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The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction

Leighton Evans Orcid Logo

New Media & Society, Volume: 27, Issue: 8, Pages: 4499 - 4514

Swansea University Author: Leighton Evans Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/14614448251338282

Abstract

The threat of climate change to nation-states like Tuvalu has led to a novel attempt at digital preservation through virtual reproduction. Tuvalu’s Future Now Project aims to create a ‘digital nation’ in the metaverse. This article critically analyses this state-scale digital twinning from two theor...

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Published in: New Media & Society
ISSN: 1461-4448 1461-7315
Published: SAGE Publications 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69409
first_indexed 2025-05-02T14:01:29Z
last_indexed 2025-09-13T06:11:45Z
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title The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
spellingShingle The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
Leighton Evans
title_short The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
title_full The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
title_fullStr The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
title_full_unstemmed The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
title_sort The digital twinning of Tuvalu: Deep ecology in the age of virtual reproduction
author_id_str_mv cc05810f3465ddddd6814e131f4e9a79
author_id_fullname_str_mv cc05810f3465ddddd6814e131f4e9a79_***_Leighton Evans
author Leighton Evans
author2 Leighton Evans
format Journal article
container_title New Media & Society
container_volume 27
container_issue 8
container_start_page 4499
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1461-4448
1461-7315
doi_str_mv 10.1177/14614448251338282
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR
document_store_str 1
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description The threat of climate change to nation-states like Tuvalu has led to a novel attempt at digital preservation through virtual reproduction. Tuvalu’s Future Now Project aims to create a ‘digital nation’ in the metaverse. This article critically analyses this state-scale digital twinning from two theoretical lenses. First, drawing on deep ecology, it argues the virtual reproduction substitutes the intrinsic value of Tuvalu’s landscape and culture with instrumental value optimised for digital capitalism’s extractive logic. Second, building on concepts from Benjamin and Baudrillard, it contends that digital twinning subverts the cultural symbolic order through semiotic transformation, rendering the ‘digital nation’ a hyperreal imitation stripped of aura. Rather than preserving sovereignty over disappeared territory, the metaverse reproduction reimagines the state itself as a simulation. While responding to the severe threat of global warming, the project raises critical questions about the politics and value of virtual reproduction.
published_date 2025-08-31T05:29:59Z
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score 11.096068

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