Archipelagic Archives: Navigating Oceanic Memory, Maritime Histories, Colonial Currents, And Ecological Imaginaries Through Digital Blue Humanities In Moby-Dick, The Sea Is History, The Tempest, And The Old Man And The Sea

Abstract

This research has a compelling and evocative concept that suggests a merging of several vibrant domains: the digital, the marine ("blue"), the humanities, and a transformative or rebirth-driven perspective (“renaissance of reimagination”). This paper explores how Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Derek Walcott’s The Sea is History, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

construct and contest oceanic memory through the lens of Digital Blue Humanities. By conceptualizing the sea not merely as a setting but as a dynamic archive—a vast, fluid repository of cultural memory, colonial violence, and ecological transformation—this study employs digital humanities methodologies to remap and recontextualize these canonical texts within broader transoceanic and postcolonial frameworks. This project explores how digital tools (e.g. GIS, 3D modeling, digital storytelling platforms) are used to preserve, visualize, and interpret oceanic cultural heritage—especially shipwrecks and maritime routes tied to colonial histories. It examines how the sea functions as both an archive and a site of memory in the Digital Blue Humanities.