Iris López

Iris López is a contemporary professor, anthropologist, sociologist, and author, whose work focuses on feminist, Latino, and Latin American studies. She has one full-length book published, an ethnography about sterilization within female Puerto Rican populations, titled Matters of Choice. She received both her Masters and Doctoral degrees in anthropology from Columbia University. She is also a Council Member on The City College Council for Inclusive Excellence. López is an involved member of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

Research López's main focuses surround the field of feminist anthropology and its intersection with Latin American identity and ethnicity. She has studied Latino issues revolving around gender and education (specifically Puerto Rican women in the United States), as well as subject matter with themes such as reproductive and pre-natal rights, and sterilization abuse.

Publications López published one ethnography, Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women's Struggle for Reproductive Freedom, in 2008. This book spans 25 years and 3 generations of Puerto Rican families living in New York City, many of whom are poor and do not have high degrees of education. The study focuses on women who have undergone sterilization (either tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or both) and narrates each family's story, from the first to the third generation.

Several of her scholarly articles are also published within academic journals, including:

"An Ethnography of the Medicalization of Puerto Rican Women's Reproduction." Featured in Pragmatism in Action: Women's Responses to Body Technologies, 1998.

"Agency and Constraint: Sterilization and Reproductive Freedom Among Puerto Rican Women in New York City." Featured in Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 1993.

"Borinkis and Chop Suey: Puerto Rican Identity in Hawai'i, 1900 to 2000." Featured in The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives, 2005.