Situating the body in digital migration research: embodied methodologies for analysing virtual reality films on displacement

Sparked by my experience of nausea while watching virtual reality (VR) films on displacement, this chapter proposes a multi-level analysis of such films. The affective dimensions of VR films on displacement-which, according to advocates, make VR films superior to other forms of media in raising awareness and funds-can be best captured by pursuing explicitly embodied methodologies that conceptualize embodiment as "being a body" rather than "having a body." I argue that such methodologies make three main contributions: they expand the boundaries of what is considered "valid" knowledge and centre the geopolitics of knowledge production; foreground how researchers bring with them their relations, experiences, and histories into the virtual encounter; and can lead to thicker conceptual understanding.