María Encarnación López is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences and Professions and Deputy Director of the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University.
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María E. López
María holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies from University College London, an MA in Postcolonial Studies from London Metropolitan University and a BA (Hons) in English Philology from the Complutense University of Madrid.
María joined London Metropolitan University in 2007 as a lecturer in Latin American and Spanish Studies and went to become Head of the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies for five years. Since 2014, she has taught at the sociology of sex and gender, political violence, human rights, and racism and ethnicity at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has held several administrative positions, including postgraduate research coordinator for the former school of social sciences.
In 2020, she was appointed Deputy Director of the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre (GDIRC), which has become a vibrant hub for interdisciplinary research, bringing together expertise from across the university and beyond. The Centre is firmly aligned with the university's strategic plan to develop its research environment and support its mission of equity and social justice.
María has researched the dynamics of violence against marginalised communities in a range of global settings for over 20 years. Her current research focuses on inequalities affecting gendered, sexualised and racialised communities in hostile global environments, including the LGBTQ+ community in Cuba, migrant women in transit through Mexico, and Afghan and Syrian refugees in the UK.
María’s areas of teaching and PhD supervision are sociology of gender and sexuality, migration, violence and discrimination in Contemporary world.
Selected journal articles and book chapters
Ryan, López,Dalceggioand Adell (2025) ‘You need a network’: how highly qualified refugees rebuild social networks to convert cultural capital and reclaim professional identities', Sociology 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385251363897
López (2025)‘In Mexico, since you come... where do we get the money to pay the police?’: Institutional machismo against migrant women heading north’, PArtecipazione e COnflitto, SI Gender-Based Violence and Migration: Political Conflict, Intersectionality, and Contentious politics. Università del Salento, 15 March, 18(1), 147-162. http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/issue/view/2092. DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v18i1p147
López (2024) ‘Global relations and workers at the US-Mex border’. In Brian McDonough and Jane Parry (eds.),Sociology, Work and Organisations: A Global Context, pp. 267-279. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Sociology-Work-and-Organisations-A-Global-Context/McDonough-Parry/p/book/9781032323862 ISBN 9781032323862
Ryan, López and Rasa (2024) ‘‘It hurts my heart’: Afghan women in London negotiating family relationships and (im)mobility regimes across borders’,Population, Space and Place for a special issue: Intergenerational Care, Intersecting Inequalities and Wellbeing among Transnational Families in Europe. 30 (8) (e2814). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1544-8452 https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2814
López, Díaz de León and Castro (2024) “Mujeres a la fuga. Narrativa del viaje como vehículo de resistencia para las mujeres en tránsito por México”,Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Latino-Américaines et Caraïbes, 49(3), 410-427. https://doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2024.2372170
Ryan, López andDalceggio (2024) ‘Encountering the hostile environment: recently arrived Afghan migrants in London’, Critical Social Policy, 44(2), 242-262. OA. https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183231194876
López and Ryan (2023) ‘‘What are you doing here?’: Narratives of border crossings among diverse Afghans going to the UK at different times’,Frontiers in Sociology Special Issue “Bodies at Borders: Analyzing the Objectification and Containment of Migrants at Border Crossing.”. Volume 8 (February),1-11. OA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1087030
López (2022) ‘“We are tired of being told it is not a big deal”: institutional machismo in Mexico’,Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. (https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2022/05/20/we-are-tired-of-being-told-it-is-not-a-big-deal-institutional-machismo-in-mexico/)
López (2022) ‘Governance on violence against women in the necropolitical border: the case of Ciudad Juárez’.In Vidal Romero and Jorge Tello Peón (eds.), Seguridad, Inteligencia y Gobernanza en México: Propuestas a Problemas (pp. 187–201). Mexico City: Tirant Lo Blanche. (https://editorial.tirant.com/mex/libro/seguridad-inteligencia-y-gobernanza-en-mexico-propuestas-a-problemas-vidal-romero-9788411131759)
López (2022) ‘Review on Ana-Maurine Lara,Streetwalking: LGBTQ Lives and Protest in the Dominican Republic (Rutgers University Press)’, New West Indian Guide, Brill, 96 (1–2). ISBN: 1382-2373 (print only); ISSN: 2213-4360 (online). (https://brill.com/view/journals/nwig/96/1-2/article-p159_19.xml?language=en)
