Staff

Juan De Lara, Inaugural Director

Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity

Research Interests

Social justice and social movements; precarious ecologies; urban political economy; race and ethnicity; Latinx geographies; labor; science and technology studies; Los Angeles; the U.S./Mexico border

Cathleen Mejico

Graduate Research Assistant

Research Interests

Ethnic Studies; Urban & Suburban Studies; Cultural & Critical Geography; 20th Century U.S. History

Advisory Board

Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity

Jody Agius Vallejo

Research Interests

Immigrant integration; race/ethnicity; minoritized middle classes; minoritized entrepreneurs; wealth attainment

Professor of Communication, Director of the School of Communication

Hector Amaya

Research Interests

Civic Engagement and Social Justice; Culture and Media;
Persuasion and Politics; Science, Technology and Innovation

Assistant Professor of History

Joan Flores-Villalobos

Research Interests

Afro-Latin America and the African Diaspora; U.S. empire; gender and migration; the Caribbean

Professor of Latin American & Iberian Cultures

Erin Graff Zivin

Research Interests

Modern and contemporary Latin American literature and other media; deconstruction; the relationship between ethics, politics, and aesthetics; the intersection of philosophy and critical theory

Professor and Chair in Cross-Cultural Communication

Josh Kun

Research Interests

The arts, music and politics of cultural connection, with an emphasis on archives, global migration and Los Angeles

Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity

Natalia Molina

Research Interests

Race, space, labor, immigration, gender and urban history

Professor of Political Science and International Relations

Gerardo Munck

Research Interests 

Political regimes and democracy, methodology, and Latin America

Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity; Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change

Manuel Pastor

Research Interests

Issues of the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities

Associate Professor of English

Elda Maria Roman

Research Interests

Literary and cultural studies; the effects of race and class across groups, disciplines, and genres

Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity and History

George Sánchez

Research Interests

Historical and contemporary topics of race, gender, ethnicity, labor, and immigration

Associate Professor of History and Cinema & Media Studies

Laura Isabel Serna

Research Interests

Latinx Media; Mexican Cinema and Culture; Hollywood Labor Practices; Audiences; Historiography