{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6a28001ca917ce4c7065c483/6a79f12defa771345a8b56ab?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Binti: Okorafor's African Girl at the Stars","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6a28001ca917ce4c7065c483/4d7149d7-fb97-4986-966a-4a824fa01a2e.jpg?height=200","description":"Nnedi Okorafor's Binti (2015) won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella. Its protagonist, Binti, is the first member of the Himba people of Namibia to be accepted to Oomza University, the greatest institution of learning in the galaxy. She leaves against her family's wishes, carrying her otjize (a red clay paste central to Himba identity), and becomes the sole survivor of a massacre by the Meduse — an alien species with whom she must make peace. Okorafor coined the term 'Africanfuturism' to distinguish her work from Afrofuturism: where Afrofuturism centers the African diaspora's relationship with America, Africanfuturism centers the African continent itself, drawing on specific African cultures and cosmologies rather than treating 'Africa' as a monolith. This episode examines Binti as a story about education access, cultural identity under pressure, and the possibility of peace-making across radical difference.","author_name":"Atween Studios"}