Jennifer L Jenkins

Jennifer L Jenkins is a Researcher at the University of Arizona's Southwest Center, specializing in cinema history, cultural preservation, and US-Mexico borderlands studies. Her work bridges film archiving, Indigenous sovereignty, and digital humanities, with a focus on the intersection of space, identity, and regional history.

• Education: MLIS (University of Arizona), PhD in English (University of Arizona), MA in Literature (University of Chicago), BA in Literature (University of Arizona)

Her research explores Indigenous moving image sovereignty, wartime cinema's role in Los Alamos and Japanese internment camps, and the preservation of Spanish-language theaters like Teatro Carmen. She employs methodologies from media archaeology, archival science, and cross-cultural adaptation.

Recent publications analyze Hitchcock's spatial narratives, Steinbeck/Fernández adaptations, and the cultural implications of 16mm film collections. Her NEH-funded Tribesourcing project decolonizes midcentury educational films through Indigenous counter-narratives.

• Scientific Awards: SBS Research Professorship (2021), NDSA Innovation Award (2020), Cátedra Primo Feliciano Velázquez (2019), Provost Author Support (2016), Beta Phi Mu nominee (2015)

Jenkins directs the Bear Canyon Center for Southwest Humanities and collaborates internationally on digital heritage projects. She has curated film festivals and museum exhibits while pioneering community-based archival practices for tribal institutions.