Feminist Think Tank
Think. Talk. Make.
The Team
Who We Are
Dr. Shana MacDonald
Associate Professor in Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo
Dr. Shana MacDonald is Associate Professor in Communication Arts and is the past President of the Film Studies Association of Canada. Her grant funded interdisciplinary research is situated between film, media and performance studies, and examines feminist activism within social and digital media, popular culture, cinema, performance, and public art. Dr. MacDonald is a co-director of the qcollaborative (qLab), a feminist design lab dedicated to developing new forms of relationality through technologies of public performance. Through the lab Shana co-runs the online archive Feminists Do Media (Instagram: @aesthetic.resistance) and the Feminist Think Tank. She has published in Feminist Media Histories, Media Theory Journal, Feminist Media Studies and is lead author of Networked Feminist Activisms (Lexington Press, 2021).
Dr. Brianna I. Wiens
Assistant Professor in English Language & Literature at the University of Waterloo
Brianna I. Wiens is an Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Rhetoric in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Her interdisciplinary work leverages queer and intersectional feminist perspectives to examine the rhetorics, politics, and design of technologies, digital artifacts, and digital culture in order to explore how people use media in critical and creative ways to foster community and speak back to power. Dr. Wiens is Co-Director of Feminist Think Tank out of which the digital archive Feminists Do Media is run (Instagram: @aesthetic.resistance) and the co-edited collections Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices (Lexington Books 2021) and Stories of Feminist Protest and Resistance: Digital Performative Assemblies (Lexington Books 2023) were born.
Sid Heeg
Research Assistant
Sid Heeg is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo in the Faculty of Environment, working towards a PhD in Sustainability Management. Their research focuses on miscommunication and misinformation about agriculture in digital spaces and understanding the impacts they have on farmer's work practices.
Kate Bradley
Research Assistant
Kate Bradley (she/her) is a third year History student at the University of Waterloo with a minor in Gender and Social Justice. She has done archival, research, curatorial, and museum work in both Ontario and in Prince Edward Island. Kate is passionate about the intersection of feminism and history, especially when that manifests in film and media. She joined the project eager to help with big-picture analysis, drawing connections, and analyzing themes of activism and media. Kate thrives when she is buzzed on several cups of coffee and diving deep into feminist research.
Thuvaraka Mahenthiran
Research Assistant
Thuvaraka Mahenthiran is a fourth year Bsc student in Psychology with a minor in Biology at the University of Waterloo. She is currently working under Dr. Shana MacDonald and Dr. Brianna Wiens on the Feminist Digital Media Project.
Sakeenah Ashique
Research Assistant
Sakeenah is a third year student at the University of Waterloo studying Honors Dac with a minor in Cognitive Science. She is working under Shana MacDonald on her data archive and various research projects. Sakeenah's area of interest is in the convergence of feminism, race, and religion to examine the implications of intersectional identity within Western society, with the aim of establishing a broader, inclusive comprehension of feminism.
Previous RAs
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Eliana Hill-Zeesman (Co-op Research Assistant)