Final Project Assignment: A Cultural Cyborg

Final Project: A Cultural Cyborg

INTRO: In Binti, Binti has her native hair replaced with the okuoko, which are prehensile tentacles which allow her to not only speak with (and for) the Meduse, but change how others see her and how she sees herself. Soon after, she realizes that she is also Enyi Zinariya, a race with alien technology in their blood. She now has to confront difficult questions of identity, rather than accepting herself as a single, static being: I was Himba, a master harmonizer. Then I was also Meduse, anger vibrating in my okuoko. Now I was also Enyi Zinairya, of the Desert People gifted with alien technology. I was worlds. But some only see the drawbacks of the complexity, as her brother says, “You’re polluted…What man will marry you? What kind of children will you have now?” 

PROMPT: For your final project, I want to consider how parts of you have been replaced and augmented (either consciously or unconsciously) as you’ve gradually become the person you are today. What are the ‘okuoko’ which have been added to your intellectual, spiritual, emotional, or even physical identity? In what way have you become a very different person from the one you were ten years ago? Where did this ‘technology’ come from? Was it entirely by choice? Did you choose to change your identity in subtle ways that eventually led to a more drastic transformation? Or is this something that your culture/education naturally replaced so that you could function more efficiently in society? Do you feel that these are all improvements? Would you ever want to have a reverse-operation? 

EXAMPLES: getting a tattoo is a small but important way to transform your body and change its meaning (literally, by writing on the skin). Even a certain hair style or type of clothing can become an extension of your identity that changes how you see yourself (or how others do). But you could also say that devoting your life to a certain sport or activity can be an augmentation to your initial self that results in a change of life and ideas. Even books and fields of study can become okuoko!  

REQUIREMENTS: This is a ‘project,’ so it can take various forms: (a) a traditional paper that charts the ways that you augmented (or were augmented); (b) a more creative approach—a story, a poem; (c) a presentation either via Powerpoint, Prezi, etc., or something more creative; (d) a work of art such as a drawing, painting, etc.

The only CATCH is that your project must somehow incorporate Binti as part of your conversation: you should relate your experience with hers, and use passages in the text to help explain your experience, even if it seems radically different. Look at the metaphors—the way Okorafor translates a universal experience into a particular story about a specific woman.

DUE: Not later than the last day of Final Exam Week—Friday, May 6^th by 5pm