Osvaldo Cleger

Associate Professor of Spanish

Member Of:
  • School of Modern Languages
Office Location: Swann 214
Related Links:

Overview

Osvaldo Cleger is a new media theorist specializing in digital culture, e-literature and emerging technologies in the Hispanic world, with a primary focus on countries such as Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Cuba. He earned his MA from NMSU and his PhD in Hispanic Literature and Cultural Studies from University of Arizona. His research interests include visual culture, hypertext theory and fiction, blogging, digital poetry, procedural rhetoric, simulation theory and video games.

His book Narrar en la era de las blogoficciones: literatura, cultura y sociedad de las redes en el siglo XXI (The Art of Narrating in the Age of Blog-fictions) offers a systematic approach to blog-narratives written by Hispanic authors. He has also co-edited two collective volumes on Hypertext theory and pedagogy in the Hispanic world: Redes hipertextuales en el aula, Octaedro 2015, and Formación literaria, hipertextos y Web 2.0 en el marco educativo, Editorial Universidad de Almería, 2015. His articles on visual culture, Hispanic e-literature, hypertext fiction and videogames have been published in such journals as Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, Caribe, Letras Hispanas, Universidad de la Habana, Digital Culture and Education, as well as in several edited volumes, including Leer Hipertextos, Octaedro 2012, Poesía y poéticas digitales/electrónicas/tecnos/New-Media en América Latina: Definiciones y exploraciones, Universidad Central de Bogota, Bogota, 2015, and The Latino Pop Cultural Studies Reader, Routledge (forthcoming).

He is the creator of the “Locative Media Learning Initiative,” a program designed to help intermediate and advanced language students to acquire advanced linguistic and e-literacy skills through mobile app development.

Most recent publications:

Books and book chapters:

  • Redes Hipertextuales en el Aula: Literatura, Hipertextos y Cultura Digital (Hypertextual Networks in the Classroom: Literature, Hypertexts and Digital Culture). Eds. Amo, José de, Osvaldo Cleger and Antonio Mendoza. Barcelona: Editorial Octaedro, 2015. 216 pp.

 

  • Formación literaria, hipertextos y Web 2.0 en el marco educativo (E-literacy, Hypertext and Web 2.0 within the Educational Framework). Eds. Cleger, Osvaldo and José M. De Amo. Almería: Editorial Universidad de Almería, 2015.

 

  • Narrar en la era de las blogoficciones: literatura, cultura y sociedad de las redes en el siglo XXI (The Art of Narrating in the Age of Blog-fictions: Literature, Culture and Network Society in the 21st Century.) Mellen Press, 2010,  489 pp. Reviewed by Sotelo Abigail in Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 15 (2011): 200-201, and by Daylet Domínguez in La Habana Elegante 49 (2011).

 

  • “Pantallas saturadas / cuerpos opacos: la ficción hipertextual en lengua española”. Leer hipertextos. Eds. Antonio Mendoza. Barcelona: Octaedro, 2012. 53-72. Print

 

  • “Why Video Games: Ludology Meets Latino Studies.” The Routledge Companion to Latina(o) Popular Culture. Ed. Aldama, Frederick L. New York: Routledge, 2016.

 

  •  “La cultura digital y la convergencia de múltiples lenguajes. Los límites de lo literario” (“On Digital Culture and Multimedia Convergence: the Limitations of the Literary Approach to Hypertext.”) Redes Hipertextuales en el Aula: Literatura, Hipertextos y Cultura Digital. Eds. José de Amo, O. Cleger and A. Mendoza. Barcelona: Editorial Octaedro, 2015. 53-66. (Written in collaboration with Juan Carlos Rodríguez).

 

  • “La cultura digital, o de los nuevos medios de comunicación (new media)” (“On New Media Culture.”) Redes Hipertextuales en el Aula: Literatura, Hipertextos y Cultura Digital. Eds. José de Amo, O. Cleger and A. Mendoza. Barcelona: Editorial Octaedro, 2015. 67-82. (Written in collaboration with Juan Carlos Rodríguez).

 

  • “El despegue del libro electrónico” (“The Recent Expansion of the Ebook Market”). Formación literaria, hipertextos y Web 2.0 en el marco educativo (E-literacy, Hypertext and Web 2.0 within the Educational Framework). Eds. Cleger, Osvaldo and José M. De Amo. Almería: Editorial Universidad de Almería, 2015. viii-xxix.

