Zachary Sheldon
Biographic Data
| ID | 112664 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zachary Sheldon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zachary |
| FAMILY NAME | Sheldon |
| SIGNATURE | SHELDON Z |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas A&M University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9658-8045 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The algorithm's hidden layers
This paper builds on conversations at the intersection of artificial intelligence research and the linguistic anthropology of religion by exploring a mathematical technique that connects contemporary Large Language Models [LLMs] with the history of Islamicate occult sciences. In both cases, transformation algorithms are used to entextualize linear streams of discourse as geometric embeddings in higher dimensional arrays. Focusing on an algorithmi…
Evangelical Celebrity and the Third Persona
Legitimizing Religious Influencers
Studies of social media influencers often focus on their ability to convey authenticity to their audiences. Influencer studies focused on individual influencers without acknowledging their belonging to larger collectives or how influencers are “legitimized” as belonging to that collective. This article argues that studying religious influencers is one way of exploring legitimacy on social media as distinct from authenticity; religious influencers…
Malicious Game
In the late-night cafés of Amman, Jordan, Iraqi refugees have adopted a new game, called jaakaaroo, that they say is more "malicious" than familiar favorites like dominoes or backgammon. Meanwhile, they decry the cruelty, greed, and suspicion that have eroded social bonds in their home and host countries. Borrowing concepts from Arabic philosophy, I argue that the formal routines of the game act on the same faculty of estimation (al-wahm) that mi…
How to Play Logistics Command
In the first Roadsides Breakdown, Zachary Sheldon and Jack Mullee dissect the rules of a 1978 board game produced by the military-industrial giant Westinghouse for teaching players how to think like a logistical engineer in the global contest for geopolitical dominance
Religious Responses to Social Distancing Revealed through Memes during the Covid-19 Pandemic
This article examines the emotive narratives surrounding the “new normal” of social distancing practices during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as revealed by religion-focused Internet memes. In March 2020, many people were introduced to the concept of “social distancing” for the first time via news reports and media coverage of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic which led to the first lockdown. As the year progressed, social distanci…
Managing the Humanitarian Workplace
This paper offers an ethnographic account of tensions around time that arose at a small nonprofit offering employment-assistance programs for newly arrived Iraqi refugees in a large American city. Iraqi refugees have been subjected to multiple interventions, each of which put them on a strict timeline for results. Their experience gives rise to critical insights into the abstract, managerial representations of time that coordinate each of these s…
Anti-Fandom
Review of: Anti-Fandom: Dislike and Hate in the Digital Age , Melissa A. Click (ed.) (2018) New York: New York University Press, 352 pp., ISBN 978-1-47985-104-1, p/bk, $30.00
The Limits of Faith-Based Organizations
Studies of faith-based organizations (FBOs) often ignore the theologies that inform the communicative behavior and constitution of FBOs. As such, they miss components of how discourse establishes an FBO’s distinct religious identity, and the strategies engaged to maintain that identity. This study uses discourse tracing to look at a particular FBO, Big Idea Entertainment, known for the VeggieTales franchise, to examine how FBOs use symbolic conve…
America’s Dark Theologian
The Cow in the Elevator
Technological and Mediated Identity in American Multisite Churches
This article explores how churches present their religious identity online through the digital and multi-media resources they produce to showcase their ministries. In this study we focus on the digital performances of religious identity of multisite churches, which are churches that meet in multiple locations. We argue technology plays a key role not only in facilitating their church services, but in shaping members’ and visitors’ understanding o…
Time to Ranch it Up
YouTube and Internet culture have changed expressions of comedy, especially on television. Some forms of TV entertainment content emphasise shock value, resulting in a satirical strain of comedy that stresses absurdity. Such a trend may be observed in The Eric Andre Show (2012-) and Nathan for You (2013-2017), two US comedy TV series which satirise an Internet style of filmmaking while simultaneously critiquing the culture that created it. This a…
Amazing! Two Graduate Students Wrote About Stupid Internet Stuff and Got Away with It! (Page 10 Will Blow Your Mind!)
This article examines new forms of narrative in the internet age through examining the website ClickHole. Through parodying and satirizing sites like BuzzFeed, ClickHole (an offshoot of the famous parody entity The Onion) thrives on the creation and dissemination of absurd headlines and accompanying stories. These not only commenting widely on cultural obsessions with things like pop culture figures and social causes, but also point to an innovat…
Malicious Game
In the late-night cafés of Amman, Jordan, Iraqi refugees have adopted a new game, called jaakaaroo, that they say is more "malicious" than familiar favorites like dominoes or backgammon. Meanwhile, they decry the cruelty, greed, and suspicion that have eroded social bonds in their home and host countries. Borrowing concepts from Arabic philosophy, I argue that the formal routines of the game act on the same faculty of estimation (al-wahm) that mi…
Managing the Humanitarian Workplace
This paper offers an ethnographic account of tensions around time that arose at a small nonprofit offering employment-assistance programs for newly arrived Iraqi refugees in a large American city. Iraqi refugees have been subjected to multiple interventions, each of which put them on a strict timeline for results. Their experience gives rise to critical insights into the abstract, managerial representations of time that coordinate each of these s…
Amazing! Two Graduate Students Wrote About Stupid Internet Stuff and Got Away with It! (Page 10 Will Blow Your Mind!)
