Ana Villarreal 2025-2026 Fundación México en Harvard-Antonio Madero Visiting Scholar
Ana Villarreal is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. Her research draws on ethnography and social theory to advance sociological understandings of violence, emotions, urban dynamics and their aggravating impact on socio-spatial divides in Latin America.
Her first book The Two Faces of Fear: Violence and Inequality in the Mexican Metropolis (Oxford University Press, 2024) draws on two years of qualitative fieldwork conducted during a major turf war in Monterrey, Mexico to trace the far-reaching impact of fear and violence on social ties, daily practices, and everyday spaces. The book brings two seemingly contradictory faces of fear into focus—its ability to both isolate and concentrate people and resources, deepening inequality. It puts forth a new approach to the study of emotion and provides tangible evidence of how quickly fear worsens inequality beyond Mexico and the "war on drugs." Articles from this project are also published in Sociological Theory, Emotions and Society, and City & Community.
Her next project investigates the rapid diffusion of Colombian social urbanism amid escalating violence in urban Latin America. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnography of urban planning practices in Colombian and Mexican cities, this project will trace the transnational exchanges of policies, professionals, and powerful economic elites seeking to regain territorial control amid new threats in the region.
Professor Villarreal serves on the editorial board of City & Community and the Faculty Advisory Board of the BU Initiative on Cities. She teaches courses on social theory, qualitative methods, and urban inequality in the Americas.
