±«Óătv

Osvaldo Sandoval Leon

Back to Directory
osandoval

Osvaldo Sandoval Leon

Assistant Professor of Spanish

Department/Office Information

Romance Languages
207 Lawrence Hall
  • M 10:30am - 12:00pm (207 Lawrence Hall)
  • W 11:00am - 12:30pm (207 Lawrence Hall)

PhD, Hispanic Cultural Studies, Michigan State University (2019)

MA, Spanish, California State University, Fullerton (2011)

Book

  • . Iberoamericana-Vervuert, 2025.

This book examines specific cases of political-sexual violence against women during the dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Spain. Through an analysis of a corpus of plays written and premiered during the period 1990 to 2020, this book observes the performative dynamics of exercising sexual torture and argues how the rhetoric of gender roles penalized the inability to practice a “femininity” in accordance with the hierarchical male gaze. In addition to exposing this type of violence as a criticism of impunity, delays, and setbacks in the progress towards comprehensive reparation with a gender-based perspective in transitional justice today, the plays in this book allow us to rethink the futures of memory after representing social imaginaries in young generations of artists and citizens morally committed to their past. 

Edited Volume

  • Sandoval-Leon, and Chrystian Zegarra, editors. Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en LatinoamĂ©rica. Universidad AutĂłnoma Metropolitana / Editora NĂłmada, 2022. DOI: 

Peer Review Articles

  • "Cineturgia: la escena cĂłncava y desfigurada en Luces de Bohemia de RamĂłn del Valle-Inclán." Cine silente y sonoro en la literatura iberoamericana (1895-1947). Edited by Enrique Bernales Albites y Chrystian Zegarra. Universidad CatĂłlica Sedes Sapientiae (2023): 219-244.
  • "Cuerpos y espectros sobrevivientes en la dramaturgia de Raquel Diana." Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en LatinoamĂ©rica, edited by Osvaldo Sandoval-Leon and Chrystian Zegarra, Universidad AutĂłnoma Metropolitana / Editora NĂłmada (2022): 157-174. DOI: 
  • "PrĂłceres de la historia: mitos, caos y drama en Memorias y olvidos de JosĂ© de San MartĂ­n de Elio Brailovsky." Cuadernos Literarios. 15.18 (2021): 49-68. DOI: 
  • “(Pos)dictadura: estrategias contestatarias y disidentes en la dramaturgia de Susana Torres Molina.” El giro performativo: perspectivas sobre el teatro latinoamericano contemporáneo. Cuadernos del CILHA: Centro de Literatura Hispanoamericana. 35 (2021) 1-27.
  • "Dramaturgas: dinámicas de agresiĂłn y resistencia en la (pos)dictadura del Cono Sur." Entre CanĂ­bales. Revista de literatura. 4.12 (2021) 111-132.
  • “La tortura silenciada: la violencia sexual en el teatro posdictadura del Cono Sur.” Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies / Revista De Estudios De GĂ©nero y Sexualidades. 46.1-2 (2020): 151–172.
  • “La posdictadura en Chile: alternativas a la enseñanza del gĂ©nero dramático.” Contextos. Estudios de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la EducaciĂłn, Santiago de Chile. 45 (2019).
  • “Del texto a la representaciĂłn teatral: Espacios alegĂłricos de la inmigraciĂłn en La puerta estrecha (2000) de Eusebio Calonge.” Spanish and Portuguese Review. 4 (2018): 83-100.
  • “Hacia una retĂłrica de la presencia en el exilio en la dramaturgia de Jorge DĂ­az y JerĂłnimo LĂłpez Mozo.” Revista Chilena de Literatura. 97 (2018): 297-316.
  • “Lo irrepresentable en escena: los olvidados en la dramaturgia de posdictadura en el Cono Sur latinoamericano.” ReligaciĂłn. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. 2.7 (2017): 127-142.

