Telling stories: historical narratives in virtual reality

This chapter examines one specific digital story from Virtual Plasencia, an interactive model of a Spanish medieval city, titled "‘La Mota’: A Christian Assumes Ownership over Jewish Homes, circa 1416,” for which we have developed historically-accurate avatars that move beyond text and provide users with a more comprehensive approach for learning by experiencing a tangible period of medieval history. The story recounts why and how a Jewish neighborhood came into existence, what transpired during its less than one hundred year existence, and why it was displaced. This 3D avatar-inhabited narrative consequently tells a more complex story of inter-religious relations during a time of increasing anti-Jewish/Muslim animosity in Castile that culminated in the expulsions of Jews (1492) and Muslims (1502).