This article examines new forms of narrative in the internet age through examining the website ClickHole. Through parodying and satirizing sites like BuzzFeed, ClickHole (an offshoot of the famous parody entity The Onion) thrives on the creation and dissemination of absurd headlines and accompanying stories. These not only commenting widely on cultural obsessions with things like pop culture figures and social causes, but also point to an innovat…
Anti-Fandom
Review of: Anti-Fandom: Dislike and Hate in the Digital Age , Melissa A. Click (ed.) (2018) New York: New York University Press, 352 pp., ISBN 978-1-47985-104-1, p/bk, $30.00
The Limits of Faith-Based Organizations
Studies of faith-based organizations (FBOs) often ignore the theologies that inform the communicative behavior and constitution of FBOs. As such, they miss components of how discourse establishes an FBO’s distinct religious identity, and the strategies engaged to maintain that identity. This study uses discourse tracing to look at a particular FBO, Big Idea Entertainment, known for the VeggieTales franchise, to examine how FBOs use symbolic conve…
America’s Dark Theologian
The Cow in the Elevator
Technological and Mediated Identity in American Multisite Churches
This article explores how churches present their religious identity online through the digital and multi-media resources they produce to showcase their ministries. In this study we focus on the digital performances of religious identity of multisite churches, which are churches that meet in multiple locations. We argue technology plays a key role not only in facilitating their church services, but in shaping members’ and visitors’ understanding o…
Time to Ranch it Up
YouTube and Internet culture have changed expressions of comedy, especially on television. Some forms of TV entertainment content emphasise shock value, resulting in a satirical strain of comedy that stresses absurdity. Such a trend may be observed in The Eric Andre Show (2012-) and Nathan for You (2013-2017), two US comedy TV series which satirise an Internet style of filmmaking while simultaneously critiquing the culture that created it. This a…
Religious Responses to Social Distancing Revealed through Memes during the Covid-19 Pandemic
This article examines the emotive narratives surrounding the “new normal” of social distancing practices during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as revealed by religion-focused Internet memes. In March 2020, many people were introduced to the concept of “social distancing” for the first time via news reports and media coverage of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic which led to the first lockdown. As the year progressed, social distanci…
Managing the Humanitarian Workplace
This paper offers an ethnographic account of tensions around time that arose at a small nonprofit offering employment-assistance programs for newly arrived Iraqi refugees in a large American city. Iraqi refugees have been subjected to multiple interventions, each of which put them on a strict timeline for results. Their experience gives rise to critical insights into the abstract, managerial representations of time that coordinate each of these s…
How to Play Logistics Command
In the first Roadsides Breakdown, Zachary Sheldon and Jack Mullee dissect the rules of a 1978 board game produced by the military-industrial giant Westinghouse for teaching players how to think like a logistical engineer in the global contest for geopolitical dominance
Malicious Game
In the late-night cafés of Amman, Jordan, Iraqi refugees have adopted a new game, called jaakaaroo, that they say is more "malicious" than familiar favorites like dominoes or backgammon. Meanwhile, they decry the cruelty, greed, and suspicion that have eroded social bonds in their home and host countries. Borrowing concepts from Arabic philosophy, I argue that the formal routines of the game act on the same faculty of estimation (al-wahm) that mi…
Evangelical Celebrity and the Third Persona
Legitimizing Religious Influencers
Studies of social media influencers often focus on their ability to convey authenticity to their audiences. Influencer studies focused on individual influencers without acknowledging their belonging to larger collectives or how influencers are “legitimized” as belonging to that collective. This article argues that studying religious influencers is one way of exploring legitimacy on social media as distinct from authenticity; religious influencers…
The algorithm's hidden layers
This paper builds on conversations at the intersection of artificial intelligence research and the linguistic anthropology of religion by exploring a mathematical technique that connects contemporary Large Language Models [LLMs] with the history of Islamicate occult sciences. In both cases, transformation algorithms are used to entextualize linear streams of discourse as geometric embeddings in higher dimensional arrays. Focusing on an algorithmi…
Sociology (9 works) · Art (7 works) · Media studies (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Media, Religion, Digital Communication (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Business (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (3 works)