What if an African girl from a traditional family in a part of future Africa is accepted into the finest university in the galaxy, planets away? What if she decides to go? This is an excerpt from my "Binti" novella trilogy:
﻿如果一个来自传统家庭的非洲女孩， 作为非洲的未来的一部分 被一所公认为银河系最好的大学录取了？ 在几个星球之外？ 如果她决定去怎么办？ 这是我从“Binti”中篇小说三部曲的摘录：
I powered up the transporter and said a silent prayer. I had no idea what I was going to do if it didn't work. My transporter was cheap, so even a droplet of moisture or, more likely, a grain of sand, would cause it to short. It was faulty, and most of the time I had to restart it over and over before it worked. "Please not now, please not now," I thought. The transporter shivered in the sand and I held my breath. Tiny, flat and black as a prayer stone, it buzzed softly and then slowly rose from the sand. Finally, it produced the baggage-lifting force. I grinned. Now I could make it to the shuttle on time. I swiped otjize from my forehead with my index finger and knelt down, then I touched the finger to the sand, grounding the sweet-smelling red clay into it.
我打开运输机，默默地祈祷。 如果它不好使了， 我不知道该怎么办 我的运输机很便宜， 因此，即使是一小滴的水分， 或更可能，一粒沙子， 会使它出毛病。 它是故障的，而且大部分时间 我不得不一遍又一遍地重启 才能启动。 “请不要是现在，请不要是现在，”我想。 运输机颤抖着扎进了沙子， 我不由得屏住呼吸 黑色的飞船又小又平像是块幸运石 它轻轻地嗡嗡作声， 又缓缓从沙堆中升空 最后，它产生了提升行李的力。 我如释重负地咧嘴一笑。 现在我可以让飞船按时到达了 我用食指把 otjize 从我的额头拂下，跪下， 然后我把手指碰在沙子上， 把香的红色泥土接进去。
"Thank you," I whispered.
“谢谢你，”我低声说。
It was a half-mile walk along the dark desert road. With the transporter working I would make it there on time. Straightening up, I paused and shut my eyes. Now, the weight of my entire life was pressing on my shoulders. I was defying the most traditional part of myself for the first time in my entire life. I was leaving in the dead of night, and they had no clue. My nine siblings, all older than me except for my younger sister and brother, would never see this coming. My parents would never imagine I'd do such a thing in a million years. By the time they all realized what I'd done and where I was going, I'd have left the planet.
沿着漆黑的沙漠路走了半英里。 既然运输机能使了， 我会准时赶到那里的。 直起身来，我停顿了一下， 闭上了眼睛。 现在，我的整个生命的重量 压在我的肩膀上。 我第一次挑战自己最传统的部分， 在我的一生中。 我在深夜离开，他们毫不知情。 我的九个兄弟姐妹都比我大， 除了我的妹妹和弟弟， 从来没想到这会发生。 我父母永远都不会想到我会干这种事。 当他们都意识到我做了什么 和我要去哪里的时候， 我已经离开这个星球了。
In my absence, my parents would growl to each other that I was never to set foot in their home again. My four aunties and two uncles who lived down the road would shout and gossip amongst themselves about how I had scandalized the entire bloodline. I was going to be a pariah.
在我不在的时候， 我的父母会互相咆哮。 我再也不会踏进他们的家了。 我的四个阿姨和两位叔叔住在同一条路上 总是相互大喊大叫着 我如何使整个家族蒙羞。 我将会成为一个贱民。
"Go," I softly whispered to the transporter, stamping my foot. The thin metal rings I wore around each ankle jingled noisily, but I stamped my foot again. Once on, the transporter worked best when I didn't touch it.
“走吧，”我轻声对运输机说， 跺着我的脚。 我穿的薄金属环围绕每个踝叮当响， 但我又跺脚了。 一旦启动，运输机在我不碰它时工作得最好。
"Go," I said again, sweat forming on my brow. When nothing moved, I chanced giving the two large suitcases sitting atop the force field a shove. They moved smoothly, and I breathed another sigh of relief. At least some luck was on my side.
