PhD Oral Exam - Elina Lex, Communication

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This dissertation explores the intersection of cultural heritage, environmental transformation, and immersive media through a research-creation project set in the Tantramar Marshes, one of North America’s largest remaining salt marsh ecosystems. Located on the Chignecto Isthmus, this fragile, narrow, low-lying landscape has been shaped by centuries of colonial land reclamation and now faces existential threats from climate change and rising sea levels. Situating the marshes at a cultural-ecological crossroads, this project interrogates the evolving definitions and practices of heritage in dynamic and uncertain environments, embracing heritage in an evolving world.

Through the creation of Tantramar, 2100, an immersive virtual reality experience, this research-creation project develops the concept of ruderal heritage through an immersive framework, reanimating the marshes’ multi-layered histories, more-than-human subjects, and contested futures. Drawing from critical heritage studies, critical place research, digital archives, and XR technologies, the project proposes a paradigm shift towards heritage as a relational, process-based, and future-oriented practice. Foregrounding sensorial and site-specific modalities, it combines geographic visualization, 3D world-building, and game engine methodologies to create a novel form of immersive experiential documentary and environmental simulation. Re-animating archival materials, 3D scans, field sound recordings, audio interviews with local stakeholders, with real-time interactive elements, it contributes to a "living archive" that centers multispecies narratives and counter-historical perspectives. This dissertation positions immersive media as a critical methodological approach for engaging the complexities of transitional coastal cultural landscapes, challenging static models of preservation and advances more accessible, sensory, speculative, and ecologically attuned heritage practices.