Book Reviews

  • Voces para la escena: dramaturgias actuales en España y AmĂ©rica Latina. Edited by Miguel Carrera Garrido and Gracia Morales Ortiz. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. (Forthcoming, 2025).  
  • Bodies on the Front Lines: Performance, Gender, and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by Brenda Werth and Katherine Zien. Theatre Research International (Forthcoming).
  • Mi monstruo sagrado by Alejandro Neyra. Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies / Revista De Estudios De GĂ©nero y Sexualidades. (Forthcoming).
  • Staging Lives in LatĂ­n American Theater by Paola S. Hernández. Symposium: Journal in Modern Literatures, vol. 76, no. 4, 2022, pp. 247-249.  
  • Encuentro: Latinx Performance for the New American Theater. Edited by Trevor Boffone, Teresa Marrero, and Chantal Rodriguez. Text & Presentation. The Comparative Drama Conference Series, vol. 16, 2020, pp. 193-197.
  • “Cuerpos (des)alojados: candombe, memoria y restituciĂłn en la obra El despojo de Marcel Sawchik Monegal.” (Part I “Cuando el cuerpo enuncia: teatro, performance y disidencias sociales”).&˛Ô˛ú˛ő±č;Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2025: Poner el cuerpo en Latinx AmĂ©rica. San Francisco, CA, May 23-26, 2025. (Panel Organizer, Chair, and Presenter)
  • "Mundos intergeneracionales en (pos)dictadura: violencia de gĂ©nero, impunidad y resistencia en el teatro chileno contemporáneo." Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2024: Reaction and Resistance: Imagining Possible Futures in the Americas. Bogotá, Colombia. June 12-15, 2024.
  • "Teatro polĂ­tico: prerrogativas de la masculinidad, subjetividades femeninas y memorias disidentes en el El disparo de Estela Golovchenko." Annual Kentucky Foreign Languages Conference. Special Sessions in Latin American and Latine Theatre and Performance: Trends, Trajectories, and New Stages. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. April 18-20, 2024.
  • “Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en LatinoamĂ©rica.” Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2023: AmĂ©rica Latina y el Caribe: Pensar, Representar y Luchar por los Derechos. Vancouver, Canada. Virtual Presentation. May 24-27, 2023. (Panel Organizer)
  • “DACA: aspectos culturales y voces silenciadas en comunidades (in)documentadas.” 2023 Lake Erie Latin American Cultural Studies (LELACS). Annual Symposium. “Travel and Language: Narrating the Immigrant Experience.” University of Rochester, New York. March 18, 2023.
  • Escenas de cambio: Representaciones de la represiĂłn polĂ­tica en el teatro Latinoamericano Contemporáneo. "Consumo: las narrativas del cuerpo en La fundaciĂłn de Susana Torres Molina." 94th South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). November 11-13, 2022. (Organizer and Session Chair)
  • "Trasgrediendo la realidad de la violencia sexual sistematizada a travĂ©s del acto performático en el teatro chileno posdictadura." 25th Annual Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed. Loyola University Chicago. May 26-29, 2022.
  • “Dramaturgas: dinámicas de agresiĂłn y resistencia en la (pos)dictadura del Cono Sur.” Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA). Syracuse University. March 23, 2022. (Guest Speaker)
  • Spanish-American Theater: Performing Community, (Rebuilding) Relations. "Performance digital: alternativas pedagĂłgicas a la producciĂłn teatral en posdictadura" 93rd South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Virtual Conference. November 4-6, 2021. (Organizer and Session Chair)
  • "Democracy in Rupture: Secrets, Foundations, and Resistance in the Southern Cone Postdictatorship Dramaturgy." 2020 Lake Erie Latin American Cultural Studies Symposium (LELACS). Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York. Virtual Conference. April 7-9, 2021.
  • "Teatro didáctico: el escándalo social de la transiciĂłn a la democracia en Chile." 92nd South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Virtual Conference. November, 13-15, 2020.
  • “Staging the Archive: Unmasking the Hidden Truth of the Disappeared in NN12 (2010) by Gracia Morales.” American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) 2019 Annual Conference. Arlington, Virginia. November 7-10, 2019.  
  • “Teatro del insilio: vĂ­ctimas y cĂłmplices en La complicidad de la inocencia (Terror y miseria de la clase media argentina).” LASA 2019: Nuestra AmĂ©rica: Justice and Inclusion. Boston, Massachusetts. May 24-27, 2019.
  • “Staging Inner Exile: Fear, Misery, and Complicity of a Mutilated Argentinian Society during the Dictatorship.” 43rd Comparative Drama Conference. Orlando, Florida. April 4-6, 2019.
  • “Del texto a la representaciĂłn teatral: vidas y cuerpos vulnerables en La puerta estrecha (2000) de Eusebio Calonge.” New Harmony Contemporary Spanish Theater Conference. Stages of Utopia, Dystopia, and Myopia. University of Southern Indiana. New Harmony, Indiana. October 10-12, 2018.
  • “El desplazamiento en su funciĂłn de desarraigo y multiarraigo en Nuestra Señora de las Nubes (1998) y CanciĂłn de cuna para un anarquista (2002).” Third Annual Latin American, Latino/a, & Iberian Studies Association of the Pacific Northwest Conference (LALISA). Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. April 6-7, 2018.

±«Óătv (2019 - Present)

  • Latin American Women Dramatists
  • Posdictatorial Transatlantic Theater
  • Latin American Dictatorship Theater
  • Latin America Literature: Illusion, Fantasy, Magical Realism
  • CORE Communities: Mexico
  • Advanced Composition and Stylistics
  • Intermediate Spanish, Language and Literature 


Michigan State University (2014 - 2019)

  • Introduction to Hispanic Literatures
  • Cultural Reading and Composition
  • Second-Year Spanish I and II
  • Elementary Spanish II
  • Review of Elementary Spanish