Binti

“‘Tribal’: that’s what they called humans from ethnic groups too remote and ‘ uncivilized’ to regularly send students to attend Oomza Uni.” 

Although Binti loves Oomza University and is desperate to attend the institution, she realizes the problems that come with such an institution. The irony and hypocrisy displayed here, especially in light of the Himbas’ treatment of the Enyi Zinariya, only speak to the insidious and silent ways that prejudice functions.

“‘In your university, in one of its museums, placed on display like a piece of rare meat is the stinger of our chief,’ it said. I wrinkled my face, but said nothing. ‘Our chief is…’ It paused. ‘We know of the attack and mutilation of our chief, but we do not know how it got there. We do not care. We will land on Oomza Uni and take it back. So you see? We have purpose.’” 

Binti believes that the Meduse are attacking Oomza University for no reason except to make war and carnage for their own enjoyment. The above passage changes the way that Binti views the Meduse and sets up a platform for their alliance later in the novella. Okorafor’s decision to have the Meduse attack for the sake of a stolen artifact is an allusion to the many indigenous artifacts stolen by modern institutions throughout the world.

“‘Look at me,’ she announced. ‘I’m fantastic.’ She sat back down. ‘It’s not the same as your situation, but I was born physically male and when I was thirteen I transitioned to female.’” 

Haifa is the reader’s first introduction to how the world around Binti treats and views gender. Haifa views her “transition” as a change similar to Binti’s growing of okuoko, a change that will take some time to get used to.

“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.”

Although the Khoush may look down on the Himba people as a savage and backwards race, both groups have progressive attitudes towards gender. Especially amongst the Himba, it is clear that gender is something that is socially constructed, rather than a permanent thing decided by one’s sex.

“Even as I got older everyone pulled back from me, I thought. Even my best friend Dele. I don’t think even he realized he was doing it. We were all falling into our roles, our destiny in the community. We were no longer free.” 

Binti contends with the loneliness that comes from being a master harmonizer. Even as a child, Binti is held at arm’s length, away and above from other Himba children. As a result, the community and family have placed undue pressures and expectations on Binti. Binti continues to contend with her destiny and her different responsibilities throughout the series. 

“I’m unclean because I left home, I thought. If I go home and complete my pilgrimage, I will be cleansed. The Seven will forgive me and I’ll be free of this toxic anger.” 

Despite everything that Binti has accomplished, she is unable to separate herself from the Himba beliefs that are entrenched within her. She believes herself to be “unclean” and feels guilty for her okuoko and the Meduse part of herself. This foreshadows the way that Binti will feel when she awakens her Enyi Zinariya nanoids and when New Fish’s microbes resurrect her.

“In some ways, Himba and Khoush were like night and day, but in matters of girlhood and womanhood and control, we were the same.” 

Binti speaks to her therapist and opens up to her about the pressures of home. Although the reader has seen the many differences between the Khoush and the Himba, this is the first time that Okorafor speaks to the similar restrictions placed upon them by their respective patriarchal societies. Both the Himba and Khoush look down on the Enyi Zinariya as a savage race, yet it is ironic that it is the latter that is a matriarchal society.

“During those first months at Oomza Uni, Okwu had answered my calls and walked for miles and miles with me through Math City during the deepest part of night when I suffered from homesickness so powerful that all I could do was walk and let my body think I was walking home. It had talked me into contacting all my siblings, even when I was too angry and neglected to initiate contact. Okwu had even allowed my parents to curse and shout at it through my astrolabe until they’d let go of all their anger and fear and calmed down enough to finally ask it, ‘How is our daughter?’ Okwu had been my enemy and now was my friend, part of my family.” 

The passage above speaks to the deep partnership that has begun to form between Okwu and Binti. An impatient and often violent person, Okwu has little patience for others. Despite this, Okwu and Binti are patient with each other; the care and deep friendship that they share are unlikely, especially considering their natures and races, but there bond is ultimately stronger because of it. 

“‘What has happened to my harmonizing daughter?’ I heard my father softly ask. ‘The peacemaker? She spits in her older sister’s face.’” 

The quote above is representative of how Binti’s family and community holds her to an unfair standard. Unlike Binti, the family does not expect Binti’s siblings to remain calm and silent in the face of an onslaught of insult and criticism. Although Binti’s family believes that Oomza University has changed her, Binti has simply come into her own.

“I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. I didn’t know what it all had done to me. It was there sometimes, and then sometimes, it wasn’t. I was peaceful, then all I could see was war. My siblings had been attacking me. How was peace going to help? I wanted to say these things. I wanted to explain to them all. Instead, I fled the dining room. I left my family to continue talking about me in my absence as they had since I’d left. As I ascended the stairs, I heard them start in. Vera began, then my brothers.” 

Although Binti does not understand where the well of rage inside her has come from, the Meduse part of her is there to stay for good. Instead of being “unclean” and tainted, as the Himba tell her she is, Binti simply needs to get the newfound part of her under control. 

“As I sat there, watching Okwu dance with its god, I thought about how strange it was that for me to swim in water was taboo and for Okwu such a taboo was itself a taboo. I remember thinking, The gods are many things.” 

Binti reconciles the different principles and ideas of the Meduse and the Himba respectively. This moment serves as a metaphor for her eventual unification between the Meduse and Himba parts of herself.

“Only men and boys were said to even have the ability to see the Night Masquerade and only those who were heroes of Himba families got to see it. No one ever spoke of what happened after seeing it. I’d never considered it. I’d never needed to.” 

Although Okorafor’s world is set far in the future, the realities that women must face in patriarchal cultures are relatable to present-day readers. The Himba culture is a traditional one, and even though Binti is a master harmonizer, her culture does not allow her to own her father’s astrolabe shop.

