DXARTS 200 Assignment 1
The science fiction story Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor, is inspired by West African traditional cosmologies and spiritualities. The story starts by talking about the main character Binti leaving family and home to pursue education in an off-world university.
“Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs” (Okorafor, 2015).
I resonate with the science fiction Binti in many ways. I am also a first-generation college student studying abroad at a university 5,396 miles from home. I left home when I was 14 years old. The culture and environment that I grew up in are completely different from the Western culture. The substantial cultural gap makes me find myself caught in-between because the knowledge I learn and the education I get contratradicts with what I used to believe due to my upbringing. My immature knowledge system and value system shatter and reconstruct. Now today, almost at the end of my educational journey, looking back, I feel happy and accomplished to see my growth, how I have resolved many inner conflicts, and how I have become a more independent and complete person.
I really like what the author Okorafor said in her TED talk:
“Leaving but bringing and then becoming more” (Okorafor, 2017).
It makes me reflect and realize that although I have left home for almost 8 years, my family and my root always and still is an indispensable part of my identity, and things I learn and I see along my journey becomes parts of my identity as well. My identity and my worldview are not either black or white - it is complex, inclusive, and fluid, like the Taoism concept of Ying and Yang. I think inclusion - willingness to learn and respect others' cultures - open-mindedness, and creativity are keys for Binti to solve conflicts in the universe.
Science fiction is all about the question “what if,” as Okorafor said in the TED talk (Okorafor, 2017), but more importantly, we should ask ourselves on what ground we are asking the question “what if.” The future isn’t future if without past and present. The way the story Binti incorporates culture and traditions with futuristic technology and innovation makes it very different from other sci-fi fiction I have read. Binti inspires me to bring my own personal identity and history into this art project.
- Nnedi Okorafor. (2015, August 17). Binti. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2015/08/17/excerpts-binti-nnedi-okorafor/
- TED. (2017). Nnedi Okorafor: Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa | TED [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt0PiXLvYlU&ab_channel=TED
- Background music "星河echo" by an AWESOME Chinese indie band 阁楼演奏班
- Hyperlinks from the internet
- Photographs taken by myself
- Digital hand-drawing by myself
- HTML, CSS, and Javascript code written by myself