Dear Hindu Friends

Official Diwali greetings as a medium for diplomatic dialogue

Bibliographic Data

ID4967660
AuthorsMelanie Barbato (0009-0006-5974-5981, University of Münster, Munster, Germany, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume50
Issue3
Pages353-371
Publication date2020-07-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0048721x.2020.1754599
OpenAlexW3020350988
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited15

This article discusses greeting messages as a genre of interreligious communication. Greeting messages are defined as official communication issued by religious institutions and addressed to the members of another religious community on the occasion of specific feast days or anniversaries. Drawing on the insights of politolinguistic analysis, this article treats these messages primarily as a form of public diplomacy. The case study analyses the messages issued on the occasion of the Hindu festival Diwali/Deepavali by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and World Council of Churches between 2015 and 2017. Distributed through the social media and posted on the institutional websites, the Diwali messages seek to speak as a Christian voice to all Hindus. Beyond the official addressee, the messages also potentially face the scrutiny of the global public sphere, especially an internal Christian readership. This article analyses what language strategies are used to deal with these varied demands

Audience measurement · Diplomacy · Face (sociological concept) · Hinduism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public sphere · Scrutiny · Social media · Social science · Sociology · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

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