Leslie Paris

Leslie Paris is an Associate Professor in the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on modern American social and cultural history with particular expertise in childhood, youth, gender, sexuality, and popular culture. Currently working on a history of American childhood during the 1960s and 1970s, she examines how social and political movements shaped children's culture while also publishing on middle-aged American women and generational cohorts.

Her research interests span multiple interconnected fields including modern American social history, cultural history, childhood history, youth history, generational studies, gender history, sexuality history, and popular culture history. Dr. Paris has made significant contributions to understanding American summer camps, twentieth-century American girlhood, and the cultural significance of toys and play. Her work often bridges historical analysis with contemporary cultural concerns, particularly regarding how age and generational identity function in American society.

Dr. Paris's publications reveal consistent engagement with how cultural institutions shape and reflect American identity formation, particularly through childhood experiences. Her scholarship demonstrates particular strength in analyzing how gender, age, and generational identity intersect in American cultural production and consumption. The recurring theme across her work is the examination of seemingly mundane cultural practices—summer camps, dolls, children's media—as sites where broader social transformations occur.

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2017
• SSHRC Connections grant, 2014-15
• Yasuo Sakakibara Prize (awarded twice by American Studies Association)
• Multiple UBC research grants including Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
• Multiple Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants
• Undergraduate research mentorship awards

Dr. Paris has received substantial research funding including multiple Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants, UBC research awards, and prestigious external fellowships. Her mentorship of undergraduate researchers has been formally recognized through multiple AURA Undergraduate Research Awards and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Mentorship Awards at UBC. While specific grant amounts aren't detailed, her sustained funding record demonstrates significant scholarly impact and recognition within her fields of expertise.