Laura
Lamas Abraira
Laura Lamas Abraira’s academic background has centred on the fields of fine arts and anthropology. She completed her doctorate in China (Xiamen University) and Spain and was awarded an International PhD in Intercultural Studies in 2019 (Autonomous University of Barcelona). Her research on transnational Chinese families and the circulation of care between Spain and Zhejiang province, in southeast China, was published as a monograph entitled “Chinese Transnational Families: Care Circulation and Children’s Life Paths” (Routledge, 2021).
She has worked as a postdoctoral researcher on Spanish and EU projects, including “Festspace: Festivals, events and inclusive urban public spaces in Europe) (HERA Public Spaces,2019-2022-PCI2019-103745) and “AccessIn: Social Inclusion and Access to Basic Services of Third-Country Nationals” (EU- AMIF 2020-AG). In January 2023, she joined the Anthropology Department in CSIC’s Institute of Language, Literature and Anthropology (ILLA) as a Ramón y Cajal researcher (RYC2021-Young researchers’ grant), where she has been continuing her research on the phenomenon of international migration and its distinct forms of articulation with local and transnational space. Her main lines of research are: (1) the (re)production of vulnerability from a spatial–temporal perspective, with a particular focus on care processes; and (2) practices of informal culture in public space. The design of her current research focuses on promoting participatory methodologies and experimentation with (audio)visual languages.
Books
Lamas-Abraira, L. (2021). Chinese Transnational Families: Care Circulation and Children's Life Paths. London: Routledge.
Book chapters
- Lamas-Abraira, L. (2025). Children in Migration. In Oso, L.; Ribas-Mateos, N. & M. Moralli (eds), Elgar Encyclopedia of Global Migration. New Mobilities and Artivism (Eds.) Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978 1 03530 037 2
- Lamas-Abraira, L. (2023). Fluid childhoods: Chinese migrants' descendants growing up in a transnational social field. In D. Bühler-Niederberger, X. Gu, J. Schwittek & E. Kim (eds). The Emerald Handbook of Childhood and Youth in Asian Societies (pp.61-82). Bingley (UK), Emerald publishing.
- Lamas-Abraira, L. (2022). A critical reading of the care-gender based literature in migration studies. In Saskia Sassen and Natalia Ribas-Mateos (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Gender and Global Migration beyond Western Research (Chapter 1, pp.24-36). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Lamas Abraira, L. (2021). El cuidado en las familias transnacionales qingtianesas. En J. Beltrán Antolín (ed.), Asia Oriental. Transnacionalismo, sociedad y cultura (pp. 161-182). Edicions Bellaterra.
Artícles
- Lamas-Abraira, L., Colombo, A., Oliva, J. & Martín, J. (2025). Mapping unequal access to culture: a visual approach to culture-festival distribution and socio-economic asymmetries in Barcelona. Urban Geography.
- Lamas-Abraira, L. (2024). Re-circular el cuidado en (post)pandemia: (in)movilidad e hiperconexión en las familias transnacionales chinas entre Zhejiang y España. SI: “Familias, políticas públicas y prácticas profesionales. Tensiones y desafíos tras la pandemia”. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios de Familia, 15(2).
- Lamas-Abraira, L. & Colombo, A. (2023). The local and global scope of the Year of the Ox: Rethinking Chinese New Year Festival in Pandemic Times. Journal of Chinese Overseas, 19: 295–323.
- Lamas Abraira, L. (2023). Migración y globalización del cristianismo chino: dinámicas locales y transnacionales de las iglesias cristianas chinas en Barcelona. Migraciones, 58: 1–21.
- Lamas Abraira, L. (2021). ‘He crecido aquí, es diferente’: Experiencias y trayectorias vitales de los descendientes de migrantes chinos en España. Revista Migraciones, 52: 117-146
- Lamas-Abraira, L. (2019). Care circulation and the so-called ‘elderly’: Exploring care exchanges in 4G transnational Zhejianese families. Journal of Family Studies (SJR Q2, Ciencias Sociales). Doi: 10.1080/13229400.2019.1641427