At College, a World in a Rodeo Arena

When college students reinvent the world
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo 2009.01.12 Mon

At Kansas State, Professer of Anthropology Michael Wesch teaches his students to understand peoples and cultures by simulating them, not with dry facts and figures. They learn about power imbalances, colonization, and what happens when different cultures interact, nearly as firsthand as they can get.

For weeks, 400 World Sim students work in groups of 20 to invent cultures – whose often-silly names belie serious values outlined in everything from government structures to gender relations. Then they come together in a giant space – like the cold and pungent rodeo arena – to discover what happens to their societies when confronted with trade systems, war, and depletion of natural resources.

Although about half of the rules are fixed, the students of every class have to make up the rest of the rules of how their world and simulation will work. The simulation often re-enacts events such as the colonial period, instances of genocide and times of empire. Students say they come out of the class with a better understanding of cross-cultural situations and globalization.