Welcome to the North Blooper Territory

It is a land of volcanoes, wolf people, magical crystals, and a lake full of explosive fish. The human culture of the Despairians eek out a meager existence on the shores of a cursed lake, while the people of the Southern Jungle wage a war against loggers who would destroy their home. But among all this darkness and discord are opportunities for adventure as well, whether it’s diving among the colorful coral reefs of the North or doing battle with the lava creatures within Mt. Mountain (no, really). It is a world that few would want to live in, but perhaps the brave would like to visit.

Of course, this world isn’t a real one — it was collaboratively created by the students in Archaeology and World-making, a brand new course at Ivy this year. Over the course of the week, students learn about the forces that shaped human cultures in our world in order to understand how to make their own fictional universes, populated with plants, animals, and sentient creatures right out of a fantasy or sci-fi novel.

While the map they create as a class is somewhat bound by these real-world rules, students are free to break with them to make their own imaginations come to life. Among the worlds that students have made include a land literally torn in two by a dragon, a planet of fish people, and a poison river that sprung from an ancient curse.

To make these dreams a reality, students learn how to use map-making software and their own online databases to store their ideas and share them with the world. Our awesome instructor Ryan helps them along not only by showing them how to use these tools, but also constantly asks questions that will expand their world: “Why are these groups fighting?” “What sort of plants grow here?” “How do you think this mountain changes the way people relate to each other?”

As their worlds become deeper, so too do their questions about our own: students have discussed the difference between the US and Great Britain, the problems with judging others based on a single perception of their culture, and the difficulties of learning about the past through the shards of artifacts left behind. Through imagining new worlds, perhaps these campers can become better and more creative members of our own!