WHISPERS FROM THE ISLANDS PRESERVING AND REINTERPRETING CARIBBEAN MYTHS THROUGH AUGMENTED NARRATIVES
Semester Award Granted
Spring 2025
Submission Date
May 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Camila Afanador-Llach
Abstract
This thesis explores the role of design as a contemporary medium for preserving, reinterpreting, and disseminating Caribbean cultural myths through visual storytelling. Focusing on using Augmented Reality (AR) and paper sculpture, this research examines how immersive technologies can bridge the gap between oral traditions and digital innovation to safeguard intangible heritage. Centering Caribbean folklore, specifically myths such as the Chickcharney, the Lusca, and the La Diablesse, this work analyzes these stories' historical, symbolic, and social functions within Caribbean identity formation and collective memories.
Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks from mythology studies, design history, and visual culture, the project investigates how AR can amplify cultural narratives, making them accessible to contemporary and diasporic audiences.
By intertwining fragile, tactile materials with interactive digital media, the project examines colonial modes of preservation. It proposes a design-based methodology that honors folklore's performative and evolving nature. Through transmedia storytelling, this thesis advocates for design as a powerful tool of cultural resilience that commemorates the past and reimagines it for the future.
Recommended Citation
Gay, Tatyanna, "WHISPERS FROM THE ISLANDS PRESERVING AND REINTERPRETING CARIBBEAN MYTHS THROUGH AUGMENTED NARRATIVES" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 67.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/67