What is sacred in Instagram? Sacralization, desacralization and resacralization in media culture

Abstract

From Imaginary Studies postulates referring to the permanency of myths in contemporary times and the inherence of the sacred with regard to the human situation, we have investigated the ways of expression this sacred quality may assume in media culture. As study objects, we have chosen pictures posted on Instagram featuring the hashtag “sacred”. We have made use of symbolic interpretation followed by an interpretation of the contextual elements of each post in order to infer all possible associations that users make with the idea of sacred, and comparing them with possible hierophanies. We have concluded that the pictures examined may indicate simultaneous processes of sacralization, desacralization and resacralization.

Keywords
Communication; Imaginary; Instagram; Sacred; Desacralization