Dr Enqi Weng

Dr Enqi Weng is a sociologist of religion and a Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University. She completed her PhD from the School of Media and Communications at RMIT University in 2018 and has since published her monograph Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia: Of Dominance and Diversity (Routledge, 2020). Her doctoral thesis analysed media representation of religions in Australia, and revealed that public discussions about religion were not only primarily constructed and influenced by white male perspectives, British influences also problematically continued to shape these discussions in post-colonial Australia. Her research interests include: decolonial approaches to the study of religion; race and religion; media and religion; cultural/religious diversity; religious literacy in journalism. She has experience teaching media and religious studies units at Deakin and RMIT.

Religion and media; religious/cultural diversity; religious literacy in journalism; religion and social change; decolonial study of religion

• Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR)
• International Society for the Sociology of Religion (SISR/ISSR)
• International Society for Media, Religion and Culture (ISMRC)
• The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
• Australian & New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA)

ACX701 Communication Concepts

ALC215 Global Media

ASR300 - Religion, Rights and Governance

ASR200 Religion, Spirituality and Popular Culture

ASC211 Religion and Social Change

Decolonising studies of religion; religion and media; race and religion; religious/cultural diversity; religious literacy in journalism; sociological sacred

• Vice President, The Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR)
• Reviews Editor, Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture
• Co-Convenor, Religion Thematic Group, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

• ABC Religion & Ethics, 10 Nov 2022, 'In the lead up to the Victorian state election, let’s not forget about the needs of multicultural communities (again)'
• The Conversation, 29 Sep 2021, 'Australia is rich with religious diversity. So why are our newsrooms falling behind?'
• ABC Religion and Ethics, 13 Oct 2020, 'The pandemic has provided fertile conditions for conspiracy theories and “conspirituality” in Australia'
• ABC RN God Forbid, 16 May 2020, 'Does the media 'get' religion?'
• The Conversation, 1 May 2020, 'Religious groups are embracing technology during the lockdown, but can it replace human connection?'

Religion, Society and Culture Research Network