Heather E Young-Leslie | University of Alberta (original) (raw)

Books by Heather E Young-Leslie

Papers by Heather E Young-Leslie

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2022

OBJECTIVE The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenoph... more OBJECTIVE The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians' negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. METHOD A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. RESULTS Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. CONCLUSION Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians' experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Journal of Community Health, 2021

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2022

Objective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenop... more Objective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians’ negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. Method: A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. Results: Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. Conclusion: Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians’ experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Authors: Nigel Mantou Lou; Kimberly A. Noels; Shachi Kurl; Ying Shan Doris Zhang; Heather Young-Leslie

Journal of Community Health, 2021

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages arou... more Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages around face mask use. As public health messaging plays a pivotal role in the provision of directives during a health crisis, this study examines Canadians’ opinions on the early messaging they received regarding personal protection, especially around mask use, with the goal of identifying potential improvements to strengthen future health messaging. Nine online focus group interviews with 47 Canadians were conducted. These natural conversations focused on personal protective equipment (PPE) choices, mask-relevant public health information sources, and advice to Canadian authorities to improve public health messaging on mask use. Responses were imported into NVivo for thematic analysis. Four meta-themes of relevance were identified. Despite demonstrating trust in scientific evidence and public health authorities, the inconsistencies in public health messaging fostered confusion, and induced mistrust toward health professionals. Further, several information deficits were identified pertaining to the scientific efficacy, safe use, and disposal of masks. Rooted in loyalty to healthcare workers, these Canadians eschewed using medical grade masks during PPE shortages to ensure a sufficient supply for medical workers. The findings stress that consistency in public health messages should be prioritized, with necessary changes clearly justified and explained. More information should reach the public on the scientific benefits and proper use of masks. Public health recommendations should be evidence-based, simple, transparent, and realistic in the current circumstances to guide Canadians to make more informed personal protection choices in the rapidly evolving pandemic.

Authors: Ying Shan Doris Zhang; Heather Young Leslie; Yekta Sharafaddin-zadeh; Kimberly Noels; Nigel Mantou Lou

Happiness Across Cultures; Views of Happiness and Quality of Life in Non-Western Cultures. Vol 6 of the Science Across Cultures: History and Practice Series,, Jan 1, 2012

Nature and Culture, Jan 1, 2008

The literature on environment-animal-human relations, place, and space,tends to emphasize cultura... more The literature on environment-animal-human relations, place, and space,tends to emphasize cultural differences between global interests and local environmental practices. While this literature contributes substantially to our understanding of resource management, traditional ecological knowl-edge, and environmental protection, the work of key persons imbricated in both global and local positions has been elided. In this article, we propose a theory of “ecographers” as individuals particularly positioned to relate an indigenous epistemology of the local environment with reference to traditional
and introduced forms of knowledge, practice, and uses of places,spaces, and inter-species relationships. We ground our analysis in ethno-graphic research among two Pacific communities, but draw parallels with individuals from varied ethnographic and environmental settings. This new concept offers a powerful cross-cultural approach to ecological strategizing relationships; one grounded by local yet globally and historically inflected agents of the present.
Authors: Jamon Alex Halvaksz and Heather E. Young-Leslie

SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin #21 , 2008

SPC Traditional Marine …, Jan 1, 2007

Pacific Arts, n.s. Vol 3-5. Special triple issue in honour of Jehanne Tielhet-Fisk., 2007

In describing cloth as a metaphor for society (1989:33), Annette Weiner draws on an old, well-kno... more In describing cloth as a metaphor for society (1989:33), Annette Weiner draws on an old, well-known Tongan proverb: ‘humankind is like a mat being woven’ (Weiner 1989:1, based on Rogers 1977). The ideologies indexed by this proverb are salient in the many Pacific societies whose people weave, plait, felt, beat, and otherwise construct textiles, many of whom our authors discuss in this special issue of Pacific Arts. The papers collected here document the ways in which, through textile arts, Pacific humankind ‘weave’ themselves, in the contexts of colonial, and more importantly, post-colonial and decolonizing eras. Recognizing the importance of practical, local motivations and inspiration for Pacific peoples’ arts, we identify in these creative endeavors both ‘hybridity’ and what we refer to as ‘pragmatic creativity’. Both concepts merit discussion.

Pacific Arts, n.s. Vol 3-5 pp115-127, 2007

The Contemporary Pacific, Jan 1, 2007

The last decade has seen an escalation of social, political, and economicchanges in Tonga, but th... more The last decade has seen an escalation of social, political, and economicchanges in Tonga, but the events of the past year have been extraordinary: Thousands of people participated in numerous protest marches, climaxing in a general strike that held the government hostage for six weeks; royal family insiders spoke publicly against the authority of the king; the firstelected and commoner member of Parliament was named prime minister; the first woman was appointed to cabinet; and the king gave his assent to the National Committee for Political Reform. It has been a dramatic, traumatic, and emancipatory year forTonga,

