Civic Becoming in the Age of Simulation: Rethinking Community, Identity, and Democratic Life through XR and AI

Abstract

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this moment invites reflection not only on the nation’s founding ideals but also on the contemporary forces reshaping civic identity, participation, and democratic life. This doctoral colloquium examines how emerging simulated and algorithmically mediated environments reshape the communal and discursive practices through which civic identity is formed. Focusing on participants’ lived experiences of presence, dialogue, and belonging across both embodied and simulated settings, the paper argues that these environments do more than augment reality. XR and algorithmically mediated environments reorganize how individuals experience authenticity, relationality, and belonging. Grounded in Spencer’s Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), the study employs a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods design that uses surveys to inform the contextual framework and support pattern identification and dialogic inquiry through in-person and fully simulated porch conversations. Centering the Declaration of Independence as a shared historical anchor, these conversations invite participants to reflect on civic becoming as an ongoing, adaptive process across physical and digitally mediated spaces. The study contributes to our understanding of how immersive technologies are changing where and how civic identity develops, with implications for the future of democratic participation.