Davina Bhandar

Dr. Davina Bhandar is an Associate Professor and Chair of Gender Studies at the University of Victoria (UVic), where she joined in 2024. Her expertise spans Intersectional Feminist theory, Migration and Border Studies, Critical race and anti-colonialism, South Asian Diaspora Studies, and Critical University Studies. She holds a PhD in Political Science from York University, an MA in History/Political Studies from Queen’s University, and a BAH.

Research Interests: Her work explores critical race theory, anti-colonialism, abolition, and migrant labor through the lens of diaspora communities. She focuses on Punjabi diaspora migration to lək̓ʷəŋən/Songhees territories (Vancouver Island), analyzing material cultural production and women’s labor. She co-leads the Insurgent/Resurgent Knowledges (IRK) Lab, a virtual research collective centering anti-colonial and feminist praxis.

Publications: Her recent work includes Atlantis Journal (2024) on intersectional feminist poetics and TOPIA (2021) on carceral logistics. She co-edited Unmooring the Komagata Maru (2019), analyzing colonial migration histories.

Affiliations: She serves on editorial boards of Studies in Social Justice and BC Studies. Her courses include GNDR 480: Abolition is a Feminist Issue.