Mari Paz Balibrea Enriquez

Mari Paz Balibrea Enriquez is a Professor of Spanish Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, and a leading scholar in Republican exile studies, cultural historiography, and urban studies. She holds roles including Director of the MA Spanish Cultural Studies program and President of the Asociación de Estudios Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. Her career spans academia and cultural policy, with tenure at institutions like the University of California and roles in Spain’s historical memory initiatives.

Education:

• PhD in Literature, University of California, San Diego
• MA in Literature, University of California, San Diego
• B.A. in Spanish Philology (Literature Bias), Universitat de Barcelona

Research Interests: Balibrea’s work interrogates intersections between culture, politics, and exile. Key topics include Spanish Republican exile, the history of psychiatry, urban cultural policy (especially Barcelona), and the Spanish Transition to Democracy. Her interdisciplinary approach challenges national historiographies to center marginalized voices and transnational networks.

Recent Article Themes: Recent publications focus on psychiatrist Josep Solanes’ contributions to radical psychiatry from exile, the baroque aesthetics in republican cinema, and the politicization of historical memory. Her work critiques dominant narratives and emphasizes the intellectual value of displacement.

Awards & Roles:

• 2022-2023 Fellowship, Institut d’Études Avancées de Nantes
• Consultant for Reina Sofía Museum’s exile art curation (2019)
• Member of Spain’s 80th Exile Anniversary Scientific Committee (2019)

Advising & Leadership: Supervised 4 doctoral students and organized major conferences on exile legacies and Catalan independence. She directs research centers like CILAVS and serves on editorial boards for over 20 journals.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies (founding member), Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, and international advisory boards for CASiLaC and CELXIR.