Streaming Ramadan in Times of Pandemic. Methods and Ethics of a (N)Ethnography of Hybrid Islamist Activism(s)

Due to the worldwide restrictions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021, the most important Muslim holiday of the year, Ramadan, did not take place in the usual way. The Islamic month of fasting, which also includes communal prayers and social gatherings, was transformed into virtual meetings. Through ethnographic research on Islamist activism in contemporary Morocco conducted between 2016 and 2020, the purpose of this study is to reflect on the main challenges and changes posed by the Coronavirus pandemic to both the researcher and the social actors involved, as well as the methods and ethics of ethnographic research online. Starting from the case study of the activities of political Islam youth groups, both inside and outside the Internet, this article aims to argue for a multimodal and interdisciplinary methodology as an approach that must extend beyond this period of uncertainty and precarity.