Far-right movements in Canada rarely emerge in isolation. Instead, they are deeply shaped by transnational emotional currents that circulate through digital platforms and connect local grievances to global narratives. Drawing on research across Canada, the United States, and India, this talk examines how Islamophobia, conspiracy thinking, and platform design come together to fuel what Dr. Zeinab Farokhi calls transnational affective publics — communities bound by shared feelings rather than shared facts.
Dr. Farohki uses two powerful examples to illustrate this dynamic: the “Great Replacement” conspiracy in the U.S. and the “Love Jihad” panic in India. Both are rooted in very different histories, yet they mobilize strikingly similar emotions — fear of Muslims, anxiety about demographic change, sexualized panic, and a deep nostalgia for an imagined pure past. These emotional scripts travel easily across borders and show up in Canadian far-right spaces, reshaping local frustrations into part of a larger civilizational struggle. The talk also explores how digital platforms like Twitter/X act as emotional amplifiers. Their design rewards outrage, moralization, and fear, creating an environment where extremist narratives spread quickly and feel increasingly persuasive. Understanding this emotional architecture is crucial for developing effective strategies to counter online hate.
*Please note: this is on online event. Zoom details will be sent out closer to the session*
About the speaker
Dr. Zeinab Farokhi is a scholar-practitioner in Women & Gender Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga, with extensive experience bridging academic research, policy advocacy, and community-based engagement. Her teaching and research focus on gender, law, technology, and housing justice, and she has led collaborative projects with partners such as the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa and Women’s Spaces in Johannesburg. Her current research examines disinformation campaigns across social media platforms, with attention to how they are shaped by gender and race. She also works closely with communities to explore how equity, diversity, and inclusion can be meaningfully applied in the fields of technology and artificial intelligence.
