(Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano, Tulane University).
During her thirty-eight years at Tulane (1985-2023), Ana M. López served as a Professor in the Department of Communication, Director of the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute, and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs. She was a fundamental figure in the fields of Latin American and Latinx film, media, and cultural studies. Her work significantly shaped approaches, theoretical frameworks, and areas of study within these fields.
Dr. López passed away on June 25, 2023. The Moving Media in the Americas conference honors her legacy and scholarship.
Biography
Ana M. López arrived at Tulane in 1985 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication. She received her BA in Accounting from Queens College of the City of New York and earned both an MA in Communications and Theater Arts (Film Studies) and a PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa. At Tulane, she served in senior academic and administrative roles through some of the University’s most challenging periods: Hurricane Katrina, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hurricane Ida. She established major new program initiatives, such as the Center for Public Service and the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching. She was a key figure at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, where she directed the Cuban Studies Institute.
López was a prolific author, publishing over three dozen essays and book chapters on Latin American and Latinx film and cultural studies. Her groundbreaking essays transformed the field of Latin American Film Studies, opening up new approaches, theoretical frameworks, and lines of investigation on topics ranging from early cinema to the present, and from Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico to diaspora, exile, and Latinx cinemas in the United States. Her analytical approaches include melodrama, performance in the Golden Age cinemas of Latin America, early silent cinema and modernity, documentary, telenovelas, politically militant film, and the interconnectedness of various media, such as film and radio.
As highlighted by the editors of her recently released book Ana M. López: Essays (SUNY Press, 2023), the work addresses conceptual problems such as the transnational turn in Latin American cinemas, the intermediality of Latin American productions and their intersections with race, ethnicity, gender, and migration. López was co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Latin American Cinema (2017) and editor-in-chief of the journal Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas. She authored the collection of essays Hollywood, Nuestra América y los Latinos (Ediciones Unión, Havana, 2012) and co-edited three collections of essays on Latin American cinema.
Chronological Bibliography of Publications by Ana López
(Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano, Tulane University).
López, A. M. (2023). Ana M. López: Essays (L. Podalsky & D. Tierney, Eds.). State University of New York Press. https://sunypress.edu/Books/A/Ana-M.-Lopez
López, A. M. (Trans.). (2020). Mexicans in Nicaragua: Revolution and propaganda in Sandinista documentaries of the University Center for Cinematographic Studies (CUEC-UNAM) by Nahmad Rodríguez, A. D. Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas, 17(2), 233-251. https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/slac_00020_1
López, A. M. (Trans.). (2020). Forgotten cinemas: The institutional uses of documentary in twentieth-century Mexico (1930–80) by Quiroz, C. A., Mantecón, Á. V., & Wood, D. M. Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas, 17(2), 161-172.
López, A. M. (2018). Film and radio intermedialities in early Latin American sound cinema. In M. D’Lugo, A. M. López, & L. Podalsky (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Latin American Cinema. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Latin-American-Cinema/DLugo-Lopez-Podalsky/p/book/9780367581114
López, A. M. (2015). Cartographies of Mexican cinema in the 21st century. Rebeca-Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Cinema e Audiovisual, 4(1), 17-17. https://rebeca.emnuvens.com.br/1/article/view/337
López, A. M. (2014). A poetics of the trace. In V. Navarro & J. C. Rodríguez (Eds.), New documentaries in Latin America (pp. 25-43). Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137291349
López, A. M. (2014). Calling for intermediary: Latin American mediascapes. Cinema Journal, 54(1), 135–141. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43653663
López, A. M., & Tierney, D. (2014). In focus: Latin American film research in the twenty-first century. Cinema Journal, 54(1), 112–122. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/article/558862/pdf
Ilustre, V., López, A. M., & Moely, B. E. (2012). Conceptualizing, building, and evaluating university practices for community engagement. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, October 2012. https://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/jheoe/issue/view/88
López, A. M. (2012). Hollywood, nuestra América y los latinos. UNEAC, Ediciones Unión. https://endac.org/encyclopedia/hollywood-nuestra-america-y-los-latinos/
López, A. M. (2012). Mexico. In C. K. Creekmur & L. Y. Mokdad (Eds.), The International Film Musical (pp. 121–140). Edinburgh University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvxcrvf9.14?seq=18
Lopez, A. M. (2011). Geographical imaginaries. Studies in Hispanic Cinemas, 7(1), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1386/shci.7.1.3_2
López, A. M. (2009). Before exploitation: Three men of the cinema in Mexico. In Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas, and Latin America (pp. 29-50). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203878927-8/exploitation-three-men-cinema-mexico-ana-lópez
López, A. M. (2007). Cuba. In M. Hjort & D. Petrie (Eds.), The Cinema of Small Nations (pp. 179–197). Edinburgh University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r1xcf.13?seq=9
López, A. M. (2006). The state of things: New directions in Latin American film history. The Americas, 63(2), 197–203. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4491217
López, A. M. (Contr.). (2004). Encyclopedia of early cinema (R. Abel, Ed.). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203482049/encyclopedia-early-cinema-richard-abel
López, A. M. (2004). Contr. “Dolores Del Rio,” “Rita Hayworth,” “Lydia Cabrera,” “Lourdes Casal,” and “Josefina Niggli” for Notable American Women, Volume Five (S. Ware, Ed.). Harvard University Press.
