I was very nervous for the plenary session. Firstly I was nervous because I was speaking to the entire conference on a research topic that I only did in a month. Secondly I was nervous because I was introduced to the conference as Professor Emerson, who already got his doctorate in online religion research, and was a world leader in the discipline. But mostly I was nervous because when I stood up to speak all the lights went out and a spotlight was placed on me. It made me want to shout out “Heeey Sao Paulo, are you ready to learn?!!?” in a Spinal Tap fashion. But it also meant I couldn’t read my notes. So I just talked from what I could remember, using the PowerPoint slides as a guide. And I made as many jokes as I could.

People afterwards talked about how funny I was, and how they didn’t notice the time go by, and some even asked why I was in research, that I should be in stand-up. Made me wonder the same thing, given nobody commented on the project or presentation at all. My supervisor said I did really well, though it doesn’t qualify me for a professorship. Damn.

But Wednesday morning’s panel was truly brilliant. I was with Mia Lövheim, Lynn Clark and Nabil Echaibi. All were Associate Professors with doctorates. We were talking about trends in researching religion online, and what the future holds. I didn’t really prepare for it, but I managed to answer all questions posited to me, and there were times when Lynn would reference me in an answer to a question given to her. That was, like, way cool. I was totally chuffed by that.

The best bit though was that during the presentation we were positing what the future of online religion research might look like, and we kind came up with an answer. Now this question is really the conclusion of my PhD thesis, and I think I have something to offer. It’s going to make for an important piece, placing it within a tradition but helping set new directions. I am going to write a paper on it for my supervisor when I get back, and I’ll post it here when I’m done.

• Gender as blindspot in research
• Studies on media and meaning making has been top-up, where the men are
• Any gender studies have been based on textual representations of gender
• Studies needed on
  • Audience reception of media text
  • If and how gender matters in reception of text
  • Complex relations between men and women in making meaning by making media

• Intersection studies between gender and class, ethnicity, geography etc
  • Lacking an important starting point: asymmetry of power

• First decade of research publications in media, religion and culture missed out on gender
  • Main agenda was establish a new discipline
  • Gender always been offside issue in any discipline
  • Intersection stays important component in research

This is a beauty salon, that uses electroshock therapy. I would have gone in and tried it out, but nobody was willing to pay me to do it.

I want a green house like this one. It would match my Matchbox racing car really well.

I was glad to have found this post … I had forgotten what part of the planet I was on.

On the left are Jaime from Chile, Rolando from Peru, Paulo from Brazil and Patricia from Colombia. And below are Milja from Serbia, Lynn, Stewart and David from the USA, Jolyon from the UK, Michele from Israel and Kwabena from Ghana.

But not as much as the flight to Santiago. I sat next to an enormous old man who’s toenails were longer than my fingers and constantly ate chips and talked to me so loudly that all the flight attendants thought we were together. That was bad because their rudeness to the man fell out on to me. Couldn’t even get a glass of water if I wanted one. All the staff were avoiding us.

I had three long hours in the lounge at Santiago, that would have been murder if it weren’t for the breathtaking views outside the window. These views got even better after take off. I had never thought I would ever see mountains like this, even through a small window. I filled out a form on the plane to Sao Paulo that gave permission for survivors to eat me should there be a crash in the Andes. For an hour or so it felt like that may actually occur. Pelting rain and high turbulence meant that it was touch-and-go for a long time, and our arrival was delayed somewhat. The pilots got huge cheers and a standing ovation from all of us once we touched down, which only aggravated the crew even more (yeah yeah we know don’t leave your seats until the light has switched off, yeah, yeah … can’t we celebrate for a second that we’re still alive?).

Now, Sao Paulo is only as large as the entire population of Australia, so I knew that the car trip was going to take a little while. The driver who met me (the very first time ever I was greeted at an airport by a man with a sign!) couldn’t speak any English, and my Portuguese was worse. Whenever he talked to me, I said I didn’t know, so he repeated it louder. Love it when we do that, so much fun. But I was more interested in the road, especially knowing that the truck heading towards us thinks it’s on the right side of the road, and we think we’re on the right side of the road, and this guy doesn’t seem to remember if we’re meant to drive along the white lines or over them.

We drove for about forty minutes, and along about fifteen different motorways. Would be amazing if it was during the day so I could get a look, or wasn’t still getting over my last brush of death. So when I arrived at the hotel at 11pm I didn’t want to stay down. I met Kofi in the room we’re sharing, and then called reception and asked for the room numbers for everyone I knew. I ended up having caipirihnas and catching up on the years with Patricia and Milja. These will be excellent times, now I’m here.