a reflection

Has your conception of worldbuilding changed since the beginning of Fall quarter? 

My understanding of worldbuilding has vastly evolved since the beginning of Fall Quarter. Coming into the course with a background and interest in creative writing, my knowledge of worldbuilding came from fiction: establishing a location, establishing a set of characters, a lifestyle, a language, a lore. First and foremost, Humanities Core has evolved my knowledge of worldbuilding past the realm of fiction and into reality. Now I see that worldbuilding occurs not just by the author in the pages of novels, but by philosophers thinking about how the world could be, by politicians attempting to change the world for the better, by artists and storytellers trying to create places of safety and solace. I never could have imagined that the idea of "worldbuilding" could encompass both the scandalous tales of The Decameron and the growth of the Chinese Communist Party, of the mighty Greek legend of Odyusseus and yet also the quilts woven by the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama. 

Worldbuilding to me now is not so much creating a world out of the imagination, but by having active involvement in one's own world. It's not a tool in an author's toolbox to construct a story, but a way in which each and every person lives their own lives. Each action, each decision, you make builds your world, changes the direction of the world, and changes the lives of others in your world. As they say, "A butterfly can flutter its wings over a flower in China and cause a hurricane in the Caribbean." 

Humanities Core itself has built up my college world during my first two quarters here. My seminar instructors --- Dr. Beauchamp in the Fall and Dr. Connell in the Winter --- have helped me carry the weight of bricks to build the foundation of my understanding of not only the content but of the course. My Humanities Core friends have built a community around me. My weekly coffee runs after lecture, my late-night dorm watchparties of required films, my attendance to Humanities Core events and screenings, have also contributed to my understanding of worldbuilding. 

So, no, worldbuilding is not limited to the realm of fiction. Worlds are constantly built around you, from the smallest to the largest of scales. 

Do you have any ideas for a research path you might pursue in the Spring?

My ideas for research in the Spring are quite varied at the moment. I was inspired by a few of the lecturers, and from listening to their lectures, have begun to peruse my own research topics:

• Inspired by Prof. Robertson... People of History, not States, as Worldbuilding Characters

  • • I was particularly interested in Prof. Robertson's lecturers on the many characters of the story of International Communism. History has never been a subject to particularly strike me, but I was fascinated with Prof. Roberton's approach. He described each historical figure almost like a character, with a backstory, family, and life, before their involvement in a significant historical event. It was almost as if following a fictional character through their Hero's Journey, only that it was entirely real. I loved that he focused not on the history of states as a whole, but of individual players who made small, but significant impacts on International Communism. 

      • • This made me curious about researching individual characters who have been largely influencial in Worldbuilding. Being from Okinawa, Japan, which is a location not often mainstream in research, I would love to conduct a research project on an influencial figure in Okinawan history who is not widely known to the public. 

• Inspired by Prof. Giannopoulou... Two Sides, Two Analyses

  • • Though Prof. Giannopoulou was the very first Humanities Core lecturer, I was still struck by her in-depth analysis of Odysseus, and especially enjoyed how she analyzed the story from Odysseus's perspective in one lecture, then from the Cyclops' perspective in the next. This difference in analysis of the same story, and the nuance it shed, was fascinating. There are two sides to every story, as the cliche goes, and I thought it would be interesting to, in her way, analyze a story from two very different sides to reach a conclusion about the "truth."

      • • As an Earth System Science major, I would love to involve the environmental and earth sciences somehow into my research. Currently, I have been reading into the artificial military developments of Okinawa. This is a highly nuanced story that I could look into from multiple perspectives. 

• Inspired by Prof. Cooks... Visual Codes as Worldbuilding Messages

  • • I was highly stimulated and interested in Prof. Cooks' analysis of visual imagery in order to decode a message about the state of the world of the artist and the state of the world they longed for. I thought this in-depth recognition and analysis of visual codes could make for a fascinating research project across multiple mediums. 

      • • One of my fascinations has always been clouds, and I thought that this could be an interesting symbol to evaluate in my research. I could look at the portrayl of clouds in art, literature, poetry, film, upon others, to come to a conclusion about how this symbol has been utilized to mean, past and present.