars requires three simultaneous forms of capital—traditional scholarly knowledge, institutional networks, and digital literacy; and (3) the agency of female religious scholars unfolds through strategic navigation within the system, rather than frontal resistance.
Contribution: integrated analytical framework that brings together Habermas’s Public Sphere Theory, Eickelman’s Religious Authority, and Mahmood’s Agency, as well as the introduction of the concept of hybrid digital religious authority as a new construct.
Conclusion: strengthening female ulama's digital leadership depends on interventions at individual, institutional, and platform levels: strengthening individual digital literacy, fostering inclusivity within religious institutions, and implementing gender-sensitive platform regulations.
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