Alba Valenciano-Mañé

Alba
Valenciano-Mañé

Social Anthropology | Gender & Colonialism | Equatorial Guinea

Research and Teaching. Welcome to my personal website. I am Alba Valenciano-Mañé, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Here you will find information about my research lines and fieldwork in Central Africa (Equatorial Guinea), where I have focused on understanding the political economy of everyday life.

Alba Valenciano-Mañé

Research

Extraversion from below

The place where I have spent the most time researching is the SEMU market in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. There, the traders, mostly women, create networks, manage rents, and sustain family relationships by challenging gender roles and fostering political debates in a context of extraverted macroeconomy. From the collaboration with the women of the market emerged my Doctoral Thesis, and a book is soon to be published.

Reconsidering circularity

My new project “[RECIR] Reconsidering Circularity: a multisited ethnography of second-hand clothing markets” critically analyzes the concept of “circular economy” through the case of second-hand clothing. I am writing a multisited ethnography that follows the trajectory of cast-off garments and the people involved in their circulation. How is a circular economy conceptualized? What rules regulate it and what institutions does it produce? How is surplus value generated? What types of inequalities does it create and fuel? Through what regimes of value does clothing pass throughout its trajectory?

Museums and coloniality

I actively participate in the project (Tr)Afican(t)s: museums and collections of Catalonia facing coloniality, where we analyze the colonial collections of five public museums in Catalonia. The aim is to make visible the influence of colonialism in the configuration of museum collections, contributing to the reparative and restitution claims and policies initiated in recent years in Europe, where criticism of ethnological and natural history museums is playing a central role.

Hermic Films and the colonial encounter

The critical reflection on coloniality has accompanied my research trajectory. One of the most relevant research projects in this line has been the analysis of the Hermic Films visual archive, a production company that traveled to Francoist Guinea (1944-1946) with the aim of filming about thirty colonial propaganda documentaries. This research has led to various publications and contributed to fundamental debates such as colonial representation, power relations and colonial archives, discursive fissures, and contradictions in the colonial encounter.

Publications

  • 2026Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Memba Ikuga, L. “La Casa Verde: Heritage, Colonialism, and (Un)Repairing in Equatorial Guinea”. In: Kopf, C.; Geissler, P. W.; Mbodj-Pouye, A. & Meinert, L. (eds.). Repair across Africa: Mending, Making and Material Care. Intellect, ch. 10. ISBN: 978-1-83595-256-6. Intellect
  • 2026Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Tomàs Guilera, J. “Col·leccionisme, poder i pell: Andreu Colomer Munmany, el col·leccionisme europeu d’art africà d’Hélène Leloup i el Museu de l’Art de la Pell de Vic”. In: Nerín Abad, G. (coord.). Espectres a la vitrina: museus de Catalunya davant la colonialitat. Manifest Llibres, pp. 243-270. ISBN: 979-13-87872-88-5.
  • 2026Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Martino, E. “Equatorial Guinea 2025”. Africa Yearbook. Brill. Preprint.
  • 2025Valenciano-Mañé, A. & López Bargados, A. “Los museos europeos bajo escrutinio: herencias imperiales y retos decoloniales”. In: Muñoz Martínez, C. & López Badell, O. (eds.). ¿Qué hacemos con el pasado colonial? Justicia, reparación y memoria, pp. 149-168. ISBN: 979-13-87639-43-3.
  • 2024Suárez Navaz, L.; Ferrándiz, F.; Pérez Armiño, L.; Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Gimeno Martín, J. C. “El regreso de la hispanidad: miradas críticas desde la antropología”. Disparidades. Revista de Antropología, 79(1). https://doi.org/10.3989/dra.2024.1050
  • 2024Valenciano-Mañé, A. “(des)Ubicar la hispanidad con y desde Guinea Ecuatorial”. Disparidades. Revista de Antropología, 79(2).
  • 2023Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Redistributive matronage. The moral economy of female traders and the ruling elite in Equatorial Guinea”. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 42(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2023.2282936
  • 2022Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Mujeres guerreras en África: A mission to Gelele King of Dahome, por Richard Burton, Isabel Burton, ed. (1894)”. In: Calvo Maturana, A. et al. Fuentes para el estudio de historia de las mujeres. Editorial Comares, pp. 413-416. ISBN: 978-84-1369-446-7. Dialnet
  • 2022Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Mujer y colonialidad en la Guinea Española: Fotografía de Mariana Dougan (1890-1900)”. In: Calvo Maturana, A. et al. (coords.). Fuentes para el estudio de historia de las mujeres. Editorial Comares, pp. 417-420. ISBN: 978-84-1369-446-7. Dialnet
  • 2022Ponce, J.; Vara-Horna, A.; Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Dornberger, U. “Effects of intimate partner violence against women in international micro and small enterprises relationships: The mediator role of capabilities”. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.950807 PMID: 36267063; PMCID: PMC9577493.
  • 2020Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Castillo-Rodríguez, S. “Women in Equatorial Guinea: from the household to the public domain?”. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.657
  • 2020Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Hacer negocio. Mujeres, crisis y economía moral en el mercado de SEMU, Malabo”. In: Álvarez Chillida, G. & Aranzadi, J. (eds.). Guinea Ecuatorial (des)conocida: lo que sabemos, ignoramos, inventamos y deformamos acerca de su pasado y su presente. Madrid: UNED, Vol. II: 413-436. ISBN: 978-84-362-7671-8. Dialnet
  • 2020Álvarez Chillida, G. et al. “Fuentes escritas, audiovisuales y materiales para el estudio de Guinea Ecuatorial”. In: Álvarez Chillida, G. & Aranzadi, J. (eds.). Guinea Ecuatorial (des)conocida: lo que sabemos, ignoramos, inventamos y deformamos acerca de su pasado y su presente. Madrid: UNED, Vol. II: 611-636. Dialnet
  • 2019Valenciano-Mañé, A. “When the big ones abandon the market: morals and politics of price in Equatorial Guinea”. In: Orlando, G. & Luetchford, P. (eds.). The Politics and Ethics of the Just Price: Ethnographies of Market Exchange. Research in Economic Anthropology. Emerald, pp. 49-70. ISBN: 978-1-78743-574-2. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120190000039003
    2020 Literati Award – Outstanding Author Contribution
  • 2017Valenciano-Mañé, A. The Clothes of Extraversion: Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea. PhD thesis. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/586183
  • 2014Valenciano-Mañé, A. “De vestidos y colonización en Guinea Ecuatorial. En busca de agencias escondidas en las narrativas coloniales (1840-1914)”. Debats. Revista de cultura, poder i societat, 123: 28-41. ISSN: 0034-7981. Dialnet
  • 2014Bayre, F. & Valenciano-Mañé, A. “The biography of a visual archive: the production of Hermic Films in the Spanish Guinea (1944-1946)”. Visual Anthropology, 27(4): 379-393. https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2014.919211
  • 2013Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Maite Esí, Befak Kerasin. Consum i mercantilització dels cossos joves a Malabo”. Revista Quaderns (Institut Català d’Antropologia), 29: 153-173. http://hdl.handle.net/10261/111434
  • 2012Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Vestido, identidad y folklore. La invención de un vestido nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial”. Disparidades. Revista de Antropología (formerly Revista de Dialectología y Tradiciones Populares), 67(1): 267-296. https://doi.org/10.3989/rdtp.2012.10
  • 2011VV. AA. “Arqueología en el Estuario del Muni (Guinea Ecuatorial)”. Revista Española de Arqueología, 362: 24-33. http://hdl.handle.net/10261/37893
  • 2011Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Bayre, F. “Basta saber algo de nuestra historia: alteritat colonial a la pel·lícula Misiones de Guinea (Hermic Films, 1948)”. Quaderns-e, 16(1-2): 201-217. RACO
  • 2011Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Africanidad y vestido: un recorrido por la biografía social de la moda africana en Guinea Ecuatorial”. II Jornada de Antropología de Guinea Ecuatorial. Madrid: UNED, pp. 193-215.
  • 2011González-Ruibal, A.; Picornell, Ll. & Valenciano-Mañé, A. “Early Iron Age burials from Equatorial Guinea: The sites of Mandji Island”. Journal of African Archaeology, 9(1): 46-66. https://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-1018
  • 2011Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Bayre, F. “Cuerpos naturales, mentes coloniales: Las imágenes de Hermic Films en la Guinea Española”. Afro-Hispanic Review, 28(2): 245-268. JSTOR
  • 2009Valenciano-Mañé, A. & Picornell-Gelabert, Ll. “Un museo sin vitrinas en la selva ecuatorial. La exposición de una experiencia”. Hermes: revista de museología, I: 67-76. RACO

CV

Education

  • 2017Ph.D. in Social Anthropology. University of Barcelona. Dissertation: “The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption, and Power in Equatorial Guinea.” Advisor: Josep Martí Pérez (CSIC). Defended on December 22, 2017. Excellent Cum Laude.
  • 2010Postgraduate Diploma in African Studies. Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Milà i Fontanals Institution. Excellent Cum Laude.
  • 2008Diploma of Advanced Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. University of Barcelona. Dissertation: “Dressed in Africa and Africa in Dresses. A Social Biography of African Fashion in Equatorial Guinea.” Advisor: Llorenç Prats i Canals (UB). Excellent Cum Laude.
  • 2006Bachelor’s Degree in History. University of Barcelona.

Academic positions

  • 2024 –Post-doctoral Researcher. Autonomous University of Barcelona. April 2024 – present.
  • 2022 – 2024Post-doctoral Researcher. Autonomous University of Madrid. April 2022 – March 2024.
  • 2022Post-doctoral Researcher. University of Cologne, Germany. June – September 2022.
  • 2019 – 2022Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (Lecturer/Post-doc). University of Leipzig, Institute of African Studies. January 2019 – April 2022.
  • 2019 – 2022Associate Lecturer. Open University of Catalonia. January 2019 – January 2022.
  • 2017 – 2018Associate Lecturer (Lehrauftrag). University of Leipzig, Institute of African Studies. April 2017 – December 2018.
  • 2014 – 2015Visiting Research Fellow. University of Manchester, England. September 2014 – August 2015.
  • 2012 – 2013Visiting Research Fellow. University of Liverpool, England. January 2012 – August 2013.
  • 2010Visiting Research Fellow. Hofstra University, New York. July – December 2010.
  • 2009 – 2013Pre-doctoral Contract (JAE-Doc). CSIC, Milà i Fontanals Institution. July 2009 – August 2013.
  • 2009Pre-doctoral Fellow (FI-AGAUR). University of Barcelona, Department of Anthropology. March – June 2009.
  • 2008 – 2009Research Fellow. University of Barcelona, Department of Social Science Education. November 2008 – February 2009.
  • 2007 – 2008Research Fellow. Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Spanish Agency for International Cooperation. July 2007 – October 2008.

Teaching

Accredited Lecturer, certified by a positive report from AQU (2019).

Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)

  • 2022 – 2024Politics and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Degree in Anthropology (3 ECTS).
  • 2022Anthropology and Human Rights. Master’s in Public Anthropology (MAOP) (3 ECTS).
  • 2023Anthropology, Gender, and Equity. Master’s in Public Anthropology (MAOP) (3 ECTS).
  • 2024Gender and Human Rights. Master’s in Public Anthropology (MAOP) (3 ECTS).

National Distance Education University (UNED)

  • 2024Postgraduate course “Coloniality and Gender in Africa” (3 ECTS).

University of Leipzig

  • 2019 – 2021Foundations of Economics and Development, 03-SEP-1101 (5 ECTS).
  • 2019 – 2021Qualitative Research Methods, 03-SEP-2205 (5 ECTS).
  • 2019 – 2021Master Students’ Colloquium, 03-SEP-4401 (5 ECTS).
  • 2019 – 2021Regional Development in Africa, 03-AFR-1502 (5 ECTS).

Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

  • 2019 – 2020Ethnography. Degree in Anthropology and Human Evolution (6 ECTS).