Laura Isabel Serna

Associate Professor of History and Cinema and Media Studies
Laura Isabel Serna
Pronouns She / Her / Hers Email lserna@usc.edu Office SOS 2 Office Phone (213) 740-3334

Biography

Laura Isabel Serna is associate professor of history and cinema and media studies at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2006. She is the author of Making Cinelandia: American Films and Mexican Film Culture before the Golden Age (Duke University Press, 2014) and co-editor and translator of “There are No Hispanic Stars!”:  Collected Writings of a Latino Fim Critic in Hollywood, 1921-1939 (Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2023), and a number of articles and book chapters.

Education

  • Ph.D. American Studies, Harvard University, 6/2006
  • M.T.S. Christianity and Culture, Harvard Divinity School, 6/1997
  • B.A. Religious Studies, University of California Berkeley, 12/1992
  • Research Keywords

    modern Mexico; 20th century United States; social history of cinema; culture; transnational; media industries; migrant culture

    • Fulbright Award, Fulbright Garcia Robles Research Fellowship, 2015-2016
    • Fulbright Award, Fulbright Garcia-Robles Student Research Fellowship, 2003-2004
  • Professional Memberships

    • Organization of American Historians, 2008 – 2024
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