“走，”我又说，汗水在我的额头上形成。 什么都没有动， 我碰巧把两个大箱子放在原力场顶上。 它们走得很顺利，我又松了一口气。 至少我还有点运气。
So, in a distant future part of Africa, Binti is a mathematical genius of the Himba ethnic group. She's been accepted into a university on another planet, and she's decided to go. Carrying the blood of her people in her veins, adorned with the teachings, ways, even the land on her very skin, Binti leaves the earth.
所以，在遥远的未来非洲的一部分， 宾蒂是辛巴族的数学天才。 她被另一个行星的一所大学录取了， 而且她决定去。 携带着她的族人的血脉， 她的皮肤装饰着教导，道路，甚至大地， Binti 离开地球。
As the story progresses, she becomes not other, but more. This idea of leaving but bringing and then becoming more is at one of the hearts of Afrofuturism, or you can simply call it a different type of science fiction. I can best explain the difference between classic science fiction and Afrofuturism if I used the octopus analogy. Like humans, octopuses are some of the most intelligent creatures on earth. However, octopus intelligence evolved from a different evolutionary line, separate from that of human beings, so the foundation is different. The same can be said about the foundations of various forms of science fiction.
随着故事的进行，她不再是另一个人， 而是更多。 离开但带来并变得更多的想法 在一个未来派主义的心里， 或者你可以简单地称之为 另一种科幻小说。 我可以很好地解释经典的科幻小说 和未来派主义之间的差异 如果我用章鱼做比喻。 像人类， 章鱼是地球上最聪明的动物之一。 然而，章鱼的智能是从不同的进化路线 进化而来的， 与人类没有关系， 所以从基础上就不同。 各种科幻小说的基础也可以这么说。
So much of science fiction speculates about technologies, societies, social issues, what's beyond our planet, what's within our planet. Science fiction is one of the greatest and most effective forms of political writing. It's all about the question, "What if?" Still, not all science fiction has the same ancestral bloodline, that line being Western-rooted science fiction, which is mostly white and male. We're talking Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, George Orwell, Robert Heinlein, etc.
科幻小说中有那么多推测 关于技术、社会和社会问题， 在我们的星球之外有什么， 我们的星球里有什么。 科幻小说是政治写作中 最伟大和最有效的形式之一 全是关于这个问题的：“如果呢？” 不过，并不是所有的科幻小说都有相同的来路， 这条线是西方科幻小说， 大部分是白人和男性。 我们在谈论艾萨克·阿西莫夫， 儒勒·凡尔纳， H.G. 威尔斯，乔治·奥威尔， 罗伯特·海因莱因等。
So what if a Nigerian-American wrote science fiction? Growing up, I didn't read much science fiction. I couldn't relate to these stories preoccupied with xenophobia, colonization and seeing aliens as others. And I saw no reflection of anyone who looked like me in those narratives.
如果一个尼日利亚美国人写科幻小说怎么办？ 在成长过程中，我没有读过很多科幻小说。 我无法理解这些故事， 全神贯注它们充斥着排外主义、殖民主义 和外星人。 在那些叙述中，没有任何像我的人。
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.
在“宾蒂”中篇小说三部曲， Binti 离开地球去寻求外星人的教育。 她就这样出去了， 她的外貌就是那样， 承载她的文化， 做她自己。 我被启发写这个故事。 并不是因为 我遵循了一系列经典的太空歌剧叙事， 而是因为血脉的牵绊那样深， 家庭、文化冲突 我需要看到一个非洲女孩 按照自己的方式离开这个星球。 我的科幻小说有不同的祖先， 非洲的。
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.
