The Common Text
Each year the university selects a text or texts to launch the academic year for incoming students. At Seattle University, a key part of our mission is “empowering leaders for a just and humane world.” The Common Text program welcomes students to our Ignatian-inspired process of inquiry that emphasizes meaning-making, intellectual risk-taking, and engaging in deep and critical conversations.
Incoming students receive the year’s Common Text at orientation and are asked to read thoughtfully over the course of the year. Several first-year courses will include the text, and the book and its themes will be pursued in a year-long series of programs built around the themes.
2024 Common Text
What is Binti: The Complete Trilogy about?
Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author of science fiction and winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
The book collects three novellas and a short story that follow Binti, a young woman from the indigenous Himba of southern Africa, whose mathematical ability and aptitude with astrolabes have led her to be the first of her people to go to college at the prestigious Oomza University (a distant planet). En route, the ship is attacked by the Meduse, an alien species that has long been at war with the dominant culture of Earth and is also seeking repatriation of artifacts from the university. Binti is the sole survivor of the attack and must help broker peace before the ship arrives at Oomza.
The short story and two additional novellas that follow take up themes of community, belonging, education, resilience, and multigenerational conflict between cultures and species that Binti is called to try to heal.
Who is Nnedi Okorafor?
Nnedi Okorafor is an international award-winning New York Times Bestselling novelist of science fiction and fantasy for children, young adults and adults. Born in the United States to Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for drawing from African cultures to create captivating stories with unforgettable characters and evocative settings. Nnedi has received the World Fantasy, Nebula, Eisner and Lodestar Awards and multiple Hugo Awards, amongst others, for her books. Champions of her work include Neil Gaiman, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, George RR Martin, and Rick Riordan. Literary ancestors Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin and Nawal El Saadawi also loved her work. Nnedi holds a PhD in Literature, two Master’s Degrees (Journalism and Literature) and lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her daughter Anyaugo. Learn more at nnedi.com. You can also follow her on Twitter (@nnedi) and Instagram (@nnediokorafor).
We invite you to start reading!
If you have not already received the physical copy of the book, you may access it through the Seattle University Library. Start here and sign in as a Seattle University student to access the Ebsco ebook.
Nnedi Okorafor: Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa | TED
"My science fiction has different ancestors -- African ones," says writer Nnedi Okorafor. In between excerpts from her "Binti" series and her novel "Lagoon," Okorafor discusses the inspiration and roots of her work -- and how she opens strange doors through her Afrofuturist writing.
"Africanfuturism Defined" | Nnedi's Wahala Zone Blog
"Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and the Language of Black Speculative Literature" | Los Angeles Review of Books
Professor Hope Wabuke considers the future of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism.
"The Story of the Astrolabe, the Original Smartphone" | Smithsonian Magazine
Prosperous times likely paved the way for this multifunctional device, conceptual ancestor to the iPhone 7.
The Lemieux Library offers a number of resources and our dedicated library faculty can help you pursue your research interests. You can view their services, tools, and collections here.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion offers programs and resources such as Red Talks and the Inclusive Excellence Summer Reading list.