从秋天开始, she will build on her master of philosophy degree and conduct PhD research on the relationship between legal systems and immigrant communities in Detroit, 密歇根, 和温莎, 安大略.
“通过研究移民法, 法律意识, 以及无证移民如何形成集体认同, I hope to elevate immigrant voices and promote the autonomy of immigrant communities,”她 在她的盖茨剑桥主页上写道.
在最近的一次采访中, she described her current MPhil research: "I am trying to think how the legal landscape of immigration has shifted over time and am trying to answer an even larger question by looking at the law’s treatment of undocumented people: How does the law attribute personhood?" She is answering this question "by diving into the histories" of the two cities that share an international border.
她的博士研究, 哪一个继续这个最初的工作, "focuses more on how undocumented Latinos in the Detroit-Windsor transborder region build community and community-identity while considering how encounters with immigration law and their evolving 法律意识 shapes this."
在十大电子游艺，哈金斯-洛佩兹参加了 梅隆梅斯大学本科生奖学金 程序, 她说这激发了她对研究的热爱, and maybe even more importantly "gave [her] the space to struggle and the tools to climb out of the pit!"
"It was the first time I asked a question and the 程序 administrators were like, “酷, 跟着它跑, 玩得开心,哈金斯-洛佩兹说. “你回答你最初的问题, 想办法回答这个问题, 然后你应该重新思考你的问题. I started my research in English, then moved to anthropology. Even having that carved-out time to do research junior and senior year was important."
She is also grateful to her 梅隆梅斯 and independent study advisor, Professor of Anthropology 萨拉迪基. "She has been a huge figure for me in accessing anthropology,哈金斯-洛佩兹说. "She has been massively supportive, and I have learned from her academically and personally."
她第一次对这个话题感兴趣是在, in 2019, 她在家乡底特律和移民一起工作. "I heard the stories of people—a lot of stories were hopeful, dreams of what they would do when they obtained legal status. I was curious how the law could be both restrictive and also could help them achieve their goals."
She's excited to spend the next three to four years in Cambridge while she pursues her doctorate. "It's exactly how you would imagine a quintessential English town, 遍布乡村, 有很多绿地,她说. "的 city is beautiful, and you know you are walking among history. 到处都有过去的回声."
的 盖茨剑桥奖学金 provides outstanding students from outside the UK with tuition remission and an annual stipend (currently £18,在剑桥大学读研究生. It also provides funds for travel to and from the UK and covers all fees related to acquiring a UK visa. 的 scholarship also covers extra expenses like travel to conferences or assistance with technology.
自2021年开始攻读硕士学位以来, 哈金斯-洛佩斯上过十大电子游艺亲属关系的人类学课程, 经济学, 政治, 和宗教, 还有一门叫做发展的课程, 贫困, 以及社会公正.
It's been valuable to study her subject outside of the US, she said. "的 anthropology canon in the UK is very different than in the US, 它对移民有不同的取向." For instance, she's read more scholars who study the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
After earning her PhD, Hudgins-Lopez is considering a few different paths. She's contemplating pursuing another degree—in law or policy—or she'll become a researcher and teach anthropology as an academic. She is also interested in exploring how she can incorporate public-facing anthropology into her career. One thing she is certain about: she wants to elevate the voices of people who exist and navigate life in the silences and gaps in public discourses.
"I really don’t think that academia and service work have to be in tension with one another,她说. “我认为有一种方法可以同时做到这两点，并把这两点都做好. ...What I want to do is uplift the stories of the people we don’t hear. I am asking these questions and trying to untangle these legal webs because I want to make it legible for other people and get them where they want to be."
