Dr. Alison R. Marshall

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 the recipient of multiple local, national and international grants and awards, and is co-program chair of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and former co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Religion and Migration Unit.

Dr. Marshall is the author of three monographs in the field of Asian religion and history:

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).  See also The Best Books to Reimagine Chinatown.

Bayanihan and Belonging: Filipinos and Religion in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2018).  See also: Stories of Bayanihan and Belonging

Dr Marshall’s recent research explores the topic of religion and migration in a new book:

Rubina Ramji and Alison Marshall, eds. The Handbook of Religion and Migration (Bloomsbury, 2022)  https://www.brandonu.ca/research-connection/article/handbook-of-religion-and-migration/.

Marshall is also working on a new book on religious experience to be published in 2024.

During more than 23 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.

Dr. Marshall received the provincial William Norrie Arts and Culture Award in 2021 in recognition of her longstanding volunteer & academic work with the Chinese, Muslim, Filipino and Jewish communities.

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