Join us for the first Emerging Scholar Show and Share panel, where Kavi Duvvoori (University of Waterloo), Farinaz Basmechi (University of Ottawa), and Karmvir Padda (University of Waterloo)  will present their research. This session provides a platform for emerging scholars to share their work, engage in dialogue, and connect with the Digital Feminist Network community. Open to all, this panel invites discussion on critical themes shaping feminist digital scholarship today.

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PARTICIPANTS:

Kavi Duvvoori

• Title: Fungal Lessons for Resisting AI in Dora Bartilotti's Voz Publica

• Abstract: This presentation introduces research from an article that is being written, after research and outlining.  In our paper, we imagine digital communication systems through the metaphor of mycelial networks (fungal threads in soil), to understand and resist the extractive, hegemonic infrastructures underpinning so-called artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, particularly large language models (LLMs). Rather than accepting AI as it is sold––an inevitable replacement of human creativity, labor, and sociality––we argue for using mycelial thinking to design systems that support cultural plurality, ecological repair, and social control to confront the power dynamics shaped by fantasies of domination, dehumanization, and replacement prevalent in tech bro cultures and AI imaginaries. Theoretically, we build on and put into conversation Adrienne Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategy (2017), Anna Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World (2015), and Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism (2020) with Dora Bartilotti’s Voz Pública project, which weaves relational and affective networks through web-based storytelling and community workshops.

• Bio: Kavi Duvvoori is a writer, PhD candidate at Uwaterloo, and editor for the Taper journal of computational writing. Their interests include experimental and constrained literature, birds, borders, speculative fiction, lists, linguistics, the limits of language, math, worldbuilding, infrastructures, the search for ways of rejecting hierarchy and domination, sauteing, maps, and ambiguity.

 

Farinaz Basmechi 

• Title: Feminist Activism in Iran

• Abstract: I am interested in presenting my work focusing on feminist activism in Iran. I am researching the Iranian Women, Life, Freedom movement analyzing the impact of state policies on gender-based violence in Iran. I am particularly interested in how governmental actions shape women's lives and their ability to resist patriarchal structures, focusing on the intersection of state power, violence, and feminist activism.

• Bio: Farinaz Basmechi is a feminist scholar specializing in Critical Data Studies and Computational Social Science. Her research explores Middle Eastern feminist thought, digital activism, and gender-based violence. She has published on the Iranian #MeToo movement and applies feminist methodologies to analyze neocolonialism, digital media, and intersectional inequalities in academia and beyond.

 

Karmvir Padda

• Title: Fragmented Beliefs, United Threats: Network Analysis of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada

• Abstract: Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism (IMVE) in Canada presents a decentralized and individualized threat, particularly among lone-actor extremists. This study analyzes six Canadian extremist manifestos using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to uncover patterns in ideological narratives. Through Named Entity Recognition (NER), key figures, themes, and influences were extracted, revealing that IMVE actors often blend personal grievances with loosely connected ideological references. Influences from digital subcultures and pop culture—rather than formal extremist groups—play a significant role in self-radicalization. The findings underscore the limitations of traditional group-based counterterrorism strategies and call for adaptive, multi-layered counter-radicalization approaches. These include individualized risk assessments, enhanced media literacy, and closer collaboration between researchers, law enforcement, and communities. By leveraging computational tools, this report advances understanding of the fluid and fragmented nature of IMVE, providing insight for more effective policies to detect, prevent, and disrupt radicalization to violence in an evolving digital landscape.

• Bio: Karmvir Padda is a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in Sociology at the University of Waterloo and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholar. She holds an MA in Criminology from Simon Fraser University. Karmvir's research centers on radicalization, extremists' use of the internet, ideologically motivated violent extremism, hate crimes, research methods and methodology, and computational social science. She has also been recognized with the Scholar Award by the International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood.