Before sinking my teeth into Akata Witch, I want it on the record that the book’s title is different in Nigeria and in the UK because of the fact that the word akata is an anti-African-American slur more or less translating to “cotton picker.” Little meaning would be changed if the title were “Nigger Witch," an anti-Black slur. All that is to say, hearing that repeatedly made me itchy. But, as an akata, I will continue using that version of the title in my writing.
Comparing Akata Witch to Harry Potter feels almost like a disservice to Nnedi Okorafor’s work. Mostly because I actively resist the idea of comparing an Author of Color’s work to a white author, basically saying ”it’s this thing but brown.” (Which, by the way, is what everyone seems to say about Roshani Chokshi’s Gilded Wolves, calling it a brown Six of Crows.) It puts an idea on the table that fails to really encompass the depth that Akata Witch goes to. For example, one of the biggest things that stick out to me is the way that the magic system is so drastically different than anything in the Potterverse—namely in the way currency works. Chittim privileges knowledge and learning, which makes it, or whatever is giving it, something of an unbiased party, incapable of being swayed. It doesn’t care about status or class or ability or gender or anything that governing bodies might. The approach Okorafor takes for this communicates the value of knowledge quite literally.
In terms of how the book depicts women and power, I think the most interesting case studies can be found with many of the responses to Chichi and her mother (and, to a lesser extent, Sunny and her grandmother). The outside world, the world of Lambs, see Chichi and her mother as unruly (though, they aren’t wrong about Chichi), as disgraceful. Dirty. Sunny’s father has a similar opinion on his mother-in-law, claiming that it is her genetic influence that is making Sunny disappear for large swaths of time.
The world fears the power of these girls, seeks to berate it, to tear it down. That is indicative of most Patriarchal societies. Men are threatened by women who are strong, cunning, wise. They seek to destroy such women in whatever ways possible, that's what we see happen time and time again with the Lambs’ language about our witch girls here.
Comparing Akata Witch to Harry Potter feels almost like a disservice to Nnedi Okorafor’s work. Mostly because I actively resist the idea of comparing an Author of Color’s work to a white author, basically saying ”it’s this thing but brown.” (Which, by the way, is what everyone seems to say about Roshani Chokshi’s Gilded Wolves, calling it a brown Six of Crows.) It puts an idea on the table that fails to really encompass the depth that Akata Witch goes to. For example, one of the biggest things that stick out to me is the way that the magic system is so drastically different than anything in the Potterverse—namely in the way currency works. Chittim privileges knowledge and learning, which makes it, or whatever is giving it, something of an unbiased party, incapable of being swayed. It doesn’t care about status or class or ability or gender or anything that governing bodies might. The approach Okorafor takes for this communicates the value of knowledge quite literally.
In terms of how the book depicts women and power, I think the most interesting case studies can be found with many of the responses to Chichi and her mother (and, to a lesser extent, Sunny and her grandmother). The outside world, the world of Lambs, see Chichi and her mother as unruly (though, they aren’t wrong about Chichi), as disgraceful. Dirty. Sunny’s father has a similar opinion on his mother-in-law, claiming that it is her genetic influence that is making Sunny disappear for large swaths of time.
The world fears the power of these girls, seeks to berate it, to tear it down. That is indicative of most Patriarchal societies. Men are threatened by women who are strong, cunning, wise. They seek to destroy such women in whatever ways possible, that's what we see happen time and time again with the Lambs’ language about our witch girls here.
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