Histories are increasingly mediated in virtual reality, computer games, web-based digital environments and interactive museum exhibitions. Many of these new, highly immersive digital media obliterate the act of mediation and offer a personal, felt connection to the past. The omnipresence of affective and experiential modes of engagement in VR history content is symptomatic of a widespread popular desire to bring the past closer and have a bodily, material, empathetic connection to it. However, the popularity of affective and experiential modes of engagement in historical representation stands in an uneasy relationship to detachment and critical distance that are characteristic of historical thinking. In light of the shift in historical culture towards the first-person viewpoint, lived pasts and multisensorial immersion, some scholars have voiced concern that the experiential focus may prevent a detached reflection and exploration of multiple perspectives. Others, by contrast, have emphasized the potential of experiential and immersive forms of historical representation to aid in exploring different perspectives on difficult pasts.
In this paper, I examine the potential of new digital technologies to communicate about pasts, particularly contested and difficult pasts, which are prone to manipulation and distortion. I argue that the rise of immersive digital media in historical representation requires critical investigation that dares to challenge the hype of new media, but remains open to new forms of historical consciousness and knowledge that these media may offer. I present an analysis of devices of engagement and detachment in selected VR titles on difficult histories (Accused #2, My Brother's Keeper VR, Traveling While Black, and Card from the Uprising) and discuss the epistemological, political and ethical implications of their mode of representation.
