Usree Bhattacharya

Usree Bhattacharya is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education. She earned her PhD in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and also holds graduate degrees from California State University, Chico and Lakehead University, as well as a BA in English from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

Her research explores how discourse, ideology, and everyday practice shape educational access in multilingual contexts. Since her daughter Kalika’s diagnosis of Rett syndrome in 2018, her work has increasingly focused on language and literacy development in individuals with complex communication repertoires. She directs the Rett Lab@UGA, a research group dedicated to understanding communication in Rett syndrome.

Her debut picture book, A Show of Hands: Kalika and the Goddess of Learning, is a celebration of ritual, inclusion, and the many ways children participate in literacy. Inspired by her daughter’s first Hate Khori ceremony, the book tenderly portrays a mother–daughter bond at the heart of tradition, inviting readers to imagine how rituals can evolve and adapt to embrace everybody.