Education

PhD, Iberian Studies, Ohio State University, 2009

Biography

Dr. Ashton received his PhD in Iberian Literatures and Cultures from The Ohio State University in 2009. His research interests include: Hispanic Soccer Literature and Films; The Spanish Avant-Guard; Surrealism; Psychoanalysis; Poetry; Film; la Generación X; Comparative Literature; Literary Theory; Literary Criticism, Translation; and History & Criticism. Professor Ashton has published articles and book chapters on these subjects in The United States and Spain, and he regularly presents his research at academic conferences both nationally and internationally. In 2013, he published his seminal book, Soccer in Spain: Politics, Literature, and Film through Scarecrow Press of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. This book is unique in that it is the only study dedicated to the long-standing relationship that the sport of soccer has had with three of the most important vehicles of Spanish culture —politics, literature, and film—.

Professor Ashton studied both as an undergraduate and a graduate student at La Universidad de Alcalá, near Madrid, Spain. He has also lived in other areas of Spain, as well as in France, Mexico, and Ecuador, and over the past two decades he has traveled widely throughout the Spanish-speaking world. These international experiences have enhanced his linguistic and cultural background, which he regularly incorporates into his classroom pedagogy. 

Aside from serving as chair of the department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures, Dr. Ashton is the Director and Faculty-Leader of UofSC Aiken’s Maymester Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion Study Abroad Program at Universitas Castellae in Valladolid, Spain.

Before arriving at the University of South Carolina Aiken, Professor Ashton taught at The Ohio State University, Columbus State Community College, and Bowling Green State University. As a Professor at UofSC Aiken, Dr. Ashton has taught: Beginning Spanish, 101; Continuing Spanish, 102; Intermediate Spanish, 210; Spanish Conversation and Composition, 316; Advanced Spanish Conversation and Composition, 317; Peninsular Spanish Culture and Civilization, 319; Survey of Peninsular Spanish Literature, 340; Hispanic Film 397; and three Honors Colloquia: “Language & Globalization”; “The Phenomenon of Spanish Soccer Films”; and “Films of La movida madrileña.”

Publications

Books

Soccer in Spain: Politics, Literature, and Film. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013. Print.

Refereed Book Chapters & Journal Articles

“Delibes and Soccer.” USA y Miguel Delibes. Agustín Cuadrado Gutiérrez (ed.) Burgos, Spain: Instituto Castellano y Leonés de la Lengua, Fundación Miguel Delibes, Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española. 2021: 311-322. Print.

“Resistencias y las representaciones de ‘los Últimos de Filipinas’.” La construcción del héroe: de la tradición mítica a la cultura popular. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros, Guillermo Gómez Sánchez-Ferrer, and Vicente Pérez de León (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 45, 2020: 125-134. Print. 

“La adaptación de El disputado voto del señor cayo de Miguel Delibes, divulgador de la cultura campesina castellana.” Agentes de cultura en el mundo hispánico. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros and Jesús Pérez Magallón (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 44, 2020: 25-32. Print.

“Los viajes físicos y espirituales de Carlos Castaneda en Las enseñanzas de don Juan: una forma yaqui de conocimiento.” Viajes, exploraciones y encuentros en la cultura hispánica. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros and Jesús Pérez Magallón (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 43, 2019: 21-33. Print.

“The Spanish Avant-Guard and Soccer Poetry.” Aethlon: Journal of Sport Literature, XXXIV:1 Fall 2016/Winter 2017. Johnson City, TN: East Tennessee State University, 2018: 99-107. Print. 

“El afecto y desafecto en dos novelas españolas: Historias del Kronen y El Quijote.” Los afectos y sus representaciones en la cultura hispánica. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros and Jesús Pérez Magallón (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 42, 2018: 11-21. Print.

“Dynamics of Religiosity in Contemporary Spanish Soccer as portrayed in José Luis Sampedro’s ‘That Saintly Day in Madrid’.” Aethlon: Journal of Sport Literature, XXXIII:1 Fall 2015/Winter 2016. Johnson City, TN: East Tennessee State University, 2017: 121-127. Print. 

“Saber perder: una novela madrileña traumática del siglo XXI.” El trauma y su representación en la literatura hispánica. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros, Jesús Pérez Magallón, and J. M. Goñi (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 37, 2016: 25-31. Print.

“Alberti, Hernández, el fútbol y el paradigma del progreso.” Progreso y cultura hispánica. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros, Jesús Pérez Magallón, and J.M. Goñi (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, Colección “Cultura Iberoamericana” Num. 35, 2015: 11-18. Print.

“El fútbol como simulacro de la vida en la literatura hispana.” La tragedia del vivir: dolor y mal en la literatura hispánica. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros, Jesús Pérez Magallón, and Francisco Estévez (eds.) Valladolid, Spain: Verdelís, Colección Hispanismos, Num. 5, 2014: 19-24. Print.

Academic Conference Proceedings

“The Road in Spain.” Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Puebla, CO: University of Colorado, 2012: 284-290. Print.

Encyclopedia Articles

“The Sun Also Rises.” The Twenties in America. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2011: 838. Print.

Book Summaries

Summary of Soccer in Spain: Politics, Literature, and Film in La Nueva Literatura Hispánica 19. Valladolid, Spain: Universitas Castellae, 2015: 257-258. Print.