By Emily Sok, Published May 21, 2024
Sweta Baniya is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Professional and Technical Writing at the Department of English at Virginia Tech University. Her research has centered on transnational disaster response, non-western rhetorics, and community engagement, including the global challenges of natural and manmade disasters. Her work draws from non-Western and Western paradigms in ways that highlight new insights and public interventions.
Through local and transnational approaches, her book Transnational Assemblages: Social Justice and Crisis Communication During Disaster (2024) discusses how technical communicators can engage in disaster management research that reduces catastrophe. By situating her study in disaster-affected and digitally networked spaces, Baniya’s study presents a comparative analysis of networked communities and their uses of technologies to communicate during the disaster – including an analysis of 50 million Tweets!
Take a look at some of Sweta Baniya’s scholarship:
- Video (Dialogue): “Networked Communities, Crisis Communication, And Technology”
- Podcast: “On the Job w/ the Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative”
- Video (with Transcript): “Global Ambassador: Sweta Baniya”
- Article: “Rethinking Access: Recognizing Privileges and Positionalities in Building Community Literacy”
The Virginia Community Writing Collaborative 