Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding

What if the best tool for building fictional worlds wasn’t a writing craft book, but a century of real cultural research?

Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding is a live Q&A series where I sit down with experts from across disciplines and translate their knowledge into practical worldbuilding tools through an anthropological lens. Some guests are authors and craft experts. Some are scientists, historians, and specialists in fields you might not expect. All of them have something that makes fictional worlds feel more real.

New episodes stream live on YouTube and are archived here. Bring your worldbuilding questions.

Need One on One Help?
If you want hands-on help with your specific project, I offer worldbuilding consultations. The first 15 minutes are free and can change your world forever.

Current Episodes

Textiles, Culture & Ecology ft. Sara Temme
Textile designer and environmental anthropologist Sara Temme, creator of The Textile Anthropologist Substack, joins me to explore how textiles function as cultural material, ecological narrative, and social critique. We dig into how what people wear encodes relationships between communities and their environments, how traditional textile practices carry ancestral knowledge, and what fabric can tell a worldbuilder about the societies they are creating. Streaming live August 18, 2026.

Astrophysics & Alien Worlds ft. Dr. Dakotah Tyler
Astrophysicist, author, and science communicator Dr. Dakotah Tyler, known online as Dr. StarKid, joins me to talk about how the universe actually works. From exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth to the realities of space travel and stellar systems, this episode gives writers the scientific grounding to build believable space-faring civilizations and alien worlds. Streaming live August 6, 2026.

Public Health, Disease & Worldbuilding ft. Dr. Olivia Zarella
Epidemiologist and public health researcher Dr. Olivia Zarella, DrPH, MPH, joins me to explore what disease, illness, and health systems can do for your fictional world. We dig into how pandemics shape social structures and political power, what writers get wrong about contagion and quarantine, and how public health crises reveal the values and fault lines of the societies they hit. Streaming live July 23, 2026.

Building a Fictional World Through Poetry ft. Jordan Wyberneit
Poet Jordan Wyberneit, author of After the Anthropocene, joins me to explore what poetry can do for worldbuilding that prose can’t. We dig into how ambiguity gives writers permission to invoke feelings without fully explaining them, why a single recurring image, like a teacup, or a red door, can ground an entire narrative more powerfully than pages of exposition, and how the Piraha people’s relationship to language challenges everything Western storytelling assumes about time and grammar.

What the Dead Say: Egyptology, Childhood, and the Sacred ft. Courtney McRae Crawford
Egyptologist Courtney McRae Crawford, who has spent over seven years living in Egypt and holds a master’s from the American University in Cairo, joins me to explore ancient Egyptian magic, mummification, and what 600 analyzed child burials reveal about how a society values its youngest members. We dig into the race debate surrounding ancient Egypt, the trade networks linking Egypt to Afghanistan and Nubia, and why modern Egyptians often feel cut off from their own ancient heritage.

Horses, Domestication & Worldbuilding ft. J.R. Frontera
Science fiction and fantasy author J.R. Frontera joins me to dig into the anthropology of domestication and what horses can teach writers about building believable worlds. We cover the real limits of horse speed and endurance, how the Mongol Empire’s horse culture gave them a decisive military edge, and the fictional horse details that make experienced riders cringe.

Why Your Fictional World Needs Folklore ft. Dr. Jeana Jorgensen
Folklorist Dr. Jeana Jorgensen joins me to talk about the rumors, jokes, superstitions, and folk beliefs that make a culture feel lived-in from the inside out. We cover why fairy tales have no single correct version, how folklore can function as both social glue and a tool of oppression, and how graffiti during the Arab Spring became its own form of resistance folklore.

Biology and the Body ft. Kyra Wellstrom Forensic anthropologist and co-author of Build Better Worlds, Kyra joins me to answer your questions about bodies, decay, and all the visceral details that make fictional worlds feel real. Streamed on March 26, 2026

Hearth and Home in Worldbuilding ft. Stant Litore Author of Write Worlds Your Readers Won’t Forget and the inspiration behind the Emmy-nominated Love Death and Robots episode Running with the Tyrannosaur, Stant joins me to explore what makes a fictional world feel like home. We cover solastalgia, ancient Roman domestic space, Keith Basso’s concept of place, and why character wounds are the engine of the best plot choices.

Worldbuilding with Anthropology: Writing Cultures, Myths, and Believable Societies A solo deep dive into how anthropological thinking builds more coherent fictional cultures. Covers myth structures, social organization, and what makes a society feel lived-in rather than invented.

Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding: Live Q&A for Writers and Creators The inaugural episode. An open Q&A exploring how anthropology applies to fiction writing, game design, and filmmaking.

Want to go deeper?

Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers is the most comprehensive resource I have put together on anthropological worldbuilding. Co-written with forensic anthropologist Kyra Wellstrom, it gives you the building blocks for creating more authentic and immersive worlds based on real social science.