102 pages • 3 hours read
Nnedi OkoraforBinti
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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The Social Construction of Gender
In Okorafor’s Binti: The Complete Trilogy, the lens of science fiction allows the author to address modern issues of society’s construct of gender in a futuristic context. In a world of hyper-advanced science and space travel, gender continues to divide individuals and is constructed less by any scientific attribute and more by its socialization.
The intricacies of gender are evident through the character of Haifa. Gender is another journey that is determined by each person’s individual choices. Haifa “was born physically male and […] transitioned to female” (65) at the age of 13. Haifa’s terminology is akin to the current vocabulary surrounding transgender, intersex, and non-binary gender discourse. Although the Khoush believe themselves to be more advanced than the savage Himba and Enyi Zinariya, the latter two groups see gender as less of a “transition” and more of a natural correction of something intangible and unique to the individual. Binti explains the way Himba view gender:
‘Back home, we called people like Haifa eanda oruzo, but they weren’t so open about it. And we didn’t say ‘transition,’ we said ‘align’ and once they align, it was never mentioned again. Amongst the Himba, you ‘were what you knew you were once you knew what you were and that was that,’ to quote my village’s chief Kapika. I wondered if all the people of the Khoush communities were as open about alignment as Haifa’ (65).
The idea of “alignment” emphasizes the individual’s view of his or her own gender over that of the body. Thus, the Himba seem to highlight how gender is less physical than a social construct that is determined by the individual and respected by the community around them.
The notion that the individual defines gender is compounded in the series by Mwinyi’s perspective on it. Okwu is neither male nor female and goes by the pronoun “it.” Although Mwinyi respects this, he still often thinks of Okwu as a “him.” Later in the series, Mwinyi asks President Haras for its pronouns and for permission to call it “Mma” (338). Mwinyi says to President Haras: “I’m sorry. I don’t know if … do I call you Oga? President? In my village, we have only men and women and some who are both, neither, or more, but all human. At least, since the Zinariya left us long ago” (338). The inclusion of “both, neither, or more” further adds to the intangibility and non-binary nature of gender. Okorafor’s inclusion of the Khoush, Himba, and Enyi Zinariya attitudes towards gender paints an interesting picture not only of the way gender in Binti is seen but also in the way that each group has come to understand and socialize gender differently within its cultures.
The Intricacies of Race
Race is a topic handled with much care in Okorafor’s Binti: The Complete Series. Most humans in Binti are characters of color, although there is undoubtedly strife and colorism amongst themselves. Colorism is a sociological concept not far removed from racism. Colorism is a form of prejudice towards those with darker skin tones; it can include the preference for light skin, the belief that dark skin is unattractive or simply “bad,” and the notion that those with dark skin are somehow inferior. Colorism runs rampant in Okorafor’s Binti. In the beginning, readers see the cruel way that the Khoush treat and view Binti for her dark skin and Himba heritage. The Khoush look down on the Himba, Enyi Zinariya, and the Meduse. They believe the first two are a savage people. Even though the Himba are the creators and sellers of astrolabes, the very technology that they rely on, the Khoush continue to believe that the Himba are somehow lesser. The Khoush similarly believe that the Meduse are inferior for their worship of water as a god.
When Binti arrives at the launch port to leave for Oomza University for the first time, Khoush women touch her hair and remark about her otjize covered skin. One of them says: “These ‘dirt bathers’ are a filthy people” (5). This form of prejudice is not unique to the Khoush. The intricacies of race are a prevalent theme throughout the entirety of Binti. Groups who are victims of prejudice are also capable of expressing prejudice towards others. The Khoush attitude towards Binti is paralleled by Binti’s own reaction to discovering the truth of the zinariya communication platform:
I felt a sting of shame as I realized why I hadn’t understood something so obvious. My own prejudice. I had been raised to view the Desert People, the Enyi Zinariya, as a primitive, savage people plagued by a genetic neurological disorder. So that’s what I saw (184).
Okorafor emphasizes how stereotypes and prejudices are inherited or taught. Binti, despite being a child of different worlds—a combination of Himba, Meduse, and Enyi Zinariya—struggles with the negative connotations of each that she has been taught.
Even after getting to know the Enyi Zinariya, Binti still bemoans the fact that she’ll “be a desert person” (196), despite having always been part Enyi Zinariya. The Himba community has taught Binti this prejudice. Her father’s distaste for the Enyi Zinariya, for his own people and skin color, is made most clear when Binti thinks:
And like me, he was the shade of brown like the Desert People and he’d never liked this fact. My mother was a medium brown, like most Himba, and I knew for a fact that he was proud that all their other children were too … and that the one who got the desert complexion and hair made up for it by being a master harmonizer (172).
The Himba distrust of the Enyi Zinariya and their distaste for the color of their skin is undoubtedly colorist and speaks to a prejudice. Okorafor draws distinct parallels to the way the Khoush treat the Himba and the way that the latter treats the Enyi Zinariya in turn. Each race carries the potential stereotype for those who do not bother to see the truth. When Binti, Okwu, and Mwinyi are in Himba, the people there see only the “one who’d abandoned her people,” or Okwu, a “violent Meduse,” or Mwinyi, a “savage desert person” (257). Despite the tension between their peoples, all three try their best to unlearn their prejudices and, throughout the series, become friends.
Growth as the Key to Survival
Growth as the key to survival is an inherent theme to Okorafor’s Binti: The Complete Trilogy. The novel can be read as a bildungsroman, a popular genre that focuses a youth’s formative years and their journey to adulthood. As the titular character of the series, Binti and her struggles are the sole focus. Okorafor paints a full and detailed world around Binti with events like the Meduse-Khoush War, mysteries like the enigmatic edan, and bonds with people like Okwu, Dele, Mwinyi, and Haifa. However, Binti is still the focus on the story, and the author provides readers with little detail after Binti completes her metaphorical pilgrimage both outwardly and inwardly. Binti’s expedition to Oomza, her return home, and her final voyage to Oomza University tracks her own journey of self-discovery.
Okorafor writes of Binti: “From the moment my grandmother told me about the Zinariya, I’d known, really. Change was constant. Change was my destiny. Growth” (194). Despite how much Binti longs for things to stay the same as they once were, she realizes that cannot be so. Binti makes active choices to move forward, to progress the narrative and her own understanding of self. These decisions fundamentally change her both physically and mentally. When Binti’s nanoids activate, she describes the growing pains of change: “Just like the strange sensation of my okuoko when I first felt them, this was … this was beautiful. I felt the pain and glory of growth, was straining and shuddering with it” (202). Change and growth is thus a bittersweet thing. Binti comes to realize that “[c]hange was inevitable and where the Seven were involved, so was growth” (320). Change comes at the risk of nostalgia, but it remains utterly unavoidable. The theme of growth as the key to survival is thus central to the plot of Binti.
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