Researcher's site: Dr. Alison Marshall
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4848-6073

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Contact Information

Email: marshalla@brandonu.ca

Research Interests

Dr. Alison R. Marshall teaches and researches Asian religion, migration and history at Brandon University. Marshall studied Mandarin Chinese at Middlebury College, at Taiwan’s Fu Jen University, and also for her doctorate which she earned from University of Toronto’s East Asian Studies Department under the supervision of Dr. Julia Ching (Qín Jiāyì 秦家懿) (1934 –2001).

Dr. Marshall is president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, chairperson of the City of Winnipeg Mayor's Multi-faith and Cultural Liaison Circle, and the recipient of multiple local, national and international grants and awards.

Dr. Marshall is the author of three monographs in the field of Asian religion and history and two anthologies with Bloomsbury Press:

•        The Way of the Bachelor: Early Chinese Settlement in Manitoba (UBC Press, 2011) Winner of the 2015 Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Book Prize and the Manitoba Day Award;
•        Cultivating Connections:  The Making of Chinese Prairie Canada (UBC Press, 2014);
•  Bayanihan and Belonging: Filipinos and Religion in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2018).
•  Rubina Ramji and Alison Marshall, eds. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Migration (Bloomsbury, 2022)  https://www.brandonu.ca/research-connection/article/handbook-of-religion-and-migration/.
• Alison Marshall, Rubina Ramji, and Michael Wilkinson, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Ecstasy (Bloomsbury 2025). https://youtu.be/3Gced_vsGzw?si=HWSc_r8fK_53xrde

Dr. Marshall is currently working on a new book on KMT culture.

During Marshall’s 25 years of research and through multiple national and international SSHRC, CCK, Heritage Canada, and other externally funded projects as principal investigator at BU, she has trained, supervised and provided employment to dozens of research assistants.

Marshall received the provincial William Norrie Arts and Culture Award in 2021 in recognition of her longstanding volunteer and academic work with the Chinese and other newcomer communities in the Province of Manitoba. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2021/08/03/brandon-prof-wins-william-norrie-prize

Marshall has also worked as cultural consultant for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios Oscar nominated film Turning Red. https://pixar.fandom.com/wiki/Turning_Red_Credits

Research Area

Religion and Migration, Chinatown, Chinese Canadian History, Asian Religion, Spiritual and religious experience

Keywords

Religion and migration; Chinatown; Chinese Canadian History; Filipino Canadian History; The KMT (Guomindang) in Canada; Dr. Sun Yatsen in Canada; Chinese religion; Filipino religion; Popular or everyday religion; Islam on the Canadian Prairies; Religion and the Built Environment; Ecstatic religious experience; Drug-induced spirituality/religion; Spirit mediumship and healing

Field(s)

Religion ; Anthropology ; History ; Sociology

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