The Hispanic and Latin American Video Gaming Experience: Imagery, Industry & Audience

NOW ON ZOOM !
February 25 and 26, 2022

UPDATE: Due to inclement weather cancelling inbound flights to Lubbock, all sessions will be held via Zoom, with the exception of Anna Huerta (EA/Maxis)'s Friday noon lunch and talk. Huerta's in-person talk will be live-streamed via Zoom (see schedule)

In honoring Texas Tech University's designation and responsibilities as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), we are soliciting abstracts for a variety of presentations at our symposium, “The Hispanic and Latin American Video Gaming Experience: Imagery, Industry & Audience.” Our aim for this event, which is co-sponsored by the Thomas Jay Harris Institute for Hispanic & International Communication (HIHIC) and the Game Culture Design program in the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech, is to elevate and center the study of Hispanic/Latinx culture in the U.S. and Latin American video gaming and to catalyze scholarship as well as creative development in this dynamic and profitable media sector. Texas Tech is also growing academic and community programming focused on gaming culture, including a newly renovated gaming and esports lab.  

Our two-day event (February 25 and 26, 2022) will take place in Room 154 on Zoom with the exception of Anna Huerta's talk at noon Friday, Feb. 25th in Room 154 of the CoMC Building of Texas Tech's Media & Communication building (3003 15^th St in Lubbock) and online. It will feature keynote addresses from:

Dr. Phillip Penix-Tadsen, Associate Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Delaware – 9:00 a.m. Friday Feb. 25 in MOVED ONLINE

Anna Huerta, Senior Design Director at EA/Maxis - 12:00 p.m. noon Friday Feb. 25 in Room 154 of the CoMC Building IN PERSON EVENT

Dr. Adrienne Shaw, Associate Professor of Media Studies in the Temple University Klein College of Media - 9:00 a.m. Saturday Feb. 26 MOVED ONLINE

Dr. Jose Zagal, Professor of Entertainment Arts and Engineering at the University of Utah - 1:00 p.m. Saturday Feb. 26 MOVED ONLINE

Also, the symposium will feature programmed panels and interactive poster sessions assembled from competitively submitted abstracts organized by theme:

Panel 1: Games and Community – 10:15-11:45, Friday Feb. 25 MOVED ONLINE

Panel 2: The Gaming Industry I – 1:45-3:00, Friday Feb. 25 MOVED ONLINE

Panel 3: The Gaming Industry II – 3:30-4:45, Friday Feb. 25 MOVED ONLINE

Panel 4: Games as Text 10:15-11:30 a.m. Sat. Feb. 26 MOVED ONLINE

Panel 5: Games as Art and Play 11:45-1:00 Sat. Feb. 26 MOVED ONLINE

See the full schedule here

 

Soon you will be able to consult the videos of the presentations, as well as the text files of our lively and enriching chat sessions.

Keynote Address: “Pirating Platform Studies: Latin American Clone Consoles, 1973-1998” by Dr. Phillip Penix-Tadsen, University of Delaware. Video. Chat Session.

Panel 1: Games and Community. Video. Chat Session.

• “Critical cultural exploration of video game stores within Tejanx communities” by Anthony Ramirez, Texas A&M University Joey Lopez, Texas A&M University.
• “eSports on the US/Mexico border” by Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez, West Texas A&M University, USA.
• “Playing Race, Nation, and Archival Silence: Convergences between Afro-Latin America and Videogames” by Jalin Jackson, Northwestern University, USA.

 

Panel 2: Gaming Industry 1. Video. Chat Session.

• Keynote Address: “Authenticity: Overcoming Personal Struggles and Becoming a Leader” by Anna Huerta, EA/MAXIS.
• “Chains of relations for building new game history narratives: a case study of the operations of Taito Corp. in Brazil” by Letícia Perani, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil and Melanie Swalwell, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
• “Apropriações tipicamente latinoamericanas de videogames e o sucesso da SEGA no Brasil [Typical Latin American appropriations of video games and the success of SEGA in Brazil]” by Mariana Amaro, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brasil and Suely Fragoso, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brasil.
• “Still doing what “Nintendon't”: The saga of the SEGA Master System in Brazil” by Philippe de Villemor Chauveau, Texas Tech University, USA Nick Bowman, Texas Tech University, USA.

 

Panel 3: Gaming Industry 2. Video. Chat Session.

• “Relações de trabalho na produção de videogames no Brasil [Labor relations in video game production in Brazil]” by Aline Conceição Job da Silva, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brasil and Beatriz Blanco, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sino, Brasil.
• “Gaming technology and the migratory phenomenon:  The case of "Dusa Codes'” by Manuel Matos, Dominicanos USA, USA, Eduardo Hernandez Inchaustegui, Dominicanos USA, USA, and Dr. Hector Cordero-Guzman, Baruch College of the City University of New York, USA .
• “Hispanic and Latin experiences in the eSports industry” by Roberto Velasco, Texas Scholastic Esports Federation (TEXSEF).

 

Keynote Address: “Chilean Videogames: 1970s-1980s” by Dr. Jose Zagal, University of Utah. Video. Chat Session.

Panel 4: Games as Texts. Video. Chat Session.

• “Otherhood and Mestizo Futurism in Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales” by Regina Mills, Texas A&M University, USA.
• “¿Traducción imposible? Representación cultural latinoamericana en el mundo del videojuego [Impossible translation? Latin American cultural representation in the world of the video game]” by Pablo Martín Domínguez, Ruth García Martín, and Begoña Cadiñanos Martínez.
• “It's like looking at the world from the other side. Far away but real": analyzing “Dragon Age: Origins” & “Dragon Age II” through the prism of Queer Temporality” by Maria de sa Frizzera Scardua, North Carolina State University.

 

Panel 5: Games as Art and Play. Video. Chat Session.

• “Blasphemous: Videojuego, Historia del Arte e identidad cultural [Blasphemous: Video games, art history, and cultural identity]” by Javier Castiñeiras López, Universidad de León, España Note: Session prerecorded in Spanish. 
• “Gaming at the museum: A brief history of Brazilian artists work with(in) video games” by Rodrigo Dorta Marques, São Paulo State University, Brazil.
• “Innovation in play culture” Dr. Anne Marie Schleiner, University of California-Davis, USA.

Special Guest: Dr. Adrienne Shaw, Temple University “The ‘Project' Never Ends: Lessons Learned from Creating the LGBTQ Game Archive and Rainbow Arcade” Video. Chat Session.

Registration 

The symposium is free to attend but registration is required, whether attending in-person or online. To register click here.

Organizing Committee

Dr. Kent Wilkinson, Professor & Director, Harris Institute for Hispanic and International Communication.

Dr. Nick Bowman, Associate Professor in Journalism and Creative Media Industries. 

Prof. Lucinda Holt, Assistant Director for External Engagement, Thomas Jay Harris Institute for Hispanic and International Communication.

Dr. Megan Condis, Assistant Professor in Communication Studies.

Dr. Bobby Schweizer, Assistant Professor in Journalism and Creative Media Industries.

Javier Morales Riech, M.A. Program.

More resources 

Texas Tech University | TTU.

College of Media and Communication | CoMC | TTU. 

Thomas Jay Harris Institute for Hispanic and International Communication (HIHIC).

Visit Lubbock: Travel & Visitor's Guide to Lubbock, Texas.

Contact info 

Kent Wilkinson, Ph.D.,

Professor & Director, Harris Institute for Hispanic and International Communication

kent.wilkinson@ttu.edu