world-making workshop part I

There is an island. It is a fictional island. It is inhabited by beings who have built a civilization, and by animals and plant life. The beings do not have to be (fully) human, the "animals" can differ from how we think of animals and nature can be the same or take different forms of what we are used to on Earth. You can decide the island's size, its climate, geographical features, vicinity to other islands/main land, and so on. The island can exist in the future, or in an alternative past, present or universe. There is one characteristic that you cannot change: on the island, all beings and matter are considered to have the same right of existence. There is no species (like humankind) who consider themselves as superior to "nature" - there is no anthropocentrism or human exceptionalism.

"The Islanders" by contemporary artist Charles Avery

Imagine there is a traveler who visits the island. Upon leaving the island, the visitor takes some artifacts/souvenirs. You can interpret "artifact/souvenir" in the broadest sense of the word: a sculpture, field notes/diary entry, a piece of clothing, a song, a piece of technology, food, a book/magazine, a leaf, a drawing of an animal, anything.

As a group, you will create these artifacts. "As a group" means that, at the end of part I, the artifacts you have created come from the same island. There should be coherence - the story that is told by the artifacts should make sense.

This does not mean, however, that you have to create a full description, history, etc. of the island in detail before you can start working on your artifacts. Think of it as if you were visiting a completely unfamiliar place for the first time, just for an hour or two, and happened to pick up a souvenir. You're not really sure what the souvenir means in the context of the place you just visited, but you can guess. The next time you go and spend more time in this unfamiliar place, you will be able to better contextualize any new artifacts you take home with you. The time after that, even more so, and so on.

What is important, is that you together, as a group, keep communicating, collaborating and sharing during the process of creating your artifacts, so that your artifact(s) are grounded in the same place. You can decide whether you want to work individually, in smaller groups or all together on the artifact(s). There is no minimum of artifacts, nor do they have to be finished.

Anthropocentrism refers to a human-centered, or “anthropocentric,” point of view. In philosophy, anthropocentrism can refer to the point of view that humans are the only, or primary, holders of moral standing. Anthropocentric value systems thus see nature in terms of its value to humans; while such a view might be seen most clearly in advocacy for the sustainable use of natural resources, even arguments that advocate for the preservation of nature on the grounds that pure nature enhances the human spirit must also be seen as anthropocentric.

and don't forget all the sources on the previous page!

Kopnina et al. (2018). Anthropocentrism: More than Just a Misunderstood Problem.

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

"New Tahiti was mostly water, warm shallow seas broken here and there by reefs, islets, archipelagoes, and the five big Lands that lay in a 2500-kilo arc across the Northwest Quarter-sphere. And all those flecks and blobs of land were covered with trees. Ocean: forest. That was your choice on New Tahiti. Water and sunlight, or darkness and leaves."