Embodied Virtual Reality: Redistributing Narrative Power in Contexts of War and Displacement

This article examines how embodied Virtual Reality (VR), when used as a participatory research method, can support the narrative sovereignty of refugees from the Global South by recognising their stories as key sources of knowledge production. This approach challenges dominant humanitarian and state discourses that often frame refugees as passive victims in need of saving. The article critiques the prevalent use of VR as an empathy machine designed to provoke emotional identification with war survivors. Instead, it argues that embodied VR opens spaces for alternative narratives that offer deeper insight into the lived experiences of displacement. These 360° VR productions, filmed from a first-person perspective and incorporating multisensory cues, enable refugees to exercise narrative agency. Refugees in this study repurpose VR as a performative tool to challenge public representations and actively shape how knowledge about refugees is produced.