LEIGH H. EDWARDS, Associate Professor, Ph.D. in English University of Pennsylvania (1999), M.A. in English University of Pennsylvania (1993), B.A. Duke University (1992). Dr. Edwards specializes in American literature and popular culture from the nineteenth century to the present, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary American studies and media studies approaches and on intersections of gender and race.

She is the author of the book Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity (Indiana University Press, 2009). Her study examines how Cash's work and image, particularly his themes of contradiction, illuminate key foundational tensions in the history of American thought. Her book The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television (Praeger, 2013) analyzes how reality television has pioneered key trends in new media and media convergence. It also addresses how reality programming markets themes of social conflict, especially changing ideals of "the American family."

Her current research includes a book on Dolly Parton and gender performance in popular music (under contract with Indiana University Press). She is also researching representations of racial mixture, nationalism, and transnationalism in nineteenth-century and twentieth-century U.S. literature and popular culture. She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Popular Television, Pop Culture Universe, and Invisible Culture.

Her teaching interests include: American literature and popular culture in a global frame from the nineteenth century to the present; media studies, particularly television studies and popular music studies; American studies; cultural studies; Women's Studies; cultural theory, including critical theories of gender and race.

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

• Dolly Parton, Gender, and Popular Music (under contract with Indiana University Press).
• The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television (Praeger, 2013).
• Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity (Indiana University Press, 2009).

-Reviewed in Journal of Popular Music Studies, Journal of American Studies, Southern Cultures, The Journal of American Culture, Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Choice, History Compass, PopMatters, Yahoo Associated Content
-Finalist, Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award (2009)
-Nominee, International Country Music Conference, Belmont Book of the Year Award (2009)

• "'Backwoods Barbie': Dolly Parton's Gender Performance." A Boy Named Sue, Too, ed. Diane Pecknold and Kristine McCusker (University Press of Mississippi, 2014).
• "Johnny Cash." The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd. edition, ed. Charles Hiroshi Garrett (Oxford University Press, 2013).
• "Contemporary Television Advertising: From Disney to the Kardashians." We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life, ed. Danielle Coombs and Bob Batchelor (Praeger, 2013).
• "Transmedia Storytelling, Corporate Synergy, and Audience Expression." Global Media Journal 12.20 (Spring 2012).
• "Reality TV and the New American Family." Cult Pop Culture: How the Fringe Became Mainstream, ed. Bob Batchelor (Praeger, 2012).
• "Spectacle: Creating Sports Icons in a Media-Saturated World." American History through American Sports, ed. Danielle Coombs and Bob Batchelor (Praeger, 2012).
• Articles for Pop Culture Universe as an Editorial Board Member, including: "Mass Art: Digital Folk Culture and Country Music as Folk Mass Culture" (2013); "Social Networking Websites and New Knowledge Models" (2012); "Pop Culture Values in the Digital Era: From Facebook to the Return of An American Family" (2011); "New Media Identities: Community and Leisure in the Digital Era," Daily Life through History (2011); "Active Audiences and Popular Culture: What Would Johnny Cash Do?" (2010).
• "Reality TV and the American Family," in The Tube Has Spoken: Reality TV as Film and History, ed. Julie Taddeo and Ken Dvorak, (University Press of Kentucky, 2009).
• "Twitter: Democratizing the Media Versus Corporate Branding." FLOW: A Critical Forum for Television and Media Culture 9.14 (Special Issue: Social Media, May 2009).
• "The Endless End of Frontier Mythology: PBS's Frontier House," Film & History 37.1, 2007.
• "Dangerous Minds: The Woman Professor on Television," in Geek Chic: Smart Women in Popular Culture, ed. Sherrie A. Inness, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
• "Chasing the Real: Reality Television and Documentary Forms," in Docufictions: Essays on the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking, ed. John Parris Springer and Gary Rhodes, (McFarland, 2006).
• "Walkin' Contradiction: Johnny Cash and American Ambivalence," in Literary Cash: Fiction and Non-Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash, ed. Bob Batchelor, (BenBella Books, 2006).
• "Taste and Television," FLOW: A Critical Forum for Television and Media Culture, Special Conference Issue, November 2006.
• "'What a Girl Wants': Gender Norming on Reality Game Shows," Feminist Media Studies 4.2, Summer 2004.
• "The United Colors of Pocahontas: Synthetic Miscegenation and Disney's Multiculturalism," Narrative 7.2, May 1999.
• "Olga Broumas," "Aurora Levins Morales," "Milcha Sánchez-Scott," "May Swenson," in The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States, ed. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner Martin, (Oxford University Press, 1995).
• Staff Writer for PopMatters, an international magazine of cultural criticism by scholars published on-line at PopMatters.com.

SELECTED AWARDS

• University Teaching Award, Florida State University, 2009-2010, 2003-2004.
• National Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, 1992-1997.