"The Rose Garden Is a Cemetery": Spatial Dissonance and Divergent Public Experiences of an Indigenous Augmented Reality Tour

Abstract

Community-authored augmented reality (AR) can contest dominant heritage narratives by juxtaposing stories with physical surroundings. We examine the Th\'amien Ohlone AR Tour, developed with members of the Ohlone Native American community at Mission Santa Clara and Santa Clara University. Combining paired pre/post surveys from 57 participants with collaborative thematic analysis, we compare reception among Ohlone community members, university affiliates, and Mission visitors. Spatial dissonance captures felt tensions when AR challenged familiar campus readings or when surroundings conflicted with Ohlone histories the AR affirmed, such as a garden's significance as a burial ground. Cultural frames shaped interpretation; contemporary people and relationships made Ohlone continuance tangible. Participants appreciated the tour and called for permanent physical acknowledgment. We propose staging reflective encounters, clarifying community-authored meanings, and using AR to prototype public acknowledgment and support community-directed advocacy. These findings foreground relationships to land and place, informed by Indigenous scholarship, in designing and evaluating AR.