 

  • “Pantallas saturadas / cuerpos opacos: la ficción hipertextual en lengua española” (“Saturated Screens / Opaque Bodies: Hypertext Fiction in Spanish.”). Leer hipertextos. Ed. Antonio Mendoza. Barcelona: Octaedro, 2012. 53-72.

 

  • "Del caligrama al poema Flash: la tecnologización del poema" (“From Calligram to Flash-Poetry: the Technologizing of the Poem.”)  Poesía y poéticas digitales/electrónicas/tecnos/New-Media en América Latina: Definiciones y exploraciones. Eds. Luis Correa-Díaz and Scott Weintraub. Universidad Central de Bogota, Bogota. (In Press).

As Guest Editor

  • Paperless Text: Digital Storytelling in Latin America and Spain (1976-2016). Special Issue of Letras Hispanas. Letras Hispanas 11 (2015). (Prepared in collaboration with Phillip Penix-Tadsen).

Journal Articles:

  • “Introduction. Paperless Text: Digital Storytelling in Latin America and Spain (1976-2016).” Special Issue of Letras Hispanas. Letras Hispanas 11 (2015). (Prepared in collaboration with Phillip Penix-Tadsen).

 

  • “El proceso de creación ciberliteraria: cartografía de un campo emergente.” (“Writing E-literature: Mapping an Emerging Field of Studies.” Letras Hispanas 11 (2015).

 

  • “Procedural Rhetoric and Undocumented Migrants: Playing the Debate Over Immigration Reform.” Digital Culture and Education 7.1 (2015): 19-39.

 

  • “Safo en el trópico: imagen post-victoriana del cuerpo en la poesía de Mercedes Matamoros” (“Sappho in The Tropics: a Post-Victorian Approach to Body Poetics in Mercedes Matamoros’ El Último Amor de Safo.”) Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. XLV.3 (2011): 551-570.

 

  • “El cuerpo de Ofelia: mito y erotismo del agua en la poesía de Dulce María Loynaz” (“Ofelia’s Lyric Body: Aquatic Myth and Eroticism in Dulce María Loynaz’ Poetry.”) Caribe 12.2 (2009-2010): 81-100.
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Most recent conferences and invited lectures:

Keynote Addresses:

  • “Geolocation, Simulation and Gamification: Three Hypermedia Design Principles That Are Changing the Way We Read.” Keynote Address. Universidad de Almería, Spain, Dec 4, 2014.

 

  • “The Power of Brevity: Emoticons, Tweets and Other Haikus. Minimalism and Literature in Contemporary Network Society.” Keynote Address. International Conference Hypertextual Networks in the Classroom, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Sept 26, 2013.

 

  • “Reading Latin American Hyperfiction: Towards an Interactive Narratology.” Keynote Address. Alabama Modern Language Conference, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Feb 24, 2012.

 

  • “Pantallas saturadas / cuerpos opacos: la doble lógica de la inmediatez y la hipermediatez en la ficción hipertextual en lengua española”. Keynote Address. II Simposio internacional sobre perspectivas de investigación e innovación didáctica en formación receptora: leer hipertextos, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Sept 30, 2011. 

Invited Lectures:

  • “Cyborgs, Algorithms and Common Archives: Procedural Poetry and Software Art in Latin America.” Invited Lecture. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, April 18, 2015.

 

  • “Augmented Reality and Geolocative Narrative: How to Read and Tell Stories from a Cellphone.” Invited Lecture. University of Barcelona, Barcelona, May 9, 2013.

 

  •  “Beyond the Printed Page: Understanding Hypertext Literature from the 1990s.” Invited lecture. William Conroy Honors Center Commons, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, March 29, 2011.
  • “Narrar en la era de las blogoficciones: la literatura y los medios en la era digital.” Center for Latin American and Border Studies, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, March 28, 2011.

