Smita Misra

smita.misra@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 x41529
Location: ML 304

Smita Misra is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Waterloo. She is an interdisciplinary scholar who holds a Ph.D. in Communication from UNC-Chapel Hill (2022), an M.A. in Performance Studies from the University of Kent (2015), and BSc. in Life Sciences (2011) and B.A. (2012) from Queen’s University.  

Dr. Misra’s primary area of interest is science-advocacy. Her recent work focuses on the organizational strategies and professional tactics used by medical expert witnesses who testify in refugee proceedings. Her multi-layered analysis delves into bureaucratic processes that produce refugee trauma, providing insights into how medical professionals of different experiences, genders, and races use unique strategies to engage with tropes of refugee victimhood. Challenging the assumption that scientific objectivity and political advocacy are mutually exclusive, Dr. Misra is currently working on a manuscript that maps out the barriers and possibilities for science-based advocacy under a culture of suspicion. Her second area of research is migrant resistance. Contributing to burgeoning conversations on sousveillance, Dr. Misra is developing a theory that describes how migrants use silent observation and tracking to “speak back” against the dehumanizing conditions that they face. 

Dr. Misra has designed and taught courses in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication; Gender and Communication; Performance Studies; and Public Speaking. In 2022, she will be teaching Science Communication and Public Speaking. She has peer-reviewed publications in Management Communication Quarterly and Frontiers in Communication. She has also written for public audiences in Truth Out.