López, A. M. (n.d.). Train of shadows: Early cinema and modernity in Latin America. In E. Shohat & R. Stam (Eds.), Multiculturalism, postcoloniality, and transnational media. Rutgers University Press. https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/multiculturalism-postcoloniality-and-transnational-media/9780813532356/#generate-pdf
López, A. M. (2002). Are all Latins from Manhattan? Hollywood, ethnography, and cultural colonialism. In A. Williams (Ed.), Film and nationalism (pp. 195-217). Rutgers University Press. https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/film-and-nationalism/9780813530406/
López, A. M. (2000). Crossing nations and genres: Traveling filmmakers. Visible Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video, 33-50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.cttts680.7
López, A. M. (2000). Facing up to Hollywood. In C. Gledhill & L. Williams (Eds.), Reinventing film studies. Edward Arnold. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL15498765M/Reinventing_film_studies#bookPreview 
Balderston, D., Gonzalez, M., & López, A. M. (Eds.). (2000). Encyclopedia of contemporary Latin American and Caribbean cultures (Vol. 1). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Encyclopedia-of-Contemporary-Latin-American-and-Caribbean-Cultures/Balderston-Gonzalez-Lopez/p/book/9780415131889
López, A. M. (2000). Early cinema and modernity in Latin America. Cinema Journal, 40(1), 48–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1225817
López, A. M. (1998). Matilde Landeta. In A. L. Unterburger (Ed.), Woman filmmakers and their films. St. James Press. https://archive.org/details/womenfilmmakerst0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater
López, A. (1998). The São Paulo connection: The Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz and O Cangaceiro. Nuevo Texto Crítico, 21/22, 127–154. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/96/article/496451/summary
López, A. M. (1999). Estilos híbridos para un espacio nacional cinematográfico. Archivos de la Filmoteca, 31, 172–184. https://www.proquest.com/docview/387339330/fulltextPDF/C478E85E23944170PQ/1?accountid=14437&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
López, A. M. (1998). Are we global now? Aztlán, 23(1), 97–102. https://online.ucpress.edu/aztlan/article/23/1/97/198525/Are-We-Global-Now
López, A. M. (1998). From Hollywood and back: Dolores Del Rio, a trans (national) star. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 17(1). https://college.holycross.edu/faculty/cstone/mont111g/From%20Hollywood%20and%20Back.htm#db=aph&AN=916475
López, A. M. (1996). Brazil. In T. Barnard & P. Rist (Eds.), South American cinema: A critical filmography, 1915-1994 (pp. 101-216). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/South-American-Cinema-A-Critical-Filmography-l915-l994/Barnard-Rist/p/book/9780824045746
López, A. M., & Noriega, C. A. (Eds.). (1996). The ethnic eye: Latino media arts. University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttt23g
López, A. M. (1995). Memorias of a home: Mapping the revolution (and the making of exiles?). Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, 19(3), 5–17. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27763261
López, A. M. (1994). A cinema for the continent. In C. Noriega (Ed.), Mexican cinema project (pp. 7–12). UCLA Film Archives. (catalog)
López, A. M. (1993). Setting up the stage: A decade of Latin American film scholarship. In H. Naficy & T. H. Gabriel (Eds.), Otherness and the media: The ethnography of the imagined and the imaged (pp. 255–276). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Otherness-and-the-Media-The-Ethnography-of-the-Imagined-and-the-Imaged/Naficy-Gabriel/p/book/9781138699526
López, A. M. (1993). Cuban cinema in exile: The ‘other’ island. Jump Cut, 38, 51–59. https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC38folder/ExileCubanCinema.html
Butzel, M., & López, A. M. (1993). Mediating the national: Introduction. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 12(1). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10509209309361402
López, A. M., Alvarado, M., & King, J. (Eds.). (1993). Mediating two worlds: Cinematic encounters in the Americas. British Film Institute. https://archive.org/details/mediatingtwoworl0000unse
López, A. M. (1993). (Not) looking for origins: Postmodernism, documentary, and America. In M. Renov (Ed.), Theorizing documentary (pp. 151–163). University of California Press.
