Farms built into a mountainside, where those at the top control the water supply. Gender conformity without any gendered linguistic markers. A world where the gods are constantly sending messages through the movements of birds.
Anthropology is a treasure trove of worldbuilding ideas. In this workshop, we’ll talk about how you can dig into this wealth of human creativity. We’ll talk about the ethics of incorporating real-world cultural elements into fiction. And we’ll use actual examples of anthropological research as a springboard for invention, from flash fiction to full-blown novels.
We’ll explore the following:
- How to find accessible anthropological research for the layperson
- What constitutes cultural appropriation or not and when you need to worry about it
- How to combine real-world elements to create your own original worlds