CTU Doctoral Graduation

Friday, October 16, 2009

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

This video is from TED Ideas worth spreading




Chimamanda Adichie is a female storyteller from Nigeria. From an early age she started reading British and American children's books at four then writing at seven. The characters in her writings were exactly same ones from the stories she read about because this was all she knew. Chimamanda spoke of the danger in a single story that shows people as one thing, only one thing, over and over, so that this is what they become a perception in your mind. Also, she talked about her American roommate and the perception of the single story she had formed about Africa. Her roommate was stunned to see that Africans were human equals just like the roommate.

Two points from the video are:
1. A single story creates stereotype and may be untrue, consequently robbing people of their dignity because of being the only story.

2. It is very important to engage in all the stories about that person and that place before forming a conclusion.

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