Discovering Community in the Borderlands

The Discovering Community in the Borderlands project is a unique Augmented Reality (AR) experience where visitors will learn about some of the diverse communities of Southern Arizona.

As this is a collaborative project of the University of Arizona (UA), partners include the Arizona State Museum, UA Center for Digital Humanities, UA Poetry Center, Borderlands Theater, Dunbar Pavilion, Mission Gardens, Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Department of Language and Culture, and the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. 

The partners are sharing stories of community history and culture through immersive AR experiences with culture specialists, tradition bearers, cultural objects, photographs, dance, music, poetry, plants and more. These digital exhibits are located outside at various sites across Tucson (see map). Through these experiences, visitors will be able to explore themes of resilience and belonging; race and identity; plants and foodways; journeys and im/migration; and cultural expression.

This project is funded by grants from the Institute for Museums and Library Services and the University of Arizona Library’s Andrew W. Mellon Digital Borderlands program.