Rishma Johal
PhD Candidate (McGill University), MA (SFU), BA (SFU)
Rishma Johal is a Ph.D. Candidate at McGill University in the Department of History and Classical Studies.
Rishma’s current research examines intersections among early South Asian migrants and Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest between 1857 and 1947.
Rishma is the recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award, Fonds de Recherche du Québec Doctoral Award, MITACS Graduate Research Award, and several other awards, which supported her research activities throughout Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Rishma has been actively involved within the McGill community serving in distinct leadership positions, such as Academic Director of the History and Classics Graduate Student Association
Courses taught
Areas of Interest
Rishma's research interests include Migration and Settlement in Canada and the United States, Indigenous-Settler Relations, the British Empire, South Asian Diaspora as well as Gender and Sexuality.
Scholarly Work
- “Femininities and Masculinities on Stage: The Evolution of Bhangra as a Sport for South Asian Canadian Women,” Intersections 7 (3) (2024): pp. 19-20.
- “Traversing Seas to Evading Proscription: South Asians, Race, and (Im)mobility in Canada and the United States, 1882-1929,” Terrae Incognitae (March 2022).
- “The Ghadar Movement and its Impact on South Asian Canadian Women,” republished as a chapter in Social History of South Asians in British Columbia ed. Satwinder Bains (April 2022).
- “The Forsaken Daughters of a Developing World: Femicide, Development and Women’s Health in India,” International Journal of Science and Research 7/9 (September 2018).