full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Nnedi Okorafor: Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the "Binti" novella trilogy, Binti laeves the pnaelt 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 iensrpid 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 conflict and the need to see an African girl lvaee the planet on her own terms. My science fiction had different ancestors, airfcan ones.

So I'm Nigerian-American. I was born to two Nigerian imrgamint pnaters and raised in the United setats, one of the birthplaces of classic science fiction. However, it was my Nigerian heritage that led me to write science foticin. Specifically I cite those family trips to Nigeria in the late '90s. I'd been taking trips back to Nigeria with my family since I was very young. These early trpis inspired me. Hence the first sroty that I ever even wrote took place in Nigeria. I wrote mainly magical realism and fantasy inspired by my love of Igbo and other West African tnioadtrial cosmologies and spiritualities. However, in the late '90s, I started noticing the role of technology in Nigeria: cblae TV and cell phones in the village, 419 scammers occupying the cybercafes, the small generator ceneotcnd to my cousin's desktop computer because the power was always going on and off. And my Americanness otrehed me enough to be intrigued by these things that most Nigerians saw as normal.

Open Cloze


In the "Binti" novella trilogy, Binti ______ the ______ 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 ________ 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 conflict and the need to see an African girl _____ the planet on her own terms. My science fiction had different ancestors, _______ ones.

So I'm Nigerian-American. I was born to two Nigerian _________ _______ and raised in the United ______, one of the birthplaces of classic science fiction. However, it was my Nigerian heritage that led me to write science _______. Specifically I cite those family trips to Nigeria in the late '90s. I'd been taking trips back to Nigeria with my family since I was very young. These early _____ inspired me. Hence the first _____ that I ever even wrote took place in Nigeria. I wrote mainly magical realism and fantasy inspired by my love of Igbo and other West African ___________ cosmologies and spiritualities. However, in the late '90s, I started noticing the role of technology in Nigeria: _____ TV and cell phones in the village, 419 scammers occupying the cybercafes, the small generator _________ to my cousin's desktop computer because the power was always going on and off. And my Americanness _______ me enough to be intrigued by these things that most Nigerians saw as normal.

Solution


  1. immigrant
  2. parents
  3. planet
  4. states
  5. inspired
  6. leaves
  7. traditional
  8. leave
  9. cable
  10. trips
  11. african
  12. connected
  13. fiction
  14. story
  15. othered

Original Text


In the "Binti" novella trilogy, Binti 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 conflict 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'd been taking trips back to Nigeria with my family since I was very young. These early trips inspired me. Hence the first story that I ever even wrote took place in Nigeria. I wrote mainly magical realism and fantasy inspired by my love of Igbo 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, 419 scammers occupying the cybercafes, the small generator connected to my cousin's desktop computer because the power was always going on and off. And my Americanness othered me enough to be intrigued by these things that most Nigerians saw as normal.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
science fiction 11
african girl 2
entire life 2
binti leaves 2
classic science 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
classic science fiction 2

Important Words


  1. african
  2. americanness
  3. ancestors
  4. binti
  5. birthplaces
  6. blood
  7. born
  8. cable
  9. carrying
  10. cell
  11. cite
  12. classic
  13. computer
  14. conflict
  15. connected
  16. cosmologies
  17. cultural
  18. cultures
  19. cybercafes
  20. deep
  21. desktop
  22. early
  23. education
  24. extraterrestrials
  25. family
  26. fantasy
  27. fiction
  28. generator
  29. girl
  30. heritage
  31. igbo
  32. immigrant
  33. inspired
  34. intrigued
  35. late
  36. leave
  37. leaves
  38. led
  39. line
  40. love
  41. magical
  42. narratives
  43. nigeria
  44. nigerian
  45. nigerians
  46. normal
  47. noticing
  48. novella
  49. occupying
  50. opera
  51. othered
  52. parents
  53. phones
  54. place
  55. planet
  56. power
  57. raised
  58. realism
  59. role
  60. runs
  61. scammers
  62. science
  63. seek
  64. small
  65. space
  66. specifically
  67. spiritualities
  68. started
  69. states
  70. story
  71. technology
  72. terms
  73. traditional
  74. trilogy
  75. trips
  76. tv
  77. united
  78. village
  79. west
  80. write
  81. wrote
  82. young