Meet Ana Lopez-Ricoy

Tell us a bit about yourself

I was born and raised in Mexico City. Before coming to San Diego, I worked in non-profit organizations that specialized in political advocacy and gender justice work.

What are you studying/researching?

My research interests lie at the intersections of gender, transnational feminisms, social movements and cultural sociology. I am also deeply invested in community-driven, experiential pedagogy. My dissertation project asks how innovative visual and textual discourse about gendered violence enables the public to understand and emotionally engage with feminicide. I study the case of murdered and disappeared women in Ciudad Juárez in the early 1990s and the transnationalization of this issue via cultural innovation of artists and other creators in the United States.

Tell us about your campus involvement at UC San Diego

Since I started the PhD program, I participated as a student, teaching assistant and served as field director of the Mexican Migration Field Research Program. This UCSD program is a year-long course that trains undergraduate in field methods, and co-designs research with immigration advocacy partners, collects empirical data in the San Diego-Tijuana border region and produces public-facing reports. Currently, I am a Graduate Teaching Consultant at the Teaching and Learning Commons where I conduct teaching observations and teach Advance College Teaching.

Why UC San Diego?

I chose UC San Diego because it was close to the US-Mexico border. I wanted to learn about the border region and stay involved with social and political processes related to Mexico. I also liked the qualitative emphasis of the sociology department and found the students and faculty very welcoming at the Open House.

Have you received any awards or fellowships?

2024 SAGE Publishing Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award – Expert category
2023 Yankelovich Graduate Research Award
2021 Summer Research Grant – UCSD Sociology Department
2020-23 UC MEXUS - CONACYT Fellowship (2020-2023)
2020 International Institute Graduate Research and Travel Award
2019 Tinker Field Research Travel Grant