Michael Leslie, Ph.D.
Associate Professor - Department of Media Production, Management, and Technology
Global Leadership Trainer
Office: 3060 Weimer
Phone: 352-392-2904
Email: mleslie@jou.ufl.edu
Michael Leslie, Ph.D.
Associate Professor - Department of Media Production, Management, and Technology
Global Leadership Trainer
Leslie teaches graduate courses in international/intercultural communication, and race/gender/class and media, and conducts cross-cultural research on the impact of media content on society. At the undergraduate level, he teaches courses in advanced writing for electronic media, ethics and race and media. Dr. Leslie served as a Fulbright Professor at the University of Yaounde (Cameroon), from 1987 to 1989 and as a lecturer in the department of mass communication at the University of Zambia, 1984-1987. Additionally, he has taught, lived or done research in Belgium, France, South Africa, Mexico, Cuba and Brazil. Dr. Leslie speaks, reads, and writes in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. In addition to his Washington Ph.D., Dr. Leslie holds an M.S. from Columbia University, and has published his research in the Howard Journal of Communications, the Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies and Literatures, Africa Media Review and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. He was awarded the Stephen H. Coltrin Award for Excellence in Communications Education in 1997.
Education
Ph.D., International Communication, University of Washington – Seattle, 1983
M.S.J., Broadcast Journalism, Columbia University – New York, 1974
B.A., Political Science, University of California – Berkeley, 1973
Publications
Academic Book
(with Goran Hyden and Folu Ogundimu, eds). Communication and Democracy in Africa. Transaction Publishers, New Jersey, 2002
Personal Book
Be Who You Really Are. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Charleston, 2014.
Academic Book Chapters
“The Internet and Democratization in Africa: The Case of Zambia”, in Communication and Democracy in Africa, Goran Hyden, Michael Leslie and Folu F. Ogundimu (eds). Transaction Press, New Jersey, 2002.
“The Representation of Blacks on Commercial Television in Brazil: Some Cultivation Effects,” in Black Brazil: Culture, Identity and Social Mobilization, Larry Crook and Randal Johnson (eds.). UCLA Latin American Center Publications, University of California: Los Angeles, 1999.
“Mass Communication and Development: A Critical View” in Developing Areas: A Book of Readings, Vijajan Pillai and Lyle Shannon, (eds.). Rhode Island: Berg, 1995, pp. 358-365.
Journal Articles
“The Dragon Shapes Its Image: A Study of Chinese Media Influence Strategies in Africa.” African Studies Quarterly, special issue on China-Africa Relations: Political and Economic Engagement and Media Strategies, Volume 16, Issue 3-4, December 2016, pp. 161-174. http://asq.africa.ufl.edu/current-issue/.
(with Dianjian Wang and Hongling Lai) “Chinese English Learners’ Strategic Competence.” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Volume 44, Issue 6, December 2015, pp. 701–714. doi:10.1007/s10936-014-9313-7
“The Cross-Cultural Academic Adaptation of Chinese Students in American Universities: Academic Challenges, Influential Factors and Coping Strategies.” Submitted to Journal of College Student Development, 2014
“The Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Peace Corps Volunteers: A Case Study from Western China.” Submitted to Social Psychology of Education, 2014.
“IP-based Videoconferencing: Can it Promote Intercultural Understanding, Internationalization of the Curriculum and Social Change?” Journal of Communication and Social Change, Summer, 2007.
“U.S. and South African Images of Black Success: A Pilot Study in Transnationalization and Hegemony,” Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Comparative Studies (October, 2000), http://www.safundi.com/articles/leslie.asp
“Television and the Cultivation of Modern Racism: The Case of Brazil,” Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies and Literatures Vol. 1, No. 2 (January, 1996).
“Television and Cultural Hegemony in the “New” South Africa,” Howard Journal of Communications, Vol. 6, Number 3 (November, 1995).
“Slow Fade to ? Advertising in Ebony Magazine, 1957-1989. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 72, Number 2 (Summer 1995), pp. 426-435.
“Representation of Blacks on Prime Time Television in Brazil,” Howard Journal of Communications, Vol. 4, Numbers 1 and 2 (Summer/Fall 1992).
Leslie, Michael. “Conflict Resolution and the Prestige Press: El Universal and the Mexican Oil Crisis of 1938,”Journalism Quarterly, Vol.68, No.1/2 (Summer/Spring 1992).
“The Vernacular Press in Zambia: A Pilot Study of a Provincial Newspaper.” Africa Media Review, Vol. 4, Number 1 (1990), pp. 62-78.
Conference Papers
“A cross-cultural approach to leadership development.” Cross Straits Conference on Intercultural Communication and Business Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China, November, 2013.
