Darsana Vijay headshot

Bio

Darsana Vijay is a PhD student at the Faculty of Information, with a collaborative specialization in South Asian Studies from the Munk School, UofT. Her research explores what alternative journalists, fact-checkers and civil society actors do to counter misinformation and how these practices are informed and impacted by the Indian state and platforms like Meta, Google and Reliance Jio.

In addition to her research on Indian alternative journalism, she has written on playful political participation on TikTok and migrant labor in the platform economy. Her work has appeared in American Behavioral Scientist, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space and Sur Le Journalisme.

Specialization

Alternative journalism, platform studies, misinformation, critical media theory

Degrees

  • MA (by research) Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, 2020
  • Integrated MA English Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, 2016

Committees or Affiliations

  • Critical Digital Methods Institute
  • ICCIT, UTM

Recognition and Accolades

  • Shirley Uldall Memorial Book Prize, Center for South Asian Studies, Munk School, University of Toronto (2023)
  • Connaught International Scholarship for Doctoral Students, University of Toronto (2021 ­–)
  • Erasmus Mundus IBIES Scholarship to support study abroad at Aarhus University, (2014 –’15)
  • Academic Merit Prize, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2014)