When we think of history, we think of empire. From the conquests of Genghis Khan to the colonies of King George III, history textbooks give us dates, names, and colorful maps... ...but people don't live on paper. They eat, they work, they learn, marry, and die. They do things for reasons ranging from climate to social pressures. Empires aren't borders drawn in bright colors on a textbook page, they are groups of people moving in a thousand different directions and experiencing a thousand different paths through life. This course is two things at once. First, we will take a deep look at why and where empires formed, how they survived (or didn't!), and what it was like to live under them. Then, we will use this knowledge to build our own world of empires, cultures, and languages in a simulation. The world is yours for the taking!

“When a tongue dies, Many more have already died And many can die. Mirrors forever broken Voice shadows Forever silenced: Humankind is impoverished.” - Gabriela Badillo, translated by Victor Harari There are thousands of languages in the world, with wildly varying statistics depending on where the line is drawn between language and dialect. A large number of these, however, are in danger of going dormant: that is, losing all of their speakers and, if the language is not recorded, being lost forever. In this class we will explore a number of case studies of language revitalization and dive into the factors in their success/shortcomings, as well as the reasons that the language became endangered in the first place. We will also discuss doing language revitalization work: best strategies and methods, how best to respect the speakers of the language, etc. Perhaps most importantly, we will also talk about why this work is important and the consequences of losing a language.