what if an African girl from a
traditional family in a part of future
Africa is accepted into the finest
university in the galaxy planets away
what if she decides to go this is an
excerpt from my binti novella trilogy I
powered up the transporter and set a
silent prayer I had no idea what I was
going to do if it didn't work my
transporter was cheap so even the
droplet of moisture or more likely a
grain of sand would cause it to short it
was faulty and most of the time I had to
restart it over and over before it
worked
please not now please not now I thought
the transporter shivered in the sand and
I held my breath tiny flat and black as
a prayer stone it buzzed softly and then
slowly rose from the sand
finally it produced the baggage lifting
force I grinned now I could make it to
the shuttle on time I swiped though GTA
from my forehead with my index finger
and knelt down then I touched the finger
to the sand grounding the sweet-smelling
red clay into it thank you
I whispered it was a half mile walk
along the dark desert road with the
transporter working I would make it
there on time straightening up I paused
and shut my eyes now the weight of my
entire life was pressing on my shoulders
I was defying the most traditional part
of myself for the first time in my
entire life I was leaving in the dead of
night and they had no clue my nine
siblings all older than me except for my
younger sister and brother would never
see this coming
my parents would never imagine I'd do
such a thing in a million years by the
time they all realized what I'd done and
where was going I'd have left the planet
in my absence my parents would growled
to each other and I was never to set
foot in their home again my four aunties
and two uncles who lived down the road
would shout and gossip amongst
themselves about how I had scandalized
the entire bloodline I was going to be a
pariah go I softly whispered to the
sporter stamping my foot it's in metal
rings I wore around each ankle jingled
noisily but I stamped my foot again once
on the transporter worked best when I
didn't touch it go I said again sweat
forming on my brow when nothing moved a
chance giving the two large suitcases
sitting atop the force field a shove
they moved smoothly and I breathed
another sigh of relief at least some
luck was on my side so in a distant
future part of Africa bindi is a
mathematical genius of the Himba ethnic
group she's been accepted into a
university on another planet and she's
decided to go carrying the blood of her
people in her veins adorned with the
teachings ways even the land on her very
skin minty leaves the earth as the story
progresses she becomes not other but
more this idea of leaving but bringing
them becoming more is that one of the
hearts of afrofuturism or you can simply
call it a different type of science
fiction I can best explain the
difference between classic science
fiction and afrofuturism if I use the
octopus analogy mm-hmm like humans
octopuses are some of the most
intelligent creatures on earth
however octopus intelligence have
evolved from a different evolutionary
line separate from that of human beings
so the foundation is different the same
can be said about the foundations of
various forms of science fiction so much
of science fiction speculates about
technologies societies social issues
what's beyond our planet what's within
our planet science fiction is one of the
greatest and most effective forms of
political writing it's all about the
question what if still not all science
fiction has the same ancestral bloodline
that line being Western rooted science
fiction which is mostly white and male
we're talking Isaac Osmo of Jules
Verne's HD wells George Orwell Robert
Heinlein etc so what if a Nigerian
American wrote science Vic
growing up I didn't read much science
fiction I couldn't relate to these
stories preoccupied with xenophobia
colonization and seeing aliens as others
and I saw no reflection of anyone who
looked like me in those narratives in
the binti novella trilogy banty leaves
the planet to seek education from
extraterrestrials she goes out as she is
looking the way she looks
carrying her cultures being who she is I
was inspired to write this story not
because I was following a line of
classic space opera narratives but
because of blood that runs deep family
cultural conflicts and the need to see
an African girl leave the planet on her
own terms my science fiction had
different ancestors African ones so I'm
Nigerian American I was born to two
Nigerian immigrant parents and raised in
the United States one of the birthplaces
of classic science fiction however it
was my Nigerian heritage that led me to
write science fiction specifically I
cite those family trips to Nigeria in
the late 90s I've been taking trips back
to Nigeria with my family since I was
very young these early trips inspired me
hence the first stories I ever even
wrote took place in Nigeria I wrote
mainly magical realism and fantasy
inspired by my love of ebo and other
West African traditional cosmologies and
spiritualities however in the late 90s I
started noticing the role of Technology
in Nigeria cable TV and cell phones in
the village four one nine scammers
occupying the cyber cafes the small
generator connected to my cousin's
desktop computer because the power was
always going on and off and my
Americanists other de anuncio as normal
my intrigue eventually gave birth to
stories I started opening strange doors
what if aliens came to Lagos Nigeria
this is an excerpt from my novel Lagoon
everybody saw it all over the world that
was a real introduction to the great
mess happening in Lagos Nigeria West
Africa Africa here because so many
people in Lagos had portable chargeable
glowing vibrating chirping tweeting
communicating connected devices
practically everything was recorded and
posted online in some way somehow
quickly
the modern human world is connected like
a spider's web the world was watching it
watched and fascinated horror for
information but mostly for entertainment
footage of what was happening dominated
every international news source video
sharing websites social networks circle
pyramid and trapezoid but the story goes
deeper it is in the mud the dirt the
earth in the fond memory of the soil II
cosmos
it isn't always mingling past present
and future it is in the water it is in
the powerful spirits and ancestors who
dwelled in Lagos it is in the hearts and
minds of the people of Lagos change
begets change the alien IO Delhi knew it
all her people know it so this is the
voice of d-day the supreme spider artist
who was older than dirt and lives in the
dirt beneath the city of Lagos listening
and commenting and weaving the story of
extraterrestrials coming to Lagos in the
end the great spider who is the size of
a house and responsible for weaving the
past present and future decides to come
forth and be a part of the story like
ooh d-day the spider artist African
science fiction's blood runs deep and
it's old and it's ready to come forth
and when it does imagine the new
technologies ideas and socio-political
changes it'll inspire
for africans homegrown science fiction
can be a will to power what if it's a
powerful question thank you
[Applause]