Digital activism as justice-making. Evaluating decolonial public theologies on Christian social media platforms Digital worlds are profoundly contextual worlds. To better understand the contextuality of digital theology, this paper analyses decolonial digital activism by Christian groups in Oceania. Theoretically, salon, contentious, law-abiding and Ghandian typologies have been used in evaluating digital activism (Neumayer and Svensson, Convergence, 2016). However, Oceanic scholars have challenged theoretical categories circulating in the Global North, arguing that Pacific approaches to activism centre identity, well-being, and kinship (Tupou et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023). Theologically, Elaine Graham unpicks universalising hegemonies by deploying case studies to analyse grassroots activism (Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 2013).

Hence , the use of case studies of digital activism in Oceania can value particularity in cross-contextual comparison. Methodologically, digital ethnography provides ways to understand the mundane aspects of everyday digital life (Hine, Ethnography for the Internet, 2015). This suggests the need for empirical research into organisations located in Oceania that are active in public square decolonial digital activism.

This paper presents preliminary findings from a Visiting Research Fellowship with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, June/July 2024. Three case studies are considered. This paper will draw on data from interviews with key leaders of digital activist organisations and participant observation of digital activist campaigns. Content analysis of emojis as representations of digital emotionality and interviews with key participants/retweeters/commenters will be used to clarify motivations and analyse what might be distinctive about Christian approaches to digital activism.

The research has the potential to theoretically impact public theology through contextual analysis and provide insights for organisations working in digital spaces to facilitate online justice-making