HOLA, I’M CARLOS KELLY
Dr. Carlos Gabriel Kelly González (known to students as Profe) specializes in US Latine media studies and critical game studies.
He is an emerging scholar and one of the few Latine voices working to grow the field of video game studies through US Latine perspectives. He works to infuse Latinx ways of seeing into video game studies through borderland perspectives and lived/embodied experience. Carlos earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University and is on a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Latinx Arts, Literatures, Cultures, or Religions at the Humanities Research Center at Rice University. He will join his colleagues in the English department at Kennesaw State University as an Assistant Professor in Fall 24.
His book Ready Player Juan: Latinx Masculinities and Stereotypes in Video Games is the first and only book to deploy US Latinx studies (via embodied border and performance theory) to interrogate AAA action-adventure video games. You can find his piece on Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in Cultural Studies in the Digital Age by Hyperbole Press.
Currently, Carlos is thrilled to be co-editing the first-ever collection of Latinx video game studies, Coded Latinx: Latinx Gaming and Game Studies in North America, with Dr. Regina Marie Mills. In addition to his research, Carlos is also a published performance poet with his 2019 debut collection, Wounds Fragments Derelict, published with 2Leaf Press.
Carlos is a firm believer in helping young generations dream big. He always says that if he can do it, anyone can. He loves working with youth and looks forward to helping your organizations grow talent pipelines composed of Latines and other students of color. He wants to build futures together with students, faculty, companies, and the community.
My titles
1. First-Gen Mexican American Scholar
2. Poet/Creative/Writer/Performer
3. Community Leader/Organizer
4. Motivational/Public Speaker
5. Emcee that brings the energy
X: @carlosGK22
Featured Book
Featured Book
Written for all gaming enthusiasts, this book fuses Latinx studies and video game studies to document how Latinx masculinities are portrayed in high-budget action-adventure video games, inviting Latinxs and others to insert their experiences into games made by an industry that fails to see them.
The book employs an intersectional approach through performance theory, border studies, and lived experience to analyze the designed identity “Player Juan.” Player Juan manifests in video game representations through a discourse of criminality that sets expectations of who and what Latinxs can be and do. Developing an original approach to video game experiences, the author theorizes video games as border crossings, and defines a new concept—digital mestizaje—that pushes players, readers, and scholars to deploy a Latinx way of seeing and that calls on researchers to consider a digital object’s constructive as well as destructive qualities.
MY SERVICES
DESIGN
Help with Latina/o/x/e character/story design
If you are writing stories with Latines, I can help insert complex storytelling and ensure you get things right
INTERPRETATIONS
Provide intersectional analysis/interpretations of games
At times, game representations and quests can utilize a trained eye in intersectionality to ensure equity and quality
WORKSHOPS
Provide workshops for developers on race, gender, and sexuality
We all have gaps in our training and I can help developers, CEOs, coders, and other team members in learning more about the importance of race, gender, and sexuality
WRITING TEAM
Can join your writing team to support long term change
If you are serious about change, bring me on your team as a writer who can challenge creative decisions being made
EMCEE
Can bring the energy to
any room and event
if you want an Emcee for any and all events, Carlos guarantees to bring the energy and make your event special. Proven experience, charisma, and energy.