The Contemporary Pacific 19:2, Oct 2007

What can fish stories tell us about how people live with the complexities of rapid environmental ... more What can fish stories tell us about how people live with the complexities of rapid environmental transformations and the local effects of national, globalized, and neoliberal desires for resources? To answer this, I take the Tä‘atu fi sh harvesting ritual and accompanying oral narrative to be an “ecography” that addresses human intimacies and changes on a small atoll in Tonga. This type of analysis draws on traditional ecological, political, and sociological knowledge, as well as geography, history, and cultural symbols, to give a deeper understanding of place and the contemporary experience of people intimate with the local environment as source of food and livelihood. When examined in the light of today’s drastically depleted stocks of Pacifi c pelagic fi shes such as skipjack tuna, the ecography of the Tä‘atu provides a benchmark for a shift in a human–fi sh relationship that provided Polynesians with practical and poetic sustenance for hundreds if not thousands of years. At the same time, the myth of the Tä‘atu highlights the historic political importance of desire, beauty, and their confl uence with bounty, in the production of generations of chiefl y privilege and cultural practice. Imbricated with the shifts in human–fish and beauty–bounty relations are lessons for the contemporary chiefl y–commoner relationship in Tonga, the last nation to claim status as an uninterrupted Polynesian kingdom, as well as laments for the loss of independence an important food resource offered. Today, as in the past, the Tä‘atu is a fi shy tale about the geopolitics of various desires.

Bulletin de la Société des études …, Jan 1, 2005

Anthropological Forum, Jan 1, 2005

Social indicators research, Jan 1, 2005

Pacific Health Dialog, Jan 1, 2002

This paper asks: what have the health promotion campaigns in Tonga actually produced, and what do... more This paper asks: what have the health promotion campaigns in Tonga actually produced, and what does this imply for our understanding of the "health transition?" Examination of villagers' responses to health messaging reveals an efflorescence of ideas about health, including a re-conceptualizing of the formal Westernized terminology of health promotion messages into concepts more aligned with traditional Tongan ways of being well. This implies the need for a model of the health transition process in which mutual shifts in understanding must be recognized by all parties, traditional villager and medicalized health professional alike, before new ideas of 'health' are actualized.

Pacific health dialog, Jan 1, 2002

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2022

OBJECTIVE The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenoph... more OBJECTIVE The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians' negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. METHOD A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. RESULTS Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. CONCLUSION Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians' experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Journal of Community Health, 2021

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2022

Objective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenop... more Objective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians’ negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. Method: A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. Results: Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. Conclusion: Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians’ experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Authors: Nigel Mantou Lou; Kimberly A. Noels; Shachi Kurl; Ying Shan Doris Zhang; Heather Young-Leslie

Journal of Community Health, 2021

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages arou... more Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages around face mask use. As public health messaging plays a pivotal role in the provision of directives during a health crisis, this study examines Canadians’ opinions on the early messaging they received regarding personal protection, especially around mask use, with the goal of identifying potential improvements to strengthen future health messaging. Nine online focus group interviews with 47 Canadians were conducted. These natural conversations focused on personal protective equipment (PPE) choices, mask-relevant public health information sources, and advice to Canadian authorities to improve public health messaging on mask use. Responses were imported into NVivo for thematic analysis. Four meta-themes of relevance were identified. Despite demonstrating trust in scientific evidence and public health authorities, the inconsistencies in public health messaging fostered confusion, and induced mistrust toward health professionals. Further, several information deficits were identified pertaining to the scientific efficacy, safe use, and disposal of masks. Rooted in loyalty to healthcare workers, these Canadians eschewed using medical grade masks during PPE shortages to ensure a sufficient supply for medical workers. The findings stress that consistency in public health messages should be prioritized, with necessary changes clearly justified and explained. More information should reach the public on the scientific benefits and proper use of masks. Public health recommendations should be evidence-based, simple, transparent, and realistic in the current circumstances to guide Canadians to make more informed personal protection choices in the rapidly evolving pandemic.

Authors: Ying Shan Doris Zhang; Heather Young Leslie; Yekta Sharafaddin-zadeh; Kimberly Noels; Nigel Mantou Lou

Happiness Across Cultures; Views of Happiness and Quality of Life in Non-Western Cultures. Vol 6 of the Science Across Cultures: History and Practice Series,, Jan 1, 2012

Nature and Culture, Jan 1, 2008

The literature on environment-animal-human relations, place, and space,tends to emphasize cultura... more The literature on environment-animal-human relations, place, and space,tends to emphasize cultural differences between global interests and local environmental practices. While this literature contributes substantially to our understanding of resource management, traditional ecological knowl-edge, and environmental protection, the work of key persons imbricated in both global and local positions has been elided. In this article, we propose a theory of “ecographers” as individuals particularly positioned to relate an indigenous epistemology of the local environment with reference to traditional
and introduced forms of knowledge, practice, and uses of places,spaces, and inter-species relationships. We ground our analysis in ethno-graphic research among two Pacific communities, but draw parallels with individuals from varied ethnographic and environmental settings. This new concept offers a powerful cross-cultural approach to ecological strategizing relationships; one grounded by local yet globally and historically inflected agents of the present.
Authors: Jamon Alex Halvaksz and Heather E. Young-Leslie

SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin #21 , 2008

SPC Traditional Marine …, Jan 1, 2007

Pacific Arts, n.s. Vol 3-5. Special triple issue in honour of Jehanne Tielhet-Fisk., 2007

In describing cloth as a metaphor for society (1989:33), Annette Weiner draws on an old, well-kno... more In describing cloth as a metaphor for society (1989:33), Annette Weiner draws on an old, well-known Tongan proverb: ‘humankind is like a mat being woven’ (Weiner 1989:1, based on Rogers 1977). The ideologies indexed by this proverb are salient in the many Pacific societies whose people weave, plait, felt, beat, and otherwise construct textiles, many of whom our authors discuss in this special issue of Pacific Arts. The papers collected here document the ways in which, through textile arts, Pacific humankind ‘weave’ themselves, in the contexts of colonial, and more importantly, post-colonial and decolonizing eras. Recognizing the importance of practical, local motivations and inspiration for Pacific peoples’ arts, we identify in these creative endeavors both ‘hybridity’ and what we refer to as ‘pragmatic creativity’. Both concepts merit discussion.

Pacific Arts, n.s. Vol 3-5 pp115-127, 2007

The Contemporary Pacific, Jan 1, 2007

The last decade has seen an escalation of social, political, and economicchanges in Tonga, but th... more The last decade has seen an escalation of social, political, and economicchanges in Tonga, but the events of the past year have been extraordinary: Thousands of people participated in numerous protest marches, climaxing in a general strike that held the government hostage for six weeks; royal family insiders spoke publicly against the authority of the king; the firstelected and commoner member of Parliament was named prime minister; the first woman was appointed to cabinet; and the king gave his assent to the National Committee for Political Reform. It has been a dramatic, traumatic, and emancipatory year forTonga,

The Contemporary Pacific 19:2, Oct 2007

What can fish stories tell us about how people live with the complexities of rapid environmental ... more What can fish stories tell us about how people live with the complexities of rapid environmental transformations and the local effects of national, globalized, and neoliberal desires for resources? To answer this, I take the Tä‘atu fi sh harvesting ritual and accompanying oral narrative to be an “ecography” that addresses human intimacies and changes on a small atoll in Tonga. This type of analysis draws on traditional ecological, political, and sociological knowledge, as well as geography, history, and cultural symbols, to give a deeper understanding of place and the contemporary experience of people intimate with the local environment as source of food and livelihood. When examined in the light of today’s drastically depleted stocks of Pacifi c pelagic fi shes such as skipjack tuna, the ecography of the Tä‘atu provides a benchmark for a shift in a human–fi sh relationship that provided Polynesians with practical and poetic sustenance for hundreds if not thousands of years. At the same time, the myth of the Tä‘atu highlights the historic political importance of desire, beauty, and their confl uence with bounty, in the production of generations of chiefl y privilege and cultural practice. Imbricated with the shifts in human–fish and beauty–bounty relations are lessons for the contemporary chiefl y–commoner relationship in Tonga, the last nation to claim status as an uninterrupted Polynesian kingdom, as well as laments for the loss of independence an important food resource offered. Today, as in the past, the Tä‘atu is a fi shy tale about the geopolitics of various desires.

Bulletin de la Société des études …, Jan 1, 2005

Anthropological Forum, Jan 1, 2005

Social indicators research, Jan 1, 2005

Pacific Health Dialog, Jan 1, 2002

This paper asks: what have the health promotion campaigns in Tonga actually produced, and what do... more This paper asks: what have the health promotion campaigns in Tonga actually produced, and what does this imply for our understanding of the "health transition?" Examination of villagers' responses to health messaging reveals an efflorescence of ideas about health, including a re-conceptualizing of the formal Westernized terminology of health promotion messages into concepts more aligned with traditional Tongan ways of being well. This implies the need for a model of the health transition process in which mutual shifts in understanding must be recognized by all parties, traditional villager and medicalized health professional alike, before new ideas of 'health' are actualized.

Pacific health dialog, Jan 1, 2002

The Contemporary Pacific, Jan 1, 2002

This is an early, more complete draft, than the version published in the Encyclopedia.

Pacific Studies, 2004

Book review forum, with reviews by Ernest G. Olson, Heather Young-Leslie, Steve (Sitiveni) Franci... more Book review forum, with reviews by Ernest G. Olson, Heather Young-Leslie, Steve (Sitiveni) Francis and a response by Cathy A. Small.

HyL's contribution begins: "Voyages is the most enduring and readable ethnographic account of contemporary Tongans' lives available to date. It is a must read for anyone studying Tonga and will be of interest to anyone working in the contemporary Pacific or on the subject of transnationalism. In Voyages, Cathy Small focuses on what is probably the most significant catalyst for change in contemporary Tonga over the past thirty years, the issue of migration."

The Contemporary Pacific, Jan 1, 2004

Book review solicited by Environment and Society, published in Vol 4(1)189-191, 2013