López (2017) ‘Homosexuality and homophobia in Europe’. In Stuart Isaacs (ed.),European Social Problems (pp. 220–236). London: Routledge. ISBN: 9781138919938. (https://www.routledge.com/European-Social-Problems/Isaacs/p/book/9781138919945 https://www.routledge.com/European-Social-Problems/Isaacs/p/book/9781138919945)
López (2016) ‘La revolución cubana en transición: Estados Unidos, democracia, derechos humanos y el Papa Francisco’,Otro Lunes. Revista Hispanoamericana de Cultura, [Electronic], 40(10). ISSN: 2174-1425. (https://otrolunes.com/40/este-lunes/la-revolucion-cubana-en-transicion-estados-unidos-democracia-y-el-papa-francisco/)
López (2014) ‘Reinaldo Arenas: the spokesman of the invisible community’. In Mauricio A. Font and Araceli Tinajero (eds.),Handbook on Cuban History, Literature, and the Arts: New Perspectives on Historical and Contemporary Social Change (pp. 73–96). New York and London: Routledge. ISBN: 978161205679. (https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-on-Cuban-History-Literature-and-the-Arts-New-Perspectives-on/Font-Tinajero/p/book/9781612056791)
López (2014) ‘Treinta años de “Conducta impropia”: interviewwith Orlando Jiménez Leal’, Diario de Cuba, [Electronic], 26 July. (https://diariodecuba.com/cultura/1406363179_9658.html)
Books
Ryan, López and Grabowska (eds.) (2023)Bodies at Borders: Analyzing the Objectification and Containment of Migrants at Border Crossing, Frontiers in Sociology.
López, M. E. and S. M. Hart (2022)Gender Violence in Twenty-First-Century Latin American Women’s Writing. (https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781855663169/gender-violence-in-twenty-first-century-latin-american-womens-writing/) Woodbridge: Tamesis, Boydell & Brewer. ISSN: 2752-308X (print); ISBN 9781855663169.
López, M. E. (2015)Homosexuality and Invisibility in Revolutionary Cuba: Reinaldo Arenas and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. (Homosexuality and Invisibility in Revolutionary Cuba - Boydell and Brewer) Woodbridge: Tamesis, Boydell & Brewer. ISBN: 9781855662889.
Research projects
María is currently working on three externally funded research projects:
Women on the Run: Narrating Violence against Women in Transit ThroughMexico, fieldworkfunded the Center for US–Mexican Studies, University of California San Diego, US (PI) (https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research/centres-groups-and-units/global-diversities-and-inequalities-research-centre/projects-and-partners/women-on-the-run-narrative-of-violence-against-women-in-transit-through-mexico-/ )
Afghan Resettlement in England: Experiences and Opportunities (funded by the Nuffield Foundation).(Co-I) (https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research/centres-groups-and-units/global-diversities-and-inequalities-research-centre/projects-and-partners/afghan-resettlement-in-england-outcomes-and-experiences-/ )
An evaluation of the Afghan and Syrian Resettlement Schemes in the London Borough of Islington. (Co-I) (https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research/centres-groups-and-units/global-diversities-and-inequalities-research-centre/projects-and-partners/an-evaluation-of-the-syrian-and-afghan-resettlement-programmes-in-islington/ )
Jan 2024 – June 2025 Nuffield Foundation (Co-I). ‘Refugee Resettlement in the UK: Outcomes and Experiences’. In partnership with colleagues from Middlesex University and UCL.
2023-25: Center for US–Mexican Studies, University of California San Diego, US. 'Women on the Run: Narrating Violence against Women in Transit Through Mexico'
2023-24: Islington Evaluation Project 'An evaluation of the Syrian and Afghan resettlement programmes in Islington'; GDIR Centre.
2022: Transformation Grant ‘Afghan migrants in London: accessing support in hostile times’; GDIR Centre.
2020: Research Grant. School of Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University.
2019: Research and publication expenses. School of Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University.
2015: Research and publication expenses. London Metropolitan University.
2008: PhD studentship. The Graduate Centre, University College London.
Senior Research Visiting Fellow (2025-2026). Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of-advanced-studies/professor-maria-lopez)
Member of the Women in Refugee Law (WirL) Global Network (since 2025) https://wirl.org.uk/
Non-Resident Research Fellow (2022-2023). Center for US–Mexican Studies, University of California San Diego, US. https://usmex.ucsd.edu/fellows/maria-lopez.html
Research Fellow (since 2019), Centre for the Study of Security, Intelligence, and Governance, Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM). http://cesig.itam.mx/es/profesor/maria-encarnacion-lopez
Visiting Fellow, Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2017–2020). http://www.lse.ac.uk/lacc/people/research-staff/Dr-Maria-Lopez
October–December 2025. Presentation of the findings of research on Afghan resettlement schemes to the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
July 2025: 'Institutional violence against undocumented women in Mexico'. Women in Refugee Law (WirL).
