Manisha Pathak-Shelat is Professor and Chair, Centre for Development Management and Communication, MICA, Ahmedabad. She believes in a scholarship that is socially engaged, accessible and global in scope. She considers her work in academia a way to make meaningful contribution towards a better world through teaching and writing. It is also her space to meet interesting people, have enriching conversations and engage in stimulating collaborations that often transform into deep friendships.She has a PhD in mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and a PhD in education from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She has taught and worked as a media consultant, communication trainer and researcher in India, Thailand and USA. The common thread that connects her work is exploration of how ordinary citizens engage with media and use communication to experience agency, explore identities and participate in social change. Manisha has published her work widely, presented it to audiences globally and received prestigious awards and fellowships. Her other books include a co-edited volume titled The Handbook of Media Education Research, Communication for Gender Sensitization: The Value Discussion Approach, a set of 12 energy and environment stories for tribal children of Gujarat and a co-authored book with Kiran Vinod Bhatia titled Challenging Discriminatory Practices of Religious Socialization among Adolescents: Critical Media Literacy and Pedagogies in Practice.She loves working with and writing for young people. She chooses to take the scenic route to life, savouring small joys and adventures. Travelling, gardening, reading, listening to music and dancing are her de-stressors and, of course, long family vacations. Kiran Vinod Bhatia is a doctoral candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. A critical digital ethnographer by training, her scholarship largely explores the links between social networking sites, digital affordances and the global digital cultures of young people in India. Her work has been published in the Journal of Children and Media, Journal of Youth Studies, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Asian Journal of Communication, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy and Contemporary South Asia, among others. She has worked with school students, village/town communities and high school teachers in several parts of Gujarat, India, co-creating/conducting media education classes with them. She has co-authored a book based on this project, Challenging Discriminatory Practices of Religious Socialization among Adolescents: Critical Media Literacy and Pedagogies in Practice (2019).Her research draws force from the desire to dismantle systems of oppression and violence in our societies. She believes that critical education and thinking have the potential to change the ways in which we engage with others and our lived realities.
