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Jack J. Valenti School of Communication
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Leandra Hernandez

Lecturer
Communications Bldg
713-743-9515
lhhernandez2@uh.edu

Dr. Leandra H. Hernández (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is a Lecturer in the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication and Center for Mexican-American Studies. She is a media studies and health communication scholar who studies the intersections of gender, race, and ethnicity within communication and identity contexts. Her health communication research centers on reproductive rights, prenatal testing, and shared decision-making. Her health communication research has been published in the journal "Communication Research" and in Gilchrist-Petty and Long’s book "Contexts of the Dark Side of Communication." Moreover, her book "Out of Control: Science, the State, Religion, and Institutional Control of Reproduction in the US and South America," co-authored with Dr. Kari Nixon, is forthcoming with Lexington Press. Her media research interests include media representations of and constructions of gender, race, and ethnicity, particularly in reality television shows and films. Her research about media representations of gender in "Toddlers & Tiaras" and "Duck Dynasty" has been published in Slade, Narro, and Buchanan’s book "Reality Television: Oddities of Culture." She also has a chapter about digital interactivity, social media, and "Toddlers & Tiaras" fans in Slade, Carroll-Givens, and Narro’s book "Television, Social Media, and Fan Culture." Leandra enjoys teaching courses such as Latino Communication Studies, Popular Culture, Intercultural Communication, and Gender & the Media.

Education

  • BA in Communication, University of St. Thomas
  • MA in Communication, University of Houston
  • Ph.D. in Communication, Texas A&M University   

Teaching

  •  COMM 4397: Latino Communication Studies  

Selected Publications

  • Hernandez, L., & Nixon, K. (2017) Reproductive control, ideology, and the state: Reproductive politics in the U.S. and South America. Accepted for publication and forthcoming with Lexington Books.
  • Barbour, J.B., Doshi, M. J., & Hernandez, L. (2015) Telling global public health stories: Narrative message design for issues management. Communication Research, 1-34. (Published online before print.)
  • Hernandez, L., & Dean, M. (Forthcoming, 2017). “It’s the God complex”: Negotiation of women’s bodily ownership and expertise in patient-provider interactions. Forthcoming in E. A. Frost and M. Eble (Eds.), Interrogating Gendered Pathologies.
  • Hernandez, L. (Forthcoming, 2017). Syphilis as disease and (moral) health pandemic: An analysis of early 20th century news coverage about syphilis. Forthcoming in C. Johnston & K. Nixon (Eds.), Nobody’s disease: Theorizing syphilis and subjectivity.
  • Hernandez, L. (Forthcoming, 2017). “You get a very conflicting view”: An intersectional feminist analysis of women’s reactions to representations of women in advertising. Forthcoming in K. Golombisky and P. Kreshel (Eds.), Feminists, feminisms, and advertising: Some restrictions apply.  Lanham: Lexington Books.
  • Hernandez, L. (Forthcoming, 2017). Questionable motherhood: A feminist analysis of social media discourses about motherhood, religion, and 19 Kids and Counting. Forthcoming in E. B. Christian and A. Slade (Eds.), Jesus on the Small Screen: Christianity in Television Programming. Lanham: Lexington Books.
  • Hernandez, L. (2016). Paternidad, masculinidad, and machismo: Evolving
    representations of Mexican/-American fathers in film. In L. Tropp & J. Kelly (Eds.), Deconstructing dads: Changing images of fathers in popular culture. Lanham: Lexington Books.
  • Hernandez, L. (2015). “My doctor ruined my entire birthing experience”: An
    intersectional feminist analysis of Mexican-American women’s birthing struggles with healthcare providers. In E. Gilchrist-Petty & S. Long (Eds.), Contexts of the Dark Side of Communication. New York: Peter Lang.
  • Hernandez, L. (2015). “The parents have the dream, but the children are in the
    nightmare”: Digital interactivity, Toddlers & Tiaras viewers, and social networking sites. In A. Slade, A. J. Narro, & D. Givens-Carroll (Eds.), Television, Social Media and Fan Culture. Lanham: Lexington Books.
  • Hernandez, L. (2014). “I was born this way”: The performance and production of
    Southern masculinity in A&E’s Duck Dynasty. In A. F. Slade, A. J. Narro, & B. P. Buchanan (Eds.), Reality television: Oddities of culture (pp. 21-38). Lanham: Lexington Books.
  • Hernandez, L. (2014). The Lolita Spectacle & the Aberrant Mother: Exploring the
    Production and Performance of Manufactured Femininity in Toddlers & Tiaras. In A. F. Slade, A. J. Narro, & B. P. Buchanan (Eds.), Reality television: Oddities of culture (pp. 163-182). Lanham: Lexington Books.