Futurismnow

 Fisk Candau Dr Ellis EN376 27 Nov 2023 Laguardia Reflection     Something I found really interesting about the reading was the depiction of strength, resilience, and resistance. Almost all of the human characters belong to groups typically thought of as weak or lazy like women and pregnant people. However, instead of playing into the tropes that pregnant women need to be protected or that women don't have the strength or will to go out and fight for things like men do, Okorafor has every main character be a part of these groups and still have resilience and strength as one of their main character traits. With this, Okorafor fights against the characterisations/generalisations of these women, especially pregnant women, being weak or having lesser abilities than their male counterparts.     I especially found interesting how strength and resilience were tied to people's identity as part of their family, like when Future's grandmother says that of course she's com...

                    In reading  LaGuardia , I found myself so drawn into the world Okorafor and Ford created. I’m not used to reading many graphic novels, so reading  LaGuardia  was an unusual experience for me. But I found that the use of illustrations truly added to the story—especially with the aliens. Okorafor’s frame for the narrative clearly comes from Trump’s travel ban (which thankfully has been ended). But what truly interested me was Citizen’s involvement with the Biafra movement. I know relatively little about Nigeria’s history (and most of West Africa as well), but Okorafor’s use of Citizen as a complicated foil to Future brought a deeper element to the narrative that I truly appreciated. Citizen, as we learn, supports the movement to secede from Nigeria and create a “pure” land for people separate from the Nigeria full of aliens. This cause stems from the real event of Biafra’s succession and the Nig...

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 376 27 November One of the first things I noticed in Nnedi Okorafor’s work is that she highlights the constructed, divisive belief that those who look different are different and must be treated as such. For example, when Citizen, Future, and his child are all in a room where Citizen sees aliens playing with his kid, Citizen exemplifies the othering caused by such perpetuated beliefs. He says “Hasn’t our son been exposed enough?” (my copy doesn’t have page numbers). This implies that it is not natural for aliens and humans to cohabitate, nor is it acceptable for an infant to be in such constant contact with them as evidenced by Citizen’s initial response to the aliens playing with his kid. Although this belief is strongly rejected by the aliens and those who seek to unite Nigeria without the needless othering, Citizen still believes that children should not be closely associated with them. The aliens then tell him, “Ridiculous. You haven't been here a ...

  Tyra Alexander 26 November 2023  EN*376 Dr. Ellis Laguardia Reflection Reading Laguardia really solidified the purpose of dystopia to me. A few days ago I saw a post on social media that said “Dystopian Fiction doesn’t predict the future, it critiques the present” in response to the Hunger Games series. It’s safe to say that I definitely see it manifest in this graphic novel by Okorafor. I definitely saw parallels between the novel and the travel ban that was placed during  Trump’s presidency. I also saw parallels with discrimination and microaggressions against immigrants. But after reading the afterword by the author, it was very interesting to see how one event that happened to Nnedi in Laguardia Airport transformed into a piece as such. Other aspects I wanted to touch on were the names of the characters and Future’s hair. The name’s of the characters being niche reminded me of “Pet” by Emezi. I didn’t really look into what some of them may mean but the...

     While reading LaGuardia, I found myself comparing the discrimination against the aliens to that of immigrants and colored people in America today. However, I then questioned myself as I wondered how the people in American would react to aliens entering out world today. For as much as we’d like to think we’d welcome aliens with open arms, I do not think we would. We would probably hold protests and have anti-alien bans in fear of how they could change our reality.    The setting of the airport stood out to me throughout the graphic novel as well. After doing research, I discovered that Okorafor set this story in the airport based off personal experiences . Okorafor travels a lot, and it became clear to her that airport and border crossings are more focused on control than safety. Okorafor describes that an airport is “the space between, a place of contention, a place of displacement, a place of fear, a place of identity.” The airport is a place wher...

 Ruth Owusu  Dr. Juniper Ellis  Postcolonial Literature   LaGuardia Reflection      Questioning at the airport is such a real and scary experience for many Africans, undocumented citizens, and "foreigners" who arrive in America. As much as America promotes itself as hospitable, the land of the free, etc.. its interactions and implementations are quite the opposite. Okorafor presents those truths in the contrast, yet similar lives of Future and the 3 Sudanese men who came abroad.      Although Future is a Nigerian American, a naturalized citizen, she was still interrogated by the security at the airport. Her physical appearance may have played a huge part in that but also, she lived in Nigeria for an extended period of time. Because of those factors, it gave them an excuse to inappropriately inspect her. Then the security went further to probe her about her pregnancy and the father of the child. The whole interaction was so layered a...

 (preface: this was the piece that I felt the most lost on story-line wise so please forgive this post if it parts of it seem a little off!! I tried my best 😊) Preserving the Future through the Contingencies and Constants     Given that this is a graphic novel, I find it most appropriate to discuss the impact and significance of one scene/page that stuck with me. This segment takes place across two pages and appears on pages 120-21, just before Okorafor inserted her "Afterword" piece. This is the scene in which LetMe Live passes away and all of their Floral spores greet LetMe in their final moments. These illustrations are rich in emotion that evokes senses of pride, nurture, and fulfillment. LetMe had fought so vehemently throughout this graphic novel to keep his Floral lineage alive under the pretext that his fellow Florals were extinguished back in Nigeria. For example, when Future was giving birth to her and Citizen's child, LetMe risked his life to accompany he...