About us

ORCID: 0000-0002-3065-5791.

I am a philosopher of emotion specialised in the phenomenology and moral psychology of self-conscious emotions (such as shame, pride, envy, or embarrassment) and social philosophy. My entire research career has been devoted the theoretical study of these emotions, with the aim of shedding light on the intertwinement of two fundamental human capacities: self-consciousness and sociality. In general, I am interested in understanding how emotions contribute to making us who we are as individuals and as groups, and how they contribute to shaping our moral and political thinking and action.

I received my PhD in 2014 from Carlos III University de Madrid and for more than 10 years I have lived and worked as a researcher in Denmark, Ireland and the UK. Back in Madrid, in the framework of the “(Des)arraigos” project, my work focuses on exploring how emigrants’ sense of belonging is transformed when they move abroad or return to their home country. To this end, drawing on years of theoretical research on emotions, I am venturing for the first time into the realm of qualitative research to approach the migrant experience from different perspectives. I focus on two classes of migrant emotions. On the one hand, those that connect us to the past and the future, such as hope and nostalgia. On the other, those that connect or separate us from others, such as empathy, pride or shame. All of them have a fundamental impact on migrants’ experiences of rootedness or uprootedness.

Profile image: Thomas Szanto.

Alba’s profile in: Academia.

Alba’s profile in: ResearchGate.

I am a social and cultural anthropologist (UNED 2021; UAM 2022) and in my main works I have studied topics related to the Nepalese community; specifically, the practice of Chhaupadi and the migration of Nepalese to Spain, a displacement partly linked to the intra-European migration of Spaniards. Both are the result of a fieldwork conducted in Accham, in Western Nepal, and in Madrid. I apply a holistic approach to study any phenomenon, analyzing the economic, political, socio-cultural and emotional aspects that constitute them and that are interconnected with each other.

In my work I propose using the audiovisual tools to emphasize the importance of non-verbal communication; as well, is a methodology that facilitates the results of a research to reach a wider audience.

In this project, related to my PhD program, I use an interdisciplinary and empirical perspective for a better understanding of the impact of displacement on subjects. The starting point is the experience of migrants, highlighting the performative and intersubjective aspect of emotions and affects and their relationship with the socio-political context.