Die diesjährigen Konferenz der Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR2025) findet vom 15. bis 18. Oktober in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien, unter dem Leitmotiv„Ruptures“ statt. Dr. Mitra Shamsi, Gastwissenschaftlerin am CAIS, präsentiert auf der AoIR2025 ihr Paper mit dem Titel „Unravelling the Nation: Digital Contestations of Gendered Narratives in the Iranian Women, Life, Freedom Movement“ in der Session „Gender Risks & Resistances“ am 18. Oktober 2025. Außerdem leitet sie das Panel zum Thema „Media Discourses on Digital Phenoma“ am 16. Oktober.
Abstract ihres Papers
The Women, Life, Freedom (WLF) movement in 2022 marked a historic shift in Iranian politics by centring gendered dynamics and issues in public discourse. During and after the uprising, digital platforms have become battlegrounds where competing political forces struggle to frame and control narratives around women’s issues and national identity. Within this contested space, feminist activists have played a crucial role by appropriating affordances of digital spaces to challenge dominant narratives, constructing counter-narratives that reframed women’s issues and gendered debates.
In this context, this research investigates how competing gendered narratives were constructed and contested on digital platforms, examining feminist activists’ media and discursive strategies in navigating and disrupting digital patriarchal nationalist narratives inside Iran and across the diaspora. Applying a multi-sited mobile ethnographic approach, this study analyses an archive of textual and visual materials published online to explore key gendered discussions and highlight how different political actors shaped, resisted, and reframed dominant gendered narratives.
It is argued that digital platforms in the Iranian context have emerged as contested and paradoxical spaces, simultaneously enabling political mobilisation and reinforcing digital nationalism as a mechanism of discursive control. By analysing feminist engagement with these platforms, this research highlights the nuanced interplay between digital activism, gender politics, and nationalism, contributing to broader debates on the role of digital media in shaping contemporary political struggles.
Weitere Informationen zum vollständigen Programm der AoIR2025:
https://www.conftool.org/aoir2025/sessions.php