Curating Public Memory: VR Testimonios as Collective Healing and Political Pedagogy

• In Event: Reclaiming Memory, Rendering Futures: VR Chicana and Latina Testimonios and Archival Justice in Stockton, CA

Abstract

This presentation examines how VR Chicana and Latina Testimonios have been curated and exhibited in community and educational spaces, with the objective of exploring their role in promoting intergenerational dialogue, civic imagination, and political consciousness. The presentation analyzes how public-facing storytelling functions not only as historical recovery but also as a pedagogical and healing practice.

Guided by Chicana feminist theory (Anzaldúa, 2007; Delgado Bernal et al., 2012), the presentation draws on frameworks of public pedagogy, testimonio, and community healing. It is also informed by memory studies and decolonial theories of storytelling that view public history as a site of resistance, care, and collective future-making.

The inquiry utilized ethnographic methods, including participant observation at public exhibitions, feedback collection via open-ended surveys and informal interviews, and team-based reflection with community collaborators. The research process also included intentional design of the VR experience as a cultural and political intervention, where space, sound, and structure were tailored to the emotional needs of the audience.

Sources include qualitative feedback from attendees of community exhibitions, student field notes, photographs and video documentation of installations, and public reflections shared during discussion circles. The materials analyzed also include planning documents that detail how each event was co-curated with community stakeholders.

Preliminary analysis shows that public engagement with the VR testimonios fostered emotional resonance, political reflection, and a heightened awareness of local Chicana histories among multigenerational audiences. Many participants described the experience as transformative and intimate, with several expressing a renewed connection to Stockton's activist legacy and a desire to continue learning and organizing. These outcomes suggest that curated, immersive storytelling can cultivate communal forms of historical consciousness and healing.

This presentation illustrates the power of public-facing, immersive storytelling as a form of political pedagogy and cultural ritual. By centering community voices and co-curating historical memory in accessible, embodied ways, the project challenges the erasure of Chicana histories and models new ways of engaging the public in critical reflection and action. It contributes to scholarship on community-based education, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, and the transformative potential of digital humanities.

Authors

• Vanessa Maldonado Soto, California State University - Sacramento

• Silvia Soto, California State University - Sacramento

• Sebastian Perez, California State University - Sacramento

• Nancy Huante-Tzintzun, California State University - Sacramento