“My father’s mother was a desert woman and he never spoke of her. Himba men did not wear otjize, but sometimes they used it to palm roll or flatten their hair. My father used it to flatten his coarse bushy hair, to mask it. 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.” 

Okorafor depicts the colorism and prejudice the Himba people have for the Enyi Zinariya. Binti’s father feels the same distaste and hatred for the “Desert People,” despite being one himself. Binti’s dark skin is thus seen as something that must be made up for, something to despise. 

“‘We’re the Enyi Zinariya,’ he said. ‘No, I won’t translate that for you.’ He looked directly at me, into my eyes, and I didn’t turn away. I wanted an answer to my initial question and I knew when I was being tested. There is nothing like being a harmonizer and looking directly into another harmonizer’s eyes. Nothing.” 

Mwinyi refuses to translate the name of the Enyi Zinariya for Binti and in doing so, declines to do the additional labor of including Binti into the tribe. After Binti’s prejudice towards them, he does not wish to make her comfortable, and instead does the opposite. By speaking with Mwinyi, Binti learns more about the Enyi Zinariya and slowly begins to unlearn her prejudice. 

“Oh, I wanted to turn back so badly. Enough was enough was enough was enough. I could have made it home. Then I could have still made the trek out onto the salt trails on my own and caught up with the women and completed my pilgrimage. I could have become a whole woman in my clan, a complete Himba woman. All I had to do was walk into the darkness and use my astrolabe to tell me which way to go. However, we were days into the hinterland and if something did not kill me in the night, my lack of food or a proper water-gathering capture station would. Plus, I didn’t want to turn back. Why don’t I ever want to do what I’m supposed to do?” 

The passage above reflects the core theme of change and growth that is present in the series. Although Binti longs for a stable home and the comforts of familiarity, her passion for knowledge and intellectual curiosity refuses her desire to stay static. Binti continuously chooses to progress forward and learn more. 

“‘You try too hard to be everything, please everyone. Himba, Meduse, Enyi Zinariya, Khoush ambassador. You can’t. You’re a harmonizer. We bring peace because we are stable, simple, clear. What have you brought since you came back to Earth, Binti?’”

Mwinyi tells Binti that she has only brought discord to Osemba. The passage is an example of Binti’s conflicted inner thoughts manifesting into chaos in the outer world. Binti’s desperate need to parse out and separate out the different facets of her identity undoubtedly leaves her confused and uncertain. Mwinyi encourages her to embrace her multiplicity and find simplicity in acceptance.

“‘Haven’t you learned anything from all this? What’d you think I was a few days ago? What did you think of all Enyi Zinariya?’ I didn’t respond, so he did. ‘You thought we were savages. You were raised to believe that, even though your own father was one of us. You know why. And now I’m sitting here telling you how I learned I was a harmonizer and you’re so stuck on lies that you’d rather sit here wondering if I’m a spirit than question what you’ve been taught.’” 

Mwinyi once again calls out Binti’s prejudice towards the Enyi Zinariya. He is aware of her inherited prejudice; although he is patient with her, he is blunt and does not mince words.

“The Khoush had always seen my people as expendable, tools to use, toy with, and discard, useful animals until we weren’t useful anymore. During war, we were just in the way.” 

Binti speaks to the way the Khoush view the Himba. She is aware that they view the Himba as lesser and must speak to the Khoush in a manner that will force them to not only respect but also to listen to her.

“Only men were supposed to see the Night Masquerade and it was believed its appearance signified the approach of a big change; whether it brought change with its presence or change came afterward was never clear. The Night Masquerade was the personification of revolution. Its presence marked heroism. To also see it during the day was doubly unheard of. My family was dead; what more change could I endure? What was heroic about this happening? If this was a revolution, it was an awful one.” 

The patriarchal nature of the Himba is once again made evident. Just as the prejudice against the Enyi Zinariya is inherited, so is sexism. Binti, just like her father and brother, is unable to understand how seeing the Night Masquerade would be a happy event for a woman. 

“‘What reason does a man have to be beautiful?’ Chief Kapika asked as he watched me spread the leaf on the dry dirt. ‘Beauty does not need a reason,’ Okwu responded.” 

The above section is a telling exchange between Chief Kapika and Okwu. Okwu, a Meduse who is known to be a cold logician, is the one who extols the fact that beauty needs no reason, purpose, or gender.

“‘I was not leaving my family, my people, or my culture. I wanted to add to it all. I was born to go to that school and when I got there, even after everything that happened, that became even clearer. I fit right into Oomza Uni.’” 

Binti speaks honestly on her reason for leaving to attend Oomza University. Her family and community have been calling her departure a betrayal, but part of Binti had left so that she may further not only her own knowledge but also that of her people.

“‘So it’s true,’ he said. ‘You’ve become the wife of a Meduse.’ I frowned. ‘I’m no one’s wife.’” 

Dele, as traditionally Himba as Binti is not, is unable to understand that Binti belongs to no man. He represents the more patriarchal aspects of her community, as evidenced in his previous comment that she has ruined herself, as well as her sisters, for marriage. Dele views her decision to leave Himba as disgraceful. He projects his loss, the underlying implication being that he had desired her for his wife, in snidely remarking that she has partnered with a Meduse.

“When the Meduse anger had come forth, I’d immediately assumed something was wrong with me instead of realizing that it was simply a new change to which I had to adjust. I’d thought something was wrong with me because my family thought something was wrong with me. And now my childish actions had brought death and war. What had I started? Whatever it was, I had to finish it.” 

The passage above speaks to the importance of self-acceptance; Binti has been in a constant state of strife and self-doubt. Binti realizes that by accepting the Meduse part of herself, she is thus also able to control it. By denying it, Binti has given it power.