Faculty and staff

Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, PhD

Sessional Instructor

History

Abbotsford campus

Biography

Sharn (she/her) earned her MA degree in 2008 from UBC’s Asian Studies department which looked at the 18^th century court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Her PhD, completed in April 2022, from UBC’s Department of History looks at museums as spaces of belonging through a critical race theory lens. Sharn is the first Sikh person to graduate from UBC History’s PhD program. She is the former coordinator of the South Asian Studies Institute at UFV, having worked there for more than 12 years, and through that, co-managed and co-curated award-winning exhibits at the National Historic Site, Gur Sikh Temple and Sikh Heritage Museum. She continues to teach sessional in the Department of History at UFV.

Sharn is a passionate activist, having appeared on local and national television, radio, and national and international panels/podcasts. She is co-author of Challenging Racist BC: 150 Years and Counting, and has contributed most recently to A Social History of South Asians in British Columbia. She is proud to be raising two anti-racist and social justice driven boys and lives in the Fraser Valley (Stó:lō territories) in British Columbia with her boys, husband, and mother-in-law.

Education

Master of Arts, Department of Asian Studies at UBC (2008)
PhD Candidate, Department of History at UBC (2022)

Research Interests

Sikh migration experience in BC
South Asian Diaspora(s)
Museology
Decolonization
History of emotions
Affect
Social justice/anti racist/advocacy work

Publications

Sandhra, S. Canadian Sikh Heritage Pioneer Interviews. Online website: www.canadiansikhheritage.ca. 2007-2022.
Sandhra, S. Guru Nanak’s Philosophy and Science Understanding Sikhism, The Research Journal. January-December, 2012 Vol.14, No. 1-2: http://www.iuscanada.com/journal/archives/2012/j1412p47.pdf
Jauhal, P. and Sandhra, S. A Soldier Remembers: Lieutenant Colonel Pritam Singh Jauhal, A Memoir. Centre for Indo Canadian Studies, University of the Fraser Valley. November 2013.
Sandhra, S., Bains, S., Koehn, S. & Addison, M. “Promoting mental health of immigrant seniors in community.” Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care. 7(3), 146-156. 2014.
Sandhra, S., and Bains, Satwinder. Sustaining echoes of the past - building a future: 100 years of Indo-Canadian history. Abbotsford: From Village to City: Centers of Innovation and Excellence. 2015.
Sandhra, S. Book Review, The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada’s Colour Bar. BC Studies, no. 190, pgs.156-57. 2016.
Sandhra, S. Guest Editor. Curious Online Magazine. Royal BC Museum. December 2018.
Sandhra, S. “Decolonized Then, Now and Forever.” BC Museums Association RoundUp. September 2020.
Sandhra, S. “It Is Time for Change, Reflections From Sikh Women In Sikh Studies.” Baaz News. January 18^th, 2021.
Claxton, Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱, Denise Fong, Fran Morrison, Christine O’Bonsawin, Maryka Omatsu, John Price, and Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra. Challenging Racist “British Columbia": 150 Years and Counting. February 2021.
Claxton, Nicholas and Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra. “A New Book that Challenges Racist ‘British Columbia.” The Tyee. February 26, 2021.
Sandhra, S. “White Allyship: An Exercise in Fearlessness.” Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Substance Use Journal. Vol. 16, No. 3. February, 2021.
Sandhra, S. Foreword. Abbotsford a Diverse Tapestry. The Reach Gallery Museum Publication. 2021.
Bains S., and Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra. “The Body Politics of Gender in Sikhi: Shaping, Shifting and Pushing Boundaries. South Asian Diaspora Journal. 2021.
Burgess Steve. “Sikh Christmas in the Bible Belt.” The Tyee. Interview with Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra. December 22, 2021.
Sandhra, S and Satwinder Kaur Bains. Dying with Dignity: A History of the Fraser River Crematorium Society. South Asian Studies Institute, 2022.
Sandhra, S. “Being an Activist Historian.” British Columbia History. Vol.55, No 1, Spring 2022.
Sandhra, S. Co-author. Dying With Dignity: A History of Abbotsford’s First Crematorium. Winter, 2022.
Sandhra, S. “South Asian Histories in British Columbia, 1897-1947.” A Social History of South Asians in British Columbia. Co Editors, Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains, Dr. Balbir Gurm. South Asian Studies Institute. Friesens Press, Manitoba. 2022.
Sandhra, S. Co-author. “1907: The Era of Disenfranchisement.” A Social History of South Asians in British Columbia. Co Editors, Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains, Dr. Balbir Gurm. South Asian Studies Institute. Friesens Press, Manitoba. 2022.
Fong, Denise, John Endo Greenaway, Fran Morrison, John Price, Carmen Rodriguez de France, Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra and Timothy J. Stanley. 1923: Challenging Racisms Past and Present. July 2023.
Sandhra, Sharanjit Kaur. “Decolonizing This Space Shimrit Lee's Decolonize Museums reviewed.” Rungh: Colour. Culurs. Conversations. Vol 10, No. 2. 2023.
Sandhra, Sharanjit Kaur. "Resisting White Nostalgia: Sikh history in Abbotsford." Sikh Formations. 1-11. 2024.
Sandhra, Sharanjit, Meena Hira, and Anita Lal. "Caste, Sikhi, and Undelivered Promises: Sikh Research Journal’s Interview of the Poetic Justice Foundation." Sikh Research Journal 8, no. 2: 5-23. 2024.
Kaur Sandhra, Sharanjit. "Resistances, Relationships, and True Community: Sikhs (Asian-Canadians?) in BC’s Lower Mainland." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association/Revue de la Société historique du Canada 34, no. 1: 209-225. 2024.
Sandhra, S. Forthcoming. "Bringing the Woke into Sikhi: Gurbani, Social Justice, and Solidarity in the Canadian Sikh Diaspora." Sikhism: The Basics Religious Tradition BRINA edition 2025.