Arturo Alvarez-Roldan

Associate Professor of Social Anthropology — University of Granada (Spain)

About me

I am an Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Granada (Spain) and principal investigator of the research group SEJ-208: Estudios socioculturales aplicados.

My research focuses on drug use, markets, regulation and drug policies; education and ethnic minorities; and gender, health and caregiving in the context of multiple sclerosis. I also work on the history of anthropology, with particular attention to fieldwork practices, and the making of anthropological knowledge.

Methodologically, I combine ethnography, cross-cultural analysis, computational text analysis, and social network analysis to study collective representations, conceptual maps, social attitudes, and social identities.

UGR Profile — ESCA — ORCID — GoogleScholar — ResearchGate

Work in Progress

Alvarez-Roldan, A., Parra, I. and Gamella, J.F. (2025). Contentious Legality in Decentralized Governance: The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain.
Alvarez-Roldan, A. (2025). Collaborative ethnography in the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait (1898–99): Alfred C. Haddon and John S. Bruce.
Al-Sarraji, M.A.A.S.and Alvarez-Roldan, A. (2025). Affective structuring of prejudice: The social representation of the Roma in Iraq.

Selected Articles

Alvarez-Roldan, A., & Bravo-González, F. (2025). Masculinity in caregiving: Impact on quality of life and self-stigma in caregivers of people with multiple sclerosis. Healthcare, 13(272), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030272
Alvarez-Roldan, A., Parra, I., & Villanueva-Blasco, V. J. (2023). Attitudes toward cannabis of users and non-users in Spain: a concept mapping study among university students. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21, 3952–3970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00835-9
Gamella, J. F., & Alvarez-Roldan, A. (2023). Breaking secular endogamy. The growth of intermarriage among the Gitanos / Calé of Spain (1900–2006). The History of the Family, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2022.2159852
Alvarez-Roldan, A., García-Muñoz, T., Gamella, J. F., Parra, I., & Duaso, M. J. (2023). Differentiating people who use cannabis heavily through latent class analysis. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 18, 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-023-00540-3
Bravo-Gonzalez, F., & Alvarez-Roldan, A. (2019). Esclerosis múltiple, pérdida de funcionalidad y género. Gaceta Sanitaria, 33(2), 177–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2017.09.010
Alvarez-Roldan, A., Parra, I., & Gamella, J. F. (2018). Reasons for the underachievement and school dropout of Spanish Romani adolescents. A mixed-methods participatory study. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 63, 113–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2018.02.001
Alvarez-Roldan, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2018). La legalización del cannabis: Un experimento americano de consecuencias globales. Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 43(4), 22–38. https://red.aesed.com/upload/files/v43n4-1-cannabis.pdf
Alvarez, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2017). The legalization of cannabis derivatives in Spain: Hypothesis on a potential emerging market. Adicciones, 29(3), 195–206. https://doi.org/10.20882/adicciones.807
Parra Toro, I., Alvarez-Roldan, A., & Gamella, J. F. (2017). Un conflicto silenciado: Procesos de segregación, retraso curricular y abandono escolar de los adolescentes gitanos. Revista de Paz y Conflictos, 10(1), 35–60. https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/revpaz/article/view/5965/5592
Alvarez, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2016). Cannabis cultivation in Spain. A profile of plantations, growers and production systems. International Journal of Drug Policy, 37, 70–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.08.003

Books and Edited Volumes

Álvarez Roldán, A., Martínez Casanova, N., Martínez Rossi, S. (2008). La memoria amenazada. Relatos de vida e historia sociocultural de Puebla de Don Fadrique. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/4610
Gamella, J. F., & Alvarez, A. (1999). Las rutas del éxtasis. Drogas de síntesis y nuevas culturas juveniles. Ariel.
Gamella, J. F., and Alvarez, A. (1997). Drogas de síntesis en España. Patrones y tendencias de adquisición y consumo. Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas.
Vermeulen, H. F., & Alvarez Roldán, A. (Eds.). (1995). Fieldwork and Footnotes. Studies in the History of European Anthropology. Routledge.
García García, J.L., Velasco Maíllo, H., López Coira, M.M., Cruces Villalobos, F., Díaz de Rada, A., Alvarez Roldán, A., & Orgaz Romero, A.I. (1991). Rituales y proceso social. Estudio comparativo en cinco zonas españolas. Ministerio de Cultura.

Contact

Email: aalvarez@ugr.es
University of Granada — Spain