Reconsidering Ethical Strategies for Reimagining Incarceration Narratives : A reflexive and embodied exploration of the Digital Panopticon and Ironclad Sisterhood platforms

Introduction. This thesis draws on the concepts of animating the archive and contested heritage, exploring how complex archival materials are transformed into interpretive digital narratives and examining how digital heritage platforms ethically reimagine and present historical incarceration narratives. The study is situated within the field of digital humanities and engages critically with digital storytelling, representation, and ethics. Using two case studies—Digital Panopticon and Ironclad Sisterhood—the thesis investigates what alternative ethical strategies and challenges arise in the digital reimagining of complex incarceration narratives when analyzed through an embodied and reflexive approach. Method. This study employs digital autoethnography to explore ethical considerations and challenges through reflective, embodied engagement with two digital platforms. This approach is complemented by semi-structured online interviews with two project scholars, offering discursive insights that enrich and support the autoethnographic analysis. Analysis. The study analyzes and critiques assumptions of neutrality in digital representations through a Critical Digital Humanities lens, examining how affective experience, curatorial decision-making, and multimodal design either reinforce or challenge broader social and institutional power structures. Results. The findings suggest that the act of reconstructing incarceration narratives within large digital archives can itself be understood as an ethical stance, one that fosters deeper emotional, reflective, and relational engagement with sensitive histories. Both of the analyzed projects demonstrated this potential to create affective, critical spaces for public engagement, while also revealing ongoing ethical tensions around categorisation, representation, and speculative narration. Conclusion. This thesis concludes that embodied and reflexive approaches in studying digital heritage can enrich ethical practices in representing contested histories. It calls for continued attention to ethical digital representations of sensitive incarceration narratives by creating space for reflection, avoiding sensationalistic portrayals, acknowledging historical gaps, and maintaining transparency about narrative choices, methods, and emotional framing.