Conference Papers

 

  • “Providing a Career Path Vision: Programs for Business & Technology at Georgia Tech.” 16th Annual CIBER Business Language Conference, Park City, Utah, April 24-26, 2014. (Presented in Collaboration with Bettina Cothran and Jan Uelzmann).
  • “Playing Latinidad: Towards a Latin American Ludology.” Panel Chair. DiGRA 2013: DeFragging Game Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, Aug. 26-29, 2013.
  • “Procedural Rhetoric and Undocumented Migrants: Playing the Debate Over Immigration Reform.” DiGRA 2013: DeFragging Game Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, Aug. 26-29, 2013.    
  • “Blogs, Google Maps and Social Networks: An Open-Source Approach to Cuban Nationalism in a Post-National Media Environment”. 9th Conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies "Dispersed Peoples: The Cuban and Other Diasporas", May 23-25, 2013, Miami, Florida.
  • “La estética del videojuego en Golpe de gracia, un hipermedia interactivo de Jaime Alejandro Rodríguez”. LASA 2012: Toward a Third Century of Independence in Latin America, May 23-26, 2012, San Francisco, California.
  • “From Calligram to Flash-Poetry: the Technologizing of the Poem.” 83rd Annual Convention of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Nov 4-6, 2011, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • “Train Man and Weblog de una mujer gorda: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Online Collective Narratives.” International Conference on Latin American Cybercultural Studies: Exploring New Paradigms and Analytical Approaches, May 19-20, 2011, The University of Liverpool, UK.
  • “Hernán Casciari’s Weblog de una mujer gorda: the Feuilleton Meets the Web.” NeMLA 2011 Convention, April 7-10, 2011, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
  • “Los Wordtoys de Belén Gache: la poesía visual se muda a la Internet”. XXIX International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, October 6-9, 2010, Toronto, Canada.
  • “Virtual Communities and Collective Narratives: From Tokyo to Mercedes, Buenos Aires.” (written in collaboration with Alison Alexy) The 4th International Conference & Festival of the Electronic Literature Organization, Brown University, June 3-6, 2010, Providence, RI.

Workshops, seminars and other presentations

  • “The Locative Media Learning Initiative at Georgia Tech.” 17th Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education: New Frontiers, Providence, RI, Nov. 6, 2014.
  • “One-Day Workshop on Mobile Learning: Using ARIS to Develop Locative Media Learning Apps.” Emory University, Atlanta, GA, Aug 15, 2013.
  • “On Mobile Learning: A New Paradigm for Place-based Education.” The City as Classroom (Faculty event sponsored by the GoSTEM Initiative and CETL). Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, April 19, 2013. 
  • “Augmented Reality and its Applications to Foreign Language Instruction: When Your Students Become App Developers”. Faculty Seminar, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, March 7, 2013.
  • “The City as Classroom: Experiential Learning at Home and Abroad.” (In collaboration with Juan Carlos Rodríguez and Kelly Comfort) Phil McKnight Memorial Readings, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, Jan 15, 2013.
Education:
  • Ph. D. 2009 University of Arizona, Spanish
  • M.A. 2004 New Mexico State University, Spanish
  • B.A. 1997 University of Havana, History
Areas of
Expertise:
  • Applied Network Theory
  • Augmented Reality Applications To Foreign Language Learning
  • Hypertext Theory
  • Internet Ethnography
  • Latin American Cybercultural Studies
  • Ludology
  • Video Game Aesthetics
  • Visual Culture

Interests

Research Fields:
  • Spanish
Geographic
Focuses:
  • Europe
  • Latin America and Caribbean
  • United States
Issues:
  • Gender
  • Race/Ethnicity
  • Regional Development

Courses

  • SPAN-3111: Composition I
  • SPAN-3590: Issues in Andean Devmt
  • SPAN-3591: Peru Cultural Patrimony
  • SPAN-3592: Culture and Commerce in the Andes
  • SPAN-3690: Commerce Sustain Commun
  • SPAN-3693: Science And Technology
  • SPAN-3823: Special Topics
  • SPAN-3833: Special Topics
  • SPAN-4160: US Spanish-Lang&Cultures
  • SPAN-4454: Latin America through Film
  • SPAN-4460: Hispanic Digital Cultures
  • SPAN-4500: Intercultural Seminar
  • SPAN-6460: Hisp Digital Cultures
  • SPAN-6500: Intercultural Seminar
  • SPAN-6501: Theory & Foundations Sem
  • SPAN-6695: Spanish Internship Abroad

Publications

Selected Publications

Books

Chapters

All Publications

Books

Journal Articles

  • El proceso de creación ciberliteraria: cartografía de un campo emergente. (“Writing E-literature: Mapping an Emerging Field of Studies)
    Date: December 2015

    This article offers an approach to several of the main cyberliterary genres that have emerged in Ibero-America in the last forty years (1976-2016). I begin by discussing the concept of “cyber- literature,” in order to explain its significance and define its scope. I then proceed to discuss the concept of literary “genre,” and some of the problems associated with its use in an increasingly convergent media environment, built to facilitate the creation of hybrid textualities and expressive forms. Finally, I offer a survey of some of the most prominent e-genres of the last four decades, outlining their most defining characteristics, as well as their impacts and spheres of influence, with a primary focus on Latin American and Spanish authors.