June 2025: Women on the Move in Mexico. Thomas Coram Research Unit, University College London.
May 2025. Organiser and presenter of a symposium on violence in Mexico. London Metropolitan University.
April 2025. British Sociological Association Annual Conference in Manchester: Presentation of two papers: 'You need a network': How highly qualified, resettled Afghans rebuild social networks to convert cultural capital and reclaim professional identities (23 April); and 'Walking with Afghan Women': Using mobile methods to understand embedding in different places across England (24 April).
April 2025. Migrant Women in the US-Mexican Border Region. Spanish and Latin American Studies Annual Conference (Bristol University).
March 2025. Inaugural Prof. Lecture: 'Violence against women in transit through Mexico'. London Metropolitan University.
January 2025. Online seminar event ‘‘It hurts my heart’: Afghan women in London negotiating family relationships and (im)mobility regimes across borders’, Population, Space and Place for a special issue: Intergenerational Care, Intersecting Inequalities and Wellbeing among Transnational Families in Europe. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2814
November 2024. Online event Frontiers. Social Research Institute, University College London.
October 2024. Keynote speaker at the International Symposium 'Relats de violència masclista: poètiques de la narrativa catalana actual' at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (https://blogs.uoc.edu/literaturacat/simposi-internacional-sobre-narrativa-catalana-i-violencies-masclistes/ ).
September 2024. IRiS International Conference, University of Birmingham: ‘Bordering Society: Understanding and Reimagining Migration, Displacement and Diversity in an Age of Rapid Transformations’. Presentation: Afghan resettlement in England: initial findings. (https://superdiversity.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/full-programme-5.9.24.pdf ).
July 2024. Spanish and Latin American Studies Annual Conference (SLAS): Amsterdam. ‘Narratives of the journey as a means of survival for migrant women through Mexico’.
April 2024. Bodies at Borders: A Webinar on Migration Studies. Launch of SI 'Bodies at Borders': Analysing the Objectification and Containment of Migrants at Border Crossings', Frontiers Media SA.
April 2024. ‘An evaluation of the Syrian and Afghan resettlement programmes delivered in Islington: using comparative and longitudinal approaches.’ Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office, March 2024.
March 2024. Behind the Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork. Institute of Language, Cultures and Societies (ILCS), School of Advanced Studies, University of London.
January 2024. Hybrid symposium on gender. Co-branded with the Interdisciplinary Research Forum, GDI Research Centre. London Metropolitan University, November 2023. Women in Spanish and Portuguese Studies (WISPS) Annual Conference. Keynote speaker: University of Warwick (https://www.wispsacademic.org/conference-2023 ).
May 2023: Online symposium on Afghan migration in the UK. GDI Research Centre, April 2023 (https://youtu.be/-0iOjmwgI7c). Online presentation on fieldwork in Mexico City. Center for U.S.–Mexican Studies (University of California, San Diego, USA) and El Colegio de México (Mexico).
December 2022. In-person presentation at the ‘Afghanistan in Stasis: On Crises and Ways Forward’ workshop. Violence, Peace and Development Research Cluster, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
November 2022. Presentation: 'Afghan migrants in London: accessing support in hostile times'. Home Office, London.
September 2022. Launch of report: 'Afghan migrants in London: accessing support in hostile times'. Islington Council. London.
June 2022. International Migration Research Network (IMISCOE) Annual Conference (Oslo): 'Authors Meet Critics: Migration and the Transfer of Informal Human Capital'. Insights from Central Europe and Mexico (Routledge, 2022).
May 2022. Book launch: Gender Violence in Twenty-First-Century Latin American Women's Writing (2022). ‘Violence against women in times of the pandemic: institutional machismo in Mexico’. GDIRC, London Metropolitan University, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbTt8C7bhjY
October 2021. ‘Vivas las queremos. Gender violence in the Mexican border'. Tisch School of the Arts, New York University: https://www.vivaslasqueremos.net/events-1; London Metropolitan: https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/news/articles/resilience-and-reparation-for-the-victims-of-gender-violence-in-the-mexican-border-corridor/ .