Javier Garcia Leon

Overview:

Dr. Javier García León is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the Department of Languages, Cultures and Translation. He has been conducting interdisciplinary research in language and representation. He has worked on Languages in Contact (Spanish and Creole Languages in the Caribbean), Linguistic Attitudes, and Language Policies (Colombia).  He also works on Critical Discourse Analysis, Queer Linguistics, and Latin American Cultural and Media Studies. In particular, he examines the representation of minority communities in Latin American newspapers and audiovisual journalism of the last decades.

In collaboration with scholars at Charlotte and Canada, Dr. García León also explores the representation of disability and mental health in Spanish-speaking news outlets. For this project, he has obtained an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as co-principal investigator for 2 years.

His work has been published in journals such as the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Revista de Estudios Colombianos, Latin American Research Review, Lingüística y Literatura, Lenguaje, Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica, Forma y Función, Folios, Boletín de Filología, Hispania, Journal of Language and Sexuality among others (Access to some peer-reviewed publications and Google Scholar). 

His book, Espectáculo, normalización y representaciones otras. Las personas transgénero en la prensa y el cine de Colombia y Venezuela (Peter Lang, 2021), contributed to building the ground floor of an emerging sub-field, decolonial trans media studies, as it provides innovative and decolonial ways to study the current increase in transgender visibility in Latin America.

Dr. García León is also the co-organizer of the annual Heritage Language Symposium.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Spanish, University of Ottawa.
• M.A. in Linguistics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
• B. Ed. and Humanities, specialization in Spanish and English, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (Colombia).

Honors and awards: 

• 2024-2025 Frances Lumsden Gwynn Award (research funding), College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences, UNC Charlotte.
• 2023, Phi Beta Delta MU Chapter Honor Society for International Scholars (Installed as a member).
• Fall 2022, Junior Faculty Development Award (research leave), College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UNC Charlotte.
• 2019, Félix Hangelini Doctoral Dissertation Award, BETA – Asociación de Jóvenes Doctores en Hispanismo.
• 2018, Best published article by a researcher (co-author), Canadian Association of Hispanists.
• 2013, Master Thesis with Honors, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Grants:

• 2025-2027, Insight Development Grant, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (co-principal investigator)
• 2023-2024, Faculty Research Grant, UNC Charlotte (principal investigator).
• 2023-2024, Inclusive Excellence Grant, UNC Charlotte (co-applicant).
• 2022-2023, Mini Grant, Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (co-applicant).
• 2022-2023, Inclusive Excellence Grant, UNC Charlotte (co-applicant).
• 2022-2023, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Grant, UNC Charlotte (co-principal investigator).
• 2021-2022, Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, UNC Charlotte (co-applicant).
• 2020-2021, Faculty Research Grant, UNC Charlotte (principal investigator).
• 2020-2021, Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, UNC Charlotte (co-applicant).
• 2020, CLAS Alumni Council Fall Faculty Grant, UNC Charlotte (co-applicant).

Scholarships:

• 2017-2018, Joseph-Armand Bombardier Doctoral Award, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
• 2015-2018, Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
• 2015-2018, Doctoral Scholarship, Fonds de Recherche Société et Culture du Québec (declined).
• 2015-2016, Doctoral Scholarship, Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined).
• 2014-2018, Admission and Excellence Scholarships, University of Ottawa
• 2011-2013, Graduate Scholarship, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• 2006-2009, Undergraduate Studies Scholarships, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.

Research interests:

• Queer Linguistics
• Critical Discourse Analysis.
• Sociolinguistics.
• Languages in Contact.
• Latin American Cultural and Media Studies.
• Second Language Teaching.

Teaching areas:

• Spanish in the US
• Critical Discourse Analysis.
• Spanish Sociolinguistics.
• Spanish Sociopragmatics.
• Academic Reading and Writing.
• (LGBTQI+) Latin American Cultural and Media Studies.
• Spanish as a Second/Foreign Language.

Courses at UNC Charlotte:

• SPAN6001 Spanish Sociopragmatics
• SPAN6001 Discourse Analysis and Media Representation
• SPAN6001 Spanish Sociolinguistics
• SPAN4050 Spanish Critical Linguistics
• SPAN4050/5050 Introduction to the Sociopragmatic Study of the Spanish Language.
• SPAN4050/5050 Speaking Spanish in the US
• SPAN3201 Advanced Grammar and Composition.
• SPAN2201 Intermediate Spanish I
• SPAN2200 Spanish for Reading Knowledge

Editorial and Professional Work:

• Member, Advisory Board (2025-2027), International Gender and Language Association
• Member, National Screening Committee (2024-2027), Fulbright U.S. Student Program
• Board Member: Rastros y Rostros.
• Associate Editor (2018-2024): Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 
• Editorial Assistant (2014-2019): Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos.

UNC Charlotte Affiliated Faculty:

• Latin American Studies
• Gender and Women Studies