Alex Lopez

Adjunct Instructor of Research

Alex’s current research focuses on the social, political, and economic impacts of U.S. colonization on Puerto Rico. Alex uses mapping and visual analysis to critically examine political public art in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico as a spatial intervention that functions as a form of political participation in a disenfranchised context. Through their work, Alex aims to critique the federal and insular policy environment in Puerto Rico that uses colonial silencing mechanisms and resilience narratives to counterbalance the structural incentives for archipelagic deprivation and mainland enrichment operating in Puerto Rico.     

Broadly, Alex’s research interests include Puerto Rico, decolonial social movements, monuments & memorialization, mapping & spatial data visualization, disaster prevention, and collective approaches to post-disaster / post-traumatic recovery and healing.  

Alex earned a BA in Pre-Med and Sociocultural Anthropology at Columbia University in New York City. This experience allowed Alex to realize their greater interest in public health and prevention work, particularly the prevention of violence and collective trauma.  

To pursue this, Alex moved to New Orleans and earned an MPH at Tulane focused on social norms as a vehicle through which to prevent interpersonal and generational violence.  

Alex then worked for two years managing the development of the Violence Prevention Institute (VPI) at Tulane, a position that allowed Alex to build interdisciplinary and cross-sector connections with people across the city. Scholars’ and practitioners’ diverse skills and approaches to violence prevention inspired Alex to pursue a PhD.