López, A. M. (1992). Not only a question of color: Afro-Latino/a images in Latin American cinema. Tonantzin, 9(1), 20.
López, A. M. (1992). Revolution and dreams: The Cuban documentary today. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 11.
López, A. M. (1992). The long life of short film: Brazil and Colombia compared. In J. Burton (Ed.), Short films from Latin America (pp. 33–39). American Federation of Arts.
López, A. M. (1991). An “other” history: The new Latin American cinema. In R. Sklar & C. Musser (Eds.), Resisting images: Essays on cinema and history (pp. 308–330). Temple University Press. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/5617539
López, A. M. (1991). Celluloid tears: Melodrama in the ‘Old’ Mexican cinema. Iris, 13, 29–51.
López, A. M. (1991). Through Brazilian eyes: America. Wide Angle, 13(2), 20–30.
López, A. M. (1990). At the limits of documentary: Hypertextual transformation and the new Latin American cinema. In J. Burton (Ed.), The social documentary in Latin America (pp. 403–434). University of Pittsburgh Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.12166958.18
López, A. M. (1990). Parody, underdevelopment, and the new Latin American cinema. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 12(1–2), 63–71. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10509209009361340
Lopez, A. M. (1990). The battle of Chile: Documentary, political process, and representation. In J. Burton (Ed.), The social documentary in Latin America (pp. 267–288). University of Pittsburgh Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.12166958.18
López, A. M. (1988). African roots: Images of black people in Cuban cinema. Black Film Review, 4(3), 5–9.
López, A. M. (1988). “An other” history: The new Latin American cinema. Radical History Review, (41), 93–116. https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-1988-41-93
López, A. M. (1988). Argentina, 1955-1976: The film industry and its margins. In J. King & N. Torrents (Eds.), The garden of forking paths: Argentine cinema (pp. 49–80). British Film Institute/National Film Theater. https://archive.org/details/gardenofforkingp00king/page/n5/mode/2up
López, A. M. (1986/87). Sergio Giral on filmmaking in Cuba. The Black Film Review, 3(1), 4–7.
López, A. M. (1985). An elegant spiral: Truffaut’s The 400 blows. Wide Angle, 7(1-2), 144–148.
López, A. M. (1985). A short history of Latin American film histories. Journal of Film and Video, 37(1), 55–69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20687648
López, A. M. (1982). Rereading adaptation: A Farewell to Arms (co-authored). Iris, 1(1), 101–114.
Resources about Ana López
Tierney, D. (2024). In memory of Ana M. López. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 33(2), 341–344. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569325.2024.2384802
Stone Center for Latin American Studies. (2023, May 30). First session – A celebration of ‘Ana M.
López: Essays’ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jbkHX4mTk%C2%A0
Stone Center for Latin American Studies. (2023, May 30). Second session – A celebration of ‘Ana
M. López: Essays’ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_Pq0AKilE%C2%A0
Videos, Talks, and Interviews with Ana López
Stone Center for Latin American Studies. (2023, May 30). Ana M. López: In profile – A celebration
of ‘Ana M. López: Essays’ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79BxWuonyU8%C2%A0
Stone Center for Latin American Studies. (2023, May 30). Ana L., Laura P., and Dan B.: In
conversation – A celebration of ‘Ana M. López: Essays’ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUeMUq0gZAk%C2%A0
Archival Materials related to Ana López, available through the Tulane Digital Library collection
“The LAST 100: A Century of Tulane and Latin America,” curated by the Stone Center for Latin
American Studies
Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute & Tulane University (2004). Caribbean Sound Scapes: A
Conference on Caribbean Musics and Culture Program. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12446001160006326
Stone Center for Latin American Studies & Tulane University. (2001). Cuban Connections Course
Flyer. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12445906060006326
Stone Center for Latin American Studies, & Tulane University. (2001). Stone Center Newsletter
Volume 2 Number 1 Summer. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12442898270006326
Stone Center for Latin American Studies & Tulane University. (2000). Film Screening and
Symposium: Four Days in September Flyer. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12446001840006326
Stone Center for Latin American Studies & Tulane University. Latin Divas – A Film Series Flyer.
(2000). Latin Divas – A film series flyer [Flyer]. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12446001980006326
Tulane University. Brazilian Studies Program & Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane
University. (2000). Film Screening and Symposium: The Perfumed Ball Flyer. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12446001860006326
Julio Garcia Espinoza, Tulane University. (1999). Ana Lopez and Julio Garcia Espinoza Photograph. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12445992170006326
Nobody’s Women. (1994). A series of films directed by Mexican women 1935–present
[Program]. https://library.search.tulane.edu/discovery/delivery/01TUL_INST:Tulane/12446004980006326