I originally wanted to work in politics and law to make positive change. In high school I was proudly part of the Tumblr social justice era, and I am proud of that. My drive was always to support marginalized communities and share insight so that everyone can learn from one another. I went to the University of Texas at Austin and got my bachelor’s in government and worked at the Austin capitol for a short time to make a difference in politics.
It was great and important work, but I felt a stronger drive to help through research, writing, and teaching. In my undergraduate, I remember taking an Introduction to Mexican American Studies class and what I learned there inspired this drive to learn more. My scholarship, and life, is influenced by the works of Gloria Anzaldúa, Audre Lorde, and José Esteban Muñoz to name a few. I did a complete 180 and pursued a Master’s in Emerging Media Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.
There I had a transformative time of engaging with critical research and knowledge. I cultivated my expertise within critical game studies, latine studies, fan studies, and queer theory. I have always been a gamer but in my experience, along with other marginalized folks, we have had complicated positions in games and gamer culture due to our intersecting identities. This reality influenced my research where I am always asking how we can resist, and challenge, larger systems of oppression embedded in games but also access joy, care, and justice within and beyond video games.
Currently, I am now a Ph.D. student in the Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication program at UTD and I feel like I only just begin with creating work that others can feel inspired by. I want to also share that I met great people in my program, both friends and faculty. This helps with my area of producing critical research at the intersection of game studies. If it’s game and play, in a critical lens, send it my way.
As a DRC Fellow, I want to bring my expertise and experiences to the cohort. Though games are a major passion of mine, I also interested in projects within digital humanities, digital media, digital rhetoric, and beyond. By collaborating with DRC fellows, I know we can create amazing interdisciplinary work regarding digital rhetoric and how that can support our communities.
