Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Alberto Ribas-Casasayas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at Santa Clara University. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University (2007). His research focuses on contemporary Latin American narrative, psychoactive plants in culture, financial themes in literature/film, and spectral studies. He has authored Luces y sombras del renacimiento psicodélico (2023) and co-edited Espectros: Ghost Hauntings and the Talking Dead in Transhispanic Narratives (2016). His work bridges cultural studies with interdisciplinary approaches to Mexican/Spanish narratives.

Education: Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (Harvard University, 2007). Notable courses include SPAN 101M (Narratives of Migration), SPAN 147 (Cinema, Politics & Society), and SPAN 139 (Ghosts in Latin American Narrative). He contributed to a Hispanic culture textbook for secondary schools and digital materials for Plazas.

Research interests include: Mexico's literary landscape, psychedelic cultural uses, financial crises in film, spectral theory, and transhispanic ghost narratives. Current projects involve a co-edited collection on psychedelic narratives (Otras iluminaciones). His recent work analyzes neoliberalism's impact on cultural production and postcolonial memory in Mexico.

Publications span peer-reviewed journals like A contracorriente, iMex, and Symposion, with focus on authors like Marta Sanz, Sergio Ramírez, and Carlos Fuentes. No awards are explicitly listed, but his work demonstrates sustained academic engagement across literary, cultural, and interdisciplinary fields.