Postcolonial Speculative Fiction

Hybridity in Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon

Hybridity: Derived from heterogenous or incongruous sources; having a mixed character; composed of two diverse elements.

Hybridity is one of the key concepts in Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon. There are many examples of hybrid people, cultures, and languages in the novel due to the combination of a modern, global culture with aspects of a native Nigerian one. This is seen in the friend circle of Philo and Moziz. All of their friends are intellectual and educated Nigerians living in Lagos, but cannot afford to continue university and are stuck working jobs that are well below their education level. When they are around each other they use a pidgin language of Hausa and English, but codeswitch to proper English when speaking to others. One of the greatest examples of hybridity in the story, however, is the alien Ayodele. 

Hybridity in Lagoon

Ayodele is the first alien to come to Lagos and it is her mission to prepare its inhabitants for the rest of her colony to come to Lagos. Because she is the bridge between humans and her people, she has to be careful with how she presents herself and how she is perceived by others. When one of the children asks Ayodele why she doesn't look like an alien she says that, "Human beings have a hard time relating to that which does not resemble them. It's your greatest flaw." Ayodele hybridizes herself to look human because she realizes that doing so is the only way she can have peaceful interactions with them. Even though she has the power to kill or overthrow all of Lagos, each of her actions are very calculated because her people want to "bring [Lagos] together and refuel your future. Your land is full of a fuel that is tearing you apart." Their goal is to create a hybrid community between Lagos and their colony so that life will be better for everyone. In a way, she believes that her people will free the natives of Lagos from the oppression of the oil colonizers.

 

Is hybridity good, bad, or just a fact of life?

In Lagoon, it seems like Okorafor is hinting that hybridity is a product of an outsider manipulating their inherent nature in order to make others feel comfortable. Philo, Moziz, and their friends change how they speak so that they appear more educated and professional, and Ayodele changes her appearance so she can peacefully interact with humans. However, Okorafor mentions in an interview with Lightspeed magazine that being a hybrid herself is something she can't let go of: "This comes from being an African. Being a Nigerian. Being Igbo. I was born and raised in the United States, but my upbringing was very Naijamerican (Nigerian-American). My parents were connected to Home, but also very open to making the US and its culture a simultaneous Home. Duality, hybridization, gathering of more and more, is part of who I am, not leaving things behind to travel lighter." By the end of the colonization and merging of the two groups, the people of Lagos are happy and the effect is generally positive. Perhaps Okorafor uses this story of the merging of two cultures, beings, and societies to prove that even though the initial idea of being hybrid is uncomfortable, it has to be accepted and embraced because ultimately everyone is the hybrid product of something.

 

 

This page has paths:

This page has replies:

  1. The idea of hybridity is a strange one to me. I understand what it is and how it happens, but I don't understand the great concerns some people have about it. As cultures come into contact with one another, they exchange ideas, values, and traditions, in addition to goods. Each culture has the opportunity to decide what works for them, what they will keep, and what they will discard. If force is used to impose one culture's values on another, the problem is obvious. That's called colonization. I kind of see that happening with the aliens in this book. They seem to be the new breed of colonizer.
  2. Hybridity is a facet of life for many individuals, especially individuals in the minority. You mention how Okorafor seems to be showing how hybridity is an other using their status to make the dominant culture feel comfortable. Rather than just making the dominant culture feel comfortable, it seems that hybridity is a necessity for the people in Nigeria like Moziz. Code switching is essential to further success in their lives.

This page references: