uMzantsi Island Project
Island ecosystems are especially vulnerable to extreme weather events, invasive species, and biodiversity loss. To raise awareness of these challenges and make scholarly materials more accessible, this project will develop a publicly available, geotagged digital archive focused on three island groups connected to Southern African history and geography. Drawing on interdisciplinary expertise in the humanities and biological sciences, the project will digitize underutilized historical and ecological materials from archives in South Africa, Namibia, and the UK. The archive will be organized around key themes (including invasive species, habitat loss, historical weather data, and more) and will offer two main features: a Virtual Museum, where users can filter materials by theme, location, or time period, and a Virtual Field Trip, which provides interactive images and videos of key island sites.