    Keywords: Cyberliterature, E-Genres, Interactive Fiction, Hypertext Fiction, Blogfiction, Procedural Poetry, Flash-Poetry, Geolocative Narrative

    Resumen: En el presente artículo se ofrece un acercamiento a varias de las principales manifestaciones ciberliterarias que han florecido en Iberoamérica en los últimos cuarenta años (1976-2016). Se comienza con una aproximación preliminar al concepto de “ciberliteratura” con el propósito de demarcar su significación y denotar sus alcances. Luego, se pasa a discutir el concepto de “género literario,” y las problemáticas asociadas con el empleo de dicho término en un entorno mediático crecientemente convergente y tendiente a facilitar la creación de textualidades y formas híbridas de expresión. Finalmente, se ofrece un panorama y una periodización de los principales géneros ciberliterarios que han emergido desde mediados de los años setenta, deteniéndose a perfilar las características esenciales de cada uno, así como sus impactos y alcances, con un enfoque particular en aquellos autores y obras que se inscriben dentro del contexto latinoamericano y español.

    palabras clave: ciberliteratura, géneros ciberliterarios, ficción interactiva, narrativa hipertextual, blogoficción, poesía procedimental, poema flash, narrativa geolocalizada 

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  • Paperless Text: Digital Storytelling in Latin America and Spain (1976-2016). Special Issue of Letras Hispanas
    Date: December 2015

    In this special issue of Letras Hispanas we bring together a collection of interventions that illustrate a variety of ways of approaching digital storytelling, from multidisciplinary perspectives, by a new generation of scholars working on this field. While the contributions to this special issue vary considerably in terms of the primary materials they analyze and the critical approaches they employ, there are several identifiable tendencies that allow us to divide these interventions into three major trajectories. A first set of articles deals with the evolving relationship between electronic narrative and print media, analyzing examples of crossover between the two spheres. A second trajectory among the contributions to this volume examines specific digital media technologies and the new genres and modes of expression they have engendered. The third and final set of contributions focuses on the ways digital communities and social networks have impacted literary practice and creative expression in the Spanish-speaking world.

    Keywords: Digital Storytelling, Digital Media, E-Literature, E-Genres, Social Networks, Latin America, Spain 

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  • Procedural Rhetoric and Undocumented Migrants: Playing the Debate Over Immigration Reform.
    Date: 2015

    Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to analyze how a representative selection of computer games, set mostly in a Latin American context or at the US-Mexico border, are capable of mounting arguments about immigration policy by making good or poor uses of what Ian Bogost has conceptualized as “procedural rhetoric” (Bogost 2007). In other words, my goal in this article is to explore to what extent videogames can be effectively persuasive in the way they manage to create a computational representation of the experience of migrating, and its associated consequences, independently of the legal or illegal status of such displacements. This article revises current research on procedural representation to offer a detailed analysis of a representative selection of digital games dealing with this particular issue (Border Patrol, Tropico (I-IV), ICED!, Rescate: Alicia Croft, and Papers, Please). Finally, I will show how two commercial games produced mostly for entertainment purposes (such as Tropico and Papers, Please) can be more effective at mounting a procedural argument and, plausibly, at influencing players’ opinions on a particular issue than a “serious game” (such as ICED!). Based on this analysis, I propose to move beyond this distinction between entertaining and serious to focus on what is particular about videogames in general, that can make them into more efficient tools to disseminate ideas and provide players with more opportunities for experiential learning. 

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  • Safo en el trópico: imagen post-victoriana del cuerpo en la poesía de Mercedes Matamoros
    Date: 2011

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  • El cuerpo de Ofelia: mito y erotismo del agua en la poesía de Dulce María Loynaz
    Date: 2010

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Chapters