所以我是尼日利亚裔美国人。 我出生于两个尼日利亚移民父母。 并在美国长大， 一个经典的科幻小说的发源地。 然而，正是我的尼日利亚传统 让我写了科幻小说。 具体来说，我引用了90年代末 去尼日利亚的家庭旅行。 从很小的时候起， 我就和家人一起回尼日利亚旅行了。 这些早期的旅行启发了我。 因此，我曾经写过的第一个故事 发生在尼日利亚。 我写的主要是魔幻现实主义和幻想。 灵感来自我对依博族的热爱 和其他西非传统的宇宙论和灵性。 然而，在90年代后期， 我开始注意到技术在尼日利亚的作用： 村里的有线电视和手机， 419 骗子占领网吧， 小发电机连接到我表弟的台式电脑 因为电力总是时好时坏。 我的美国差异使我对这些大多数尼日利亚人 看起来很正常的事感到好奇，这让我烦恼。
My intrigue eventually gave birth to stories. I started opening strange doors. What if aliens came to Lagos, Nigeria? This is an excerpt from my novel, "Lagoon."
我的兴趣最终产生了故事。 我开始打开陌生的门。 如果外星人来到尼日利亚的拉各斯 会发生什么呢？ 这是我的小说《Lagoon》的节选：
Everybody saw it, all over the world. That was a real introduction to the great mess happening in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa, Africa, here. Because so many people in Lagos had portable, chargeable, glowing, vibrating, chirping, tweeting, communicating, connected devices, practically everything was recorded and posted online in some way, somehow, quickly. The modern human world is connected like a spider's web.
每个人都看到了， 全世界。 这是对拉各斯发生的大混乱的一个真正的介绍， 尼日利亚，西非，非洲，这里。 因为在拉各斯 有这么多人有手提式的，收费的， 发光的，振动，啁啾，嗡嗡， 沟通的连接设备， 几乎所有的东西都以某种方式 记录和发布在网上， 迅速地， 用各种方式. 现代人的世界就像蜘蛛网一样相连。
The world was watching. It watched in fascinated horror for information, but mostly for entertainment. Footage of what was happening dominated every international news source, video-sharing website, social network, circle, pyramid and trapezoid. But the story goes deeper. It is in the mud, the dirt, the earth, in the fond memory of the soily cosmos. It is in the always mingling past, present and future. It is in the water. It is in the powerful spirits and ancestors who dwelled in Lagos. It is in the hearts and minds of the people of Lagos. Change begets change. The alien Ayodele knew it. All her people know it.
全世界都在观望。 它惊恐地注视着。 为了信息， 但主要是为了娱乐。 所发生的一切都是国际新闻来源的素材， 视频共享网站，社交网络， 圆形，金字塔和梯形。 但故事更深入。 它在泥里， 污垢里， 土壤里， 在沾泥的宇宙的美好的记忆。 它总是将过去、现在和将来交织在一起。 它在水里。 它是在强大的灵魂和祖先居住在拉各斯。 它在拉各斯人民的心中。 变化引起的变化。 外星人 ayodele 知道。 她身边所有人都知道。
So, this is a voice of Udide, the supreme spider artist, who is older than dirt and lives in the dirt beneath the city of Lagos, listening and commenting and weaving the story of extraterrestrials coming to Lagos. In the end, the great spider who was the size of a house and responsible for weaving the past, present and future decides to come forth and be a part of the story.
这是Udide的声音， 它是最棒的蜘蛛艺术家， 比泥土还老 住在拉各斯城下面的泥土里， 倾听和评论 织来拉各斯的外星人的故事。 最后，一只大得像一个大房子的蜘蛛 负责编织过去、现在和未来 决定出来，成为故事的一部分。
Like Udide, the spider artist, African science fiction's blood runs deep and it's old, and it's ready to come forth, and when it does, imagine the new technologies, ideas and sociopolitical changes it'll inspire. For Africans, homegrown science fiction can be a will to power.
像 Udide 一样，蜘蛛艺术家， 非洲科幻小说的血脉很深远羁绊着 它是古老的， 它已经准备好了， 而当它出来的时候， 想象它会激发怎么样的新的技术、 理念和社会政治的变化。 对非洲人来说， 国产科幻小说是一种权力意志。
What if? It's a powerful question.
如果？ 这是个强有力的问题。
Thank you.
谢谢您。
(Applause)
（掌声）