“China and the African Media.” African Studies Association 54th Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., November 17-20, 2011.
“A Tale of Two Cities: Comparing Racial Representation in the Popular and Elite Press of Cali, Colombia.” 58th Annual Conference, Center for Latin American Studies, UF, January 13-14, 2009.
“Mobilizing ‘Africa’: Online Portals for the Development of Afro-descendent Communities in Latin America.” African Studies Association Annual Conference, Chicago, November 13-16, 2008.
“Coverage of the 2001 UN Conference on Race and Zenophobia in the New York Times.” African Studies Association Annual Conference, New York, November 2007.
“Using Videoconferencing for teaching and learning About Africa.” African Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., November, 2005.
“Religious Websites in Africa and the Construction of Political Identity.” African Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, November 2004.
“Televangelism and American Hegemony.” Second Annual Conference on Communication and Globalization, Seattle, Washington, July 2004.
“International Televangelism/American Ideology: The Case of The 700 Club.” International Conference on Television in Transition, MIT, Boston, May 2-4, 2003. http://cms.mit.edu/mit3/papers/leslie.pdf
“Televangelism and the Re-Presentation of Africa: A Pilot Study of Content and Ideology in The 700 Club.” Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Washington, D.C. , December 2002.
“Why Ebony South Africa Failed: A Comparative Study Ebony South Africa and Ebony USA.” Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Nashville, TN, November, 2001.
“Raca Magazine: A New Voice for Blacks and Browns in Brazil?” Presented to the Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Miami, Florida, March, 2000.
“Contributions of Brazilian Scholars to the Study of Race and Media.” Invited paper, IV Ciclo de Estudos sobre a Escola Latino-Americana de Comunicação (Fourth Conference on Latin-American Communications Studies), May 2000, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“Narrating the Crisis: The Angolan Independent Press, Human Rights and Democratization in Angola.” Presented to the Sixteenth Annual Intercultural Communication Conference, Miami, Florida, February 4-6, 1999.
“Examining the Myth of Racial Equality in Cuba: A Triangulation Approach,” presented to the Third Biennial Conference on Culture, Technology and Change in the Americas, April 5-9, 1995, Tampa, Florida.
“Television and the Cultivation of Modern Racism in Brazil: A Pilot Study.” Presented to the Annual Conference of the International Association for Mass Communication Research, Seoul, Korea, July, 1994.
“Television and Cultural Hegemony in “The ‘New South Africa’.” Presented to the International and Intercultural Communication Conference, Miami, Florida, February 1994.
“Illusion and Reality on Commercial Television: Comparing Brazil and the United States.” Presented to the International Communication Association, Chicago, Illinois, May 1991.
Research
Dr. Leslie’s research interests include the relationship between mass communication and society, especially the political, social, cultural, psychological, economic and health consequence of mass media for both to the dominant and oppressed groups in society, both in the U.S. and internationally. Much of Dr. Leslie’s work has focused on the nexus between media content and the empowerment of disempowerment of Africans and Afro-descendants. The goal of his research is to build a strong empirical base for theorizing about the role mass media play in the social construction of reality and perceptions of individual efficacy and agency for both dominant and oppressed groups, as well as to develop media/communications strategies that will empower the less fortunate in their struggles for political, economic, cultural, spiritual, physical and psychological health and well-being.
Research Keywords
Race, identity, agency, health, efficacy, perception, representation, social construction, communications strategies, media ownership, Blacks, African-Americans, Africans, Afro Descendants, Africa, Afro-Latinos, Afro-Caribbean
Research Areas
- International and Cross-Cultural Communication
Courses
Syllabi from the current and three previous semesters:
Dr. Leslie’s research interests include the relationship between mass communication and society, especially the political, social, cultural, psychological, economic and health consequence of mass media for both to the dominant and oppressed groups in society, both in the U.S. and internationally. Much of Dr. Leslie’s work has focused on the nexus between media content and the empowerment of disempowerment of Africans and Afro-descendants. The goal of his research is to build a strong empirical base for theorizing about the role mass media play in the social construction of reality and perceptions of individual efficacy and agency for both dominant and oppressed groups, as well as to develop media/communications strategies that will empower the less fortunate in their struggles for political, economic, cultural, spiritual, physical and psychological health and well-being.
Research Keywords
Race, identity, agency, health, efficacy, perception, representation, social construction, communications strategies, media ownership, Blacks, African-Americans, Africans, Afro Descendants, Africa, Afro-Latinos, Afro-Caribbean
Research Areas
- International and Cross-Cultural Communication
Courses
Syllabi from the current and three previous semesters: