Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.(Recorded at TEDGlobal, July 2009, Oxford, UK. Duration: 18:49)
Watch this before class and begin to outline some ideas. How might this help our study of African American History? Does it relate to the conversation that we had about WHY we study it in Philadelphia? Form and argument complete with assertions and evidence.
61 comments:
I found "Dangers of a Single Story" very interesting. The Nigerian woman, Chimamanda, read books from Britain and America when she was a child and thought that all characters in the books had to be foreign; she never read a book with a Nigerian character. Then she decided to write a novel about Nigerian people. It was funny when she said her American room-mate was shocked to find out that she listened to Mariah Carey; she didn't expect for her to know anything about America, and to know everything about Africa. Chimamanda was overwhelmed with shame while she was in Mexico because all she thought of was stereotypes expressed by the media. She later says that stereotypes "robs people of dignity" because that's the only thing people know about your country/continent. Chimamanda started speaking about the Igbo word "nkali" which means to be greater than another, and that's what I believe stereotyping is. She then goes on to say that writers were expected to have a really unhappy childhood to be successful, which she added "How do I invent horrible things my parents could have done to me?" But in fact she had a very normal and happy childhood, and she still became successful. Chimamanda says at the end that "there is never a single story" and that "Stories can repair broken identity". I believe that those two statements are true because people and places all have more than one story, and that stories define who you are as an individual.
I found that the thought of only knowing a single story about a person, or even a group of people was a very interesting thought on the whole process of history. Like Chimamanda said about western literature painting this picture of Africa being a poor unstable country with poor starving people was totally wrong and that this was stereotyping all of the African culture who are very well developed in some places like Nigeria. The thing about a single story is that its a tool of power that can be used by someone to get you to believe in what they want you to believe in and not what the whole truth to that thing is and if we can't stop single stories from happening, racism starts to happen and people get offended and everyone loses. I think that if we had a non-bias way to learn history through every culture the world wouldn't have the prejudice and racial problems it has today. We would understand that each culture thrived and each had their bad moments and America was one of the biggest for mistakes but they paint the picture to make America the hero. I'm not saying I am anti-American i'm saying that we had started wars in other countries, we had slavery of other people, we have under minded other countries with opinion and have even had problems with womens' rights. Even though this stuff happened we have had good things like fighting for our freedom, making a state of democracy, and we have fought for things we believed in. We have to realize that places like Africa have done plenty of amazing things and we are never told of them and i think not only should get the positive side of a story or a negative side, but you should get the full experience of their history. This is what i think the danger of a single story is and i know if we try hard enough, we can change the way we tell a story.
I believe a single story is a story about a group of people, or anything really, that is in one person’s perspective. The danger of a single story is that it shows a group of people as one thing, and then they repeat that one thing continuously. Eventually, they become that one thing in your mind, a single image. A single image will then create a stereotype. The problem with stereotypes is that it is incomplete, with only one story and one image to use as evidence, it is not sufficient enough to support it. Not only that, single stories emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar which can make recognizing other people as equals difficult.
Watching this Ted Talk could help our study of African American history by making us aware that there are always two sides to each story, each with a different perspective. As Adichie has stated, “Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely different story.” I believe that this talk does relate to why we study African American history in Philadelphia because we have already learned American history, and by learning African American history, we are going to see the two sides of the same story. We just have to be open-minded and aware of the perspectives that we will be encountering.
To me "The Danger of a Single Story" was interesting. The speaker grew up in Africa reading books throughout her childhood. But every book she read was about white people. Which influenced her writing to be just like the books she read.I liked when she said "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes isn't that they aren't true but they are incomplete, they make one story become the only story".(13:00-13:26). Which I liked because I strongly agree with her. The media only tells half of the story, which everyone listens to, and believe. I agree with what Madison P said about,how she thought she would know nothing about America. But because of her knowledge from reading American books.She talks about if we here a single story about just the bad things of another country or race we will look over and forget all the good things.
Hearing one side of a story, not knowing the all the sides and details to everything and using the information you heard to judge a certain group of people or religion, that is a single story. Everyone is accused of only knowing a single story. “Blacks like fried chicken”, “whites love cheese”, “Jews are cheap”, and (I think) the most harmful one to hit a country on 9/11 “all Muslims and Arabs are terrorist”. Those are stereo types, yes. But, those are also only hearing a single story. I'm accused of hearing a single story and so are you (the reader). We may not want to admit it but it’s true. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie was a victim of not only hearing a one sided story, but a victim of being the accused “character” in this one sided stereotype story. This is a topic that I think could use some further argument. Like “is one story really that dangerous?” or “If it’s so dangerous, why do people continue to believe them?” These questions are questions of another time but the point it that people shouldn’t judge based off of a single story. A certain race or people might live totally different than what you read in the books about poor Africa. But it is that single story that starts stereotypes and racist comments.
The dangers of hearing a single story can and will range from many different catastrophes. But the real and truth full danger of hearing a single story is developing your own opinion on the certain group or religion your hearing and/or reading the story about. This is ultimately another form of racism. Chimamanda Adichie read books about the blue eyed people with white skin and blond hair that was always good and always talked about how beautiful the weather was that day. So when she left Nigeria she noticed that that wasn’t true. When she first started college her roommate thought she came from a poor country that didn’t have stoves or cars. And to the roommate’s surprise she knew how to work the stove. Those are perfect examples of only knowing a single story. You judge based on what you hear and what you read in books, newspapers, TV, and many others that are stereotype formers (that’s what I call things that start or can encourage stereotypes). Those are the dangers of a single story in everyday life.
I found "Dangers of a Single Story" interesting. The woman, Chimamanda read when she was younger and thought that everyone in the book had to be foreign. So she one day wrote a novel about Nigerian people. Chimamanda was a shamed while she was in Mexico because of all the stereotypes said by the media. She talked about a word which was "nkali" and it meant to be greater than another. She had a very happy childhood and she was happy and successful so i thought that was good for her because she thought that what if my parents did horrible things to me
This TED talk was very interesting to watch. Chimamanda Adichie displayed the true dangers of a single story of a certain type of person or place in a very clear way that got me thinking about some things. Something that she said that really stuck out to me was this: "So that is how you create a single story: Show a people as one thing as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become." I agree with what she has stated here very strongly. This also ties in with stereotypes as Faheem talked a bit about. If you hear one story over and over again about a certain type of person then you are going to believe all people of that kind are what the stereotype says they are. However, these ideas or "single stories" put into our heads are almost always untrue. No one of the same race is always exactly the same and no place is defined by only one thing. One story should not define who you are. Racism is also very heavily tied in with this subject. In her childhood Chimamanda said she would read books from Britain and America which lead her to believe that all characters in books had to be foreign. This influenced her to only write stories about people who were foreign and not like her. A child's mind (especially) is very fragile and easily tempered with. If children begin at a young age hearing only one story about something, that child is bound to believe what they are being told. When they grow up they will only have a certain mindset of someone or somewhere because that is what they were taught to believe when they were younger. It is a dangerous thing for those who are not children as well; it is dangerous for everyone. Before forming a complete, true opinion of someone, somewhere, or something you should make sure to hear more than one single story about it.
I agree with Madison Penrose, I also found "Dangers of a Single Story" interesting.I found Chimamanda's story of how she only read and wrote about blonde haired blue eyed white people who drink ginger beer because that is all she knew.I could relate to her experience in college because I'm from the Dominican Republic and people assume that there are no Mcdonalds or Kmarts there just because it's another country. I also like how she names an experience where she had a "single story" view of Mexicans. I think that most people at some point in life have a "single story" view or a stereotypical view because you aren't just born with knowledge of all the groups that exist.
"The Dangers of a Single Story" sends out an important message. Adichie said that the Single Story, "robs people of their dignity," and "emphasizes how we are different." Often, racism and stereotypes are rooted from the Single Story because it only shows the negative of the people/place. The Single Story allows racists to pick and choose what they want to hear about a group of people. Now that I think about it, this can relate back to studying African American history because, for most people, slavery immediately comes to mind when the topic is brought up. But isn't that only focusing on one aspect of African Americans' history? Surely, that is not what African American history is all about. So, I suppose we are all guilty of the Single Story in one way or another; just as Adichie was when she visited Mexico.
I thought "The Danger of a Single Story" was extremely intriguing. When people only hear one story about a place or a person, they are quick to judge. Once one thing is drilled into your head, it is sometimes difficult to believe other ideas. When Chimamanda talks about her roommate, she says that her roommate thought Chimamanda was inferior to her, without even meeting her yet. This shows how a single story can make you biased against other races. Further in the document, Chimamanda says that stereotypes "rob people of dignity". I agree with Chimamanda because once people think they have the knowledge about a certain race, they become one-sided or treat them/look at them differently. Also, I agree with what Elia said ^
I found "Dangers of a Single Story" very interesting. The Nigerian woman Chimamanda, read books as a child from Britain and America and thought that all characters in the books had to be foreign. She says that each character was described with white skin and blue eyes. She had never read a book with a Nigerian as the main character. She then, decided to write a novel about Nigerian people. Her roommate instantly stereotyped her. She was shocked to find out that she was a fan of Mariah Carey. She did not think she would be familiar with things from America, being that she was from Africa. While Chimamanda was in Mexico, she felt shame because of all of the negative stereotypes expressed by the media. She quotes in the Ted Talk that stereotypes "rob people of their dignity". Which, we discussed earlier today in class. Later, she speaks of the world "nkali" which means to be greater than another. By her saying that one word, it opened up my eyes to a lot of things. It really gave me a better outlook on what stereotyping is. As the Ted Talk continues Chimamanda expresses that other authors thought that she had a really unhappy childhood. However, it was just the opposite. I really admired her for that. With her very normal childhood, she still managed to become successful. Which is an accomplishment within itself.
I thought this speech was very interesting. The wonderful speaker, Chimamanda, mentioned the words "a single story". The more she spoke the more I understood the connection about racism. Things you hear about other races are one sided and since that is all you know, that's what you believe. That's all you can see it as. This relates to when Chimamanda mentioned the story of the poor boy and his family and how she could only see them as just poor since that was the "single story" she heard about them. She also mentioned that finding African literature "saved her" which adds another reason to why we study African American history - African Americans need to learn the truth about their people's history to understand who they are and what they came from. Chimamanda also mentioned her roommate and how she had a single story of Africans which was that there was "no possibility of a connection as human equals". She mentioned the media, and how if she grew up in the US with all of our media's stories and images of Africa, she, too would think what most people think of Africa and Africans. All of the comments she shares are stereotypes. Chimamanda mentions how stereotypes aren't complete but people only hear that one side of the story and believe it because the media said it and I agree with that statement completely. We only ever hear the one face of stories and immediately jump to conclusions and judge without knowledge; we are ignorant. This thought relates to why we study this history. We have to know the true background and struggles of African Americans because, as I mentioned in another blog comment, African American history IS our history. It is our other half and we need to learn about it to fully understand how things came to be. Something I liked that Chimamanda said was that she, too, was guilty of holding a "single story" of Mexican people when she visited Guadalajara. I like the she can admit she was wrong about it, too. I would like add a quote by Chimamanda. "That is how to create a single story. Show a people as one thing over, and over, and over again and that is what they become." This speech gave me some new thoughts on the course and I am now more interested in learning the history.
I found "Dangers of a Single Story" very interesting. A Nigerian woman, Chimamanada, would read books from Britain and America and in every book the main characters would be foreign with blue eyes. She said that there was never a Nigerian character. Her room-mate who was from America stereotyped her from the very beginning. Her room-mate asked if she can hear her "tribal music" and when Chimamanada pulled out her Mariah Carey cd her room-mate was very shocked. Chimamanada was in Mexico and all she thought about was people stereotyping. She then became an author and wrote a novel about Nigerian people, and talked about how she had a great and happy childhood also she talked about the word "nkali" and it means to be greater than another. By the end of this video I think "Danger of a Single Story" means that there is never one story to go by everyone is different. Chimamanda states "Stories can repair broken identity." I agree with this statement because nobody is the exact same, we all are different people with different stories.
I feel that the video could not be more relevant to today’s class discussion. The opening story of her speech is especially interesting to me. She outlines that as a child in Nigeria, she wrote a fictional story with characters that were white and blue-eyed, ate apples, and played in the snow. The remarkable part of her subconscious is that she had never been outside Nigeria, was a black woman, ate mangos, and had never seen snow. I was absolutely touched by it. Watching this Ted Talk could help our study of African American history by making us aware that there are always two sides to each story each with a different perspective. I agree with Gianna Desimone on a good amount of information in her paragraph.
I agree with everybody who said it was interesting, which was quite a lot. This video sends out a message that everyone needs to hear. People need to hear both sides of a story before you get to judge the person or group. You have to get to know them gives you a chance to understand. As Gianna said "Now that I think about it, this can relate back to studying African American history because, for most people, slavery immediately comes to mind when the topic is brought up." That's definitely not all Af.Am. History is all cracked out to be. In a short answer it's pretty much stereotyping the title but not looking deep into the plot behind it all.
I find this very interesting because As a Nigerian girl Chimanda was only exposed to British and American books. With this said, Chimanda only thought that a Caucasian person can be in stories but never a " Nigerian with kinky hair" she says. I also find this interesting because she says one of the boys who cleaned her house were very poor and tha was all that her parent told her about him and she never thought just because he was raised in poverty that he can never make something of himself or achieve any thing due to being poor. I strongly agree with Madison Penrose quote about Chimanda that " there is never a single story that can repair broken identity. To me this mean that just because u have a story doesn't mean you can't be more than what your story says that you are.
Like many people have said I found this speech very interesting. As I watched the video I began to understand what she meant by a single story, and how a story can change your entire view of a people. Knowing only a single story can give you an entire idea of a people and can affect your overall view and knowledge. When the speaker spoke of the literature she read as a child she spoke of seeing all white people in her stories and din't understand African people such as herself could be in literature. I agree with and liked the quote Chris Palmer used,"The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes isn't that they aren't true but they are incomplete, they make one story become the only story". This really supports the idea that knowing only a single story leaves you with a lack of knowledge and a one-sided idea of a people. I thought that the speaker had a very good reason to feel strongly about knowing only a single story because like she said,"Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity." I think this relates to the African American History course as we will be looking at the American History through a different view and it is importand to know not only a single story, and to know multiple stories to get a full perspective.
I believe that the women speaker in " The Danger of a Single Story" was a very interesting women to listen too. Her story was very inspiring and something we all could relate to. As a child she grew up reading books that were all the same. A topic that came up in the Ted Talk was stereotypes. Stereotypes are something that we all can relate too and In my opinion, something we, as humans, are all guilty of. I agree with Amelia, we are always so quick to judge each other. The speaker, Chimamanda, said something that really stood out to me. She said that stereotypes "rob people of their dignity." Honestly I believe that stereotyping someone or a group of people tells me more about the person who is being stereotypical than the person who is being stereotyped.
A single story is a story of one thing, whether it is of a person, a race, or just any group in general, that is told from a single point of view repeatedly. It is one story told over and over again so many times where the words may change but the perspective and the message does not. Chimamanda Adichie spoke about reading stories all of the time as a child, and due to her only reading foreign stories, she could only think that literature contained only foreigners. She wrote stories based on this, and wrote about things she did not know of due to this. A single story maintains a single point of view on a topic, and the readers are directly influenced by this. If we as the reader do not hear any other story, then this single one must be the only one. The obvious danger of a single story is that hearing this one-sided perspective over and over with no one saying otherwise causes us to believe that this story is the truth, whether it is the actually the truth or not. A single story creates assumptions and promotes ignorance along with things of that nature whether we like it or not. Chimamanda Adichie said “Show people as one thing, as only one thing, and that is what they become.” A single story creates stereotypes, stereotypes that are incomplete and that may be false. These stereotypes become the only thing that people hear, and it starts to spread like wildfire. An example of this is the common stereotype that Africa is full of jungles and people living in huts. Although we may not see it, we hear it often. The more we hear of it, the more we start to believe it. Even if one person rejects it, the majority still fall for the danger of a single story.
This speech about the danger of a single story directly relates to our class conversation about why we learn African American history. Aside from just learning it, by taking this course we can eliminate many of the stereotypes and ignorance people may have about races from the “single stories” we all hear. It lets us hear the other perspective of American history, instead of usual things we hear. Just like how finding African Literature helped Chimamanda from having false thoughts about literature, this course can help us understand more about not just African-Americans, but races in general.
I found "Dangers of a Single Story" very interesting. Chimamanda, the Nigerian woman, tells us about how she started reading books at a very young age. She read British and American books and had an idea in her head that all of the characters had to be foreign. This influenced her by the books that she read as a child. Not one book that she read, had a Nigerian character. Chimamanda felt a bit devastated when she went to Mexico because all she thought about were the stereotypes. As she explained to us, the Igbo word "nkali" means to be greater than another. When I think of the word stereotype, I think of an image or idea of a particular person or thing. The problem with stereotypes are that they are never complete with facts and evidence. There is only one side of the story told which we see and hear a lot from media. I also agree with Madison P about how Chimamanda thought she would know nothing about America, but because of her perception from reading American books at such a young age, she actually came to the conclusion that she knew more than she thought she would. When told a story or telling a story about a certain event, person, or thing, we should always have as much evidence as possible to back up the story.
I believe a single story is a story about a group of people, that is in one person’s perspective. The speaker grew up in Africa reading books throughout her childhood. She says that each character was described with white skin and blue eyes. She had never read a book with a Nigerian as the main character. She then, decided to write a novel about Nigerian people. Her roommate instantly stereotyped her. We only ever hear the one face of stories and immediately jump to conclusions and judge without knowledge; we are ignorant. This thought relates to why we study this history. I agree with Amelia and Elia because we are always so quick to judge. I also liked when Chimamanda states "Stories can repair broken identity." because it shows how every one is different and everyone stand for who they are and what they believe in.
"Dangers of a Single Story" was very interesting to watch. It told me a lot about Nigerians and Africans that I had no idea existed or happened. The way she told the story it almost was like I was in a movie because there were a lot of images in my head. It was just fascinating to sit here and see how people thought that Africans were to how they really were. What also stood out to me was how she was raised and how it was different from other a lot of other people.
I agree with Amelia when she said "When people only hear one story about a place or a person, they are quick to judge." This video says this and this couldn't be anymore true. At first I didn't understand what the video was going to be about from the title but now that I've watched the video I understand. Before watching the video I didn't realize how many single stories that I've heard and sadly believed without knowing more of the story. I also completely agree with Faheem when he said everyone knows of many stereotypes. Also when he named a couple of stereotypes because I heard those stereotypes before and they're not necessarily true because there's always more to the story. Like Chimamanda, I am left with the question, what if people knew more than the single story that they've heard?
"Dangers of a Single Story" was very interesting. Chimamanda who was a Nigerian woman talked about her life. Her childhood was reading stories about white, blonde hair, blue eyes humans. That ate apples and played in the snow. In Nigeria they only ate Mangoes and there was never any snow. When the wonderful Chimamanda had an american room mate the girl was so surprised to find out she listened to Mariah Carey. Chimamanda talks about how in Mexico the stereotyping was horrifying. She also tells us that stereotype people "rob people of their dignity". These words stuck with me because it is true. When you act negative towards a person just because of how they look or what they do influences them. People take note on what is liked and not liked in the world. I also agree with Madison Penrose about beleiving that the word "nkali" means to be greater than another. That is absolutely true. Chimamanda should be a huge inspiration. She had a lucky childhood that not a lot of people especially writers have. Yet she still became successful because she ignored all the stereotypes and believed in herself.
the thing that is extraordinarily interesting or different about this story is the fact that Chimamanda made a point about stereotypes and how they can morally affect people in their lives. Ever since when she was in Mexico and heard stereotypes all around, to her the word "stereotype" became almost like a dirty word. Finally, the quote that truly touched me was in the end, "There is never a single story" because this is the truth. There are thousands of tales and stories. Some stories are similar and some are totally different. but no matter what, there is no such thing as a single story.
I truly agree with Madison Penrose, Christen Palmer, and Faheem Abdul- Karriem.
Chimamanda Adichie is a african american woman from Nigeria. She liked to read british and american books. She never thought someone like her could be involved in literature. At the age of 19 she left Nigeria to go to an university in America. Her roomate asked some stereo typical questions. For example, the roomate asked Chimamanda to show her one of her tribal dances. Chimamanda said she'd play her Mariah Carrey cd for her. Most people are surprised at this. When you think of africa you think of the african songs and dances. I didnt expect the offical language to be english as well. Studying African American history will help people learn that these stereo types are not completely true. Chimamanda says that"the consequence of a single story robs people of dignity, it tells people we are different rather than how similar we are". It is important to learn this in Philadelphia that way we know not only of the bad things that happened but of all the good things. Many people like Chimamanda have probably come out of there country and made a good successful life for themselves. Chimamanda also says "when we reject a single story, we regain a kind of paradise". Learning african american history in Philadelphia will make people see that we are all people similar in so many ways, just trying to survive in our community.
The TED Talk is one example of how one dimensional some people think. As a very young child, Chimamanda Adichie read and wrote stories. Most of her stories included characters that were white with blue eyes. Chimamanda points out the fact that children are very vulnerable and impression. For instance, as a child she never thought of her characters being foreign because it was never mentioned. Chimamanda uses the idea of “a single story,” to explain how some people think. A single story can lead to people having one opinion and not bothering to continue learning. For example, Chimamanda talks about her experience coming to America for school. She tells the audience how her roommate is shocked that she knows how a stove works. Her roommate assumes this because she does not know. A single story enforces stereotypes that are not complete or understood. Chimamanda says: “A single story robs people…It emphasizes how we are different, not similar.” She points out the fact that stories can empower people. Learning about African American history will force us to learn about another part of America’s story. I think that this TED Talk wants us and the audience to realize that there is more than one side and perspective in the world.
"Dangers of a Single Story" was an interesting and relevant video to watch for the African American History course we have ahead of us. When Chimamanda read books she didn't read books that had anything to do with Africa but foreign books for it wasn't normal for a Nigerian resident to read. Chimamanda discovered African books and she didn't realize that Africans could be apart of literature. Stereotypes are a powerful piece of unreasonable and incorrect judgment. When Chiamanda took her trip to Mexico, she was astonished with her poor judgment that America led her to believe. Mexicans weren't only immigrants but actual people. This video is effective towards our learning in African American History class because its showing how bad society is/was and how judgmental the world could make you. Chimamanda's roommate didn't think that she could anything in common with someone who had different colored skin than her but when she showed her cd of Mariah Carey she was shocked. Racism and society are all about what AAH is made of and this video gave me solid information of that.
"Dangers of a Single Story" was an interesting and relevant video to watch for the African American History course we have ahead of us. When Chimamanda read books she didn't read books that had anything to do with Africa but foreign books for it wasn't normal for a Nigerian resident to read. Chimamanda discovered African books and she didn't realize that Africans could be apart of literature. Stereotypes are a powerful piece of unreasonable and incorrect judgment. When Chiamanda took her trip to Mexico, she was astonished with her poor judgment that America led her to believe. Mexicans weren't only immigrants but actual people. This video is effective towards our learning in African American History class because its showing how bad society is/was and how judgmental the world could make you. Chimamanda's roommate didn't think that she could anything in common with someone who had different colored skin than her but when she showed her cd of Mariah Carey she was shocked. Racism and society are all about what AAH is made of and this video gave me solid information of that.
Like most people I found "Dangers of a Single Story" very interesting. I really liked how Chimamanda brought us through her whole life explaining things that really stuck out to her. She went from talking about reading books from Britain to American to explaining her experience in college. What really stuck out to me was that when she came to America and went to college her roomate was surprised to see her. She asked her about her tribal music and she ended up playing Mariah Carey. Chimamanda herself admitted if she wasn't from africa that she would also think that Africa was a forest filled with military invasions and wars breaking out. I think this shows the danger of a single story. When you hear one thing you usually believe it but in reality that is not what is really going on. You think that Africa really is a forest filled with wars, but obviously there is more to it. This is why you can't have a single story. For African American History it will help us think of this place differently and how people there really live. I believe this video is also why the School District of Philadelphia made it mandatory for students to take this course. This is because people really do view Africa in the wrong way. When we learn what Africa is really about and how people live there, we will stop judging them so negatively. Chimamanda did mention that her moms friends family was poor and that she knew people that couldn't get a job because they had no healthcare. They don't have water, and they are governed by milatary. I just feel like there is so much more to it that people today in America are clueless about.
I feel that Dangers of a Single Story explains or gives an example of what happens when you don't listen to the whole story but just from one point. I expected that the Nigerian lady Chimamanda, drew the white people with blue eyes because the stories that she has read. The stories she has read were about the Western people and none about African people. This shows the single story factor on what people find are the norm and what is not. When Chimamanda's mother told her about the boy who had a poor family, Chimamanda's point of view on him was poverty. The danger of a single story is that it does not tell a whole complete one. It leaves missing information and gaps.I believe the statement that Chimamanda said was " Show people as one thing, only one thing, over and over again and that is what they become." I think what she said was true. If you categorize people in a certain sections of groups, soon that is what you will be thinking about them. I agree with Chimamanda's statement. If you keep hearing what people say over and over again, you might start to believe it.
Like most of my classmates I found this TED talk about Chimanda a Nigerian woman very interesting. It exposes us to how someone else feels about a very difficult topic. The Nigerian woman, Chimamanda, read books from when she was a child. The books she read where about white people but she thought that all characters in the books had to be foreign. She never read a book with a Nigerian character.
As I watched the video I started to understand what she meant by a single story. And how a story can change your entire view of a people. Knowing only a single story can give you an entire idea of a people and can affect your overall view and knowledge on that topic. When the speaker spoke of the literature she read as a child she spoke of seeing all white people in her stories and didn’t quite understand African people such as herself could be in literature. She believed that only white people could be in stories and books. I found this sad and ashame that a woman that wasn’t white believed that other people couldn’t be in stories. The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes isn't that they aren't true but they are incomplete, they make one story become the only story and the story that everyone goes by. And it isn’t fair to people to make stereotypes. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. I think this relates to the African American History because we will be looking and studying about American History through a different view and it is important to know not only a single story, and to know multiple stories to get a full perspective.
i think "The Dangers of Single Story" was interesting because it a girl who name Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she her authentic cultural voice. the single story creates stereotypes , and the problems with stereotype are not true. its not that she was telling true its just that what she is use to hearing she could of made her own mix to it. i think it relate to why we learn about african amercian history becaause people need to still no what happen and whats going on. Dont judge a book by its cover.
Well I might have watched this about six times and it was meaningful each time I watched it. I feel like the quote "Don't judge a book by its cover" strongly pertains to this video. This kind of opens our eyes to the fact that it is so easy for people to here something about someone from other places and just assume that it goes for the entire place. Chimamanda not tells us that she has been guilty herself for doing this. She goes through her experiences with telling and hearing a single story. This defiantly has changed the way I think of other people.
This video, "Dangers of a Single Story," was really interesting. I really agree with Chimamanda when she says, "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” I feel like this is a true statement and I feel like she makes a good point in saying that a single story is pretty much a stereotype and that having a single story doesn't exactly tell the full story. It was also pretty fascinating and humorous when her roommate found out that her, "tribal music," was Mariah Carey, because she wouldn't expect that African tribal music was Mariah Carey.
This really fits in with our studies because we have been talking about race and racism and about how different groups are made based on race. We also learn about how racism involves stereotypes, and I believe that single stories can be viewed as stereotypes that can also be perceived as racist.
I feel like this could relate to the topic of why we take African American History because at this point, American history is already fresh in our minds, but having not learned African American History, we are only beginning to scratch the surface on American History. With our teaching of African American History, we can learn both of those, but we also might have to proceed with caution for some of the things we learn, as some of these things can be potentially disturbing and stereotypical.
When people think of Africa they think of people killing each other, people living in poverty and a really horrible government. Chimananda says that that is true, but that it's not completely true. She says that not all Africans have terrible lives and how she had really smart educated parents. She teaches us that people from Nigeria are just as smart and intellectual as people from Europe and America. She says we only get one story about Africa, like that Nigeria's government is full of people who will kill each other over water or money. She says that if we hear a single story about any group then we'll will have a lesser knowledge and we won't be qualified to think beyond those stereotypes about that group of people. What will help us is if we find more people like Chimananda who have high goals in life and really know what they're talking about. Hearing this has changed my impressions about Nigeria in so many ways. Now I know that Nigeria has many intellectual people like her. I still think Africa has a lot of problems, but there are other areas with intellectual people like her.
To me, the "Dangers of a Single Story" was very thought provoking. To think that even someone like Chimamanda could see a family as nothing "Else than poor." It really goes to show that people see others in whatever way that they are told. The quote "How impressionable and vulnerable we are" really sum up my feelings about this video. These misconceptions, which even at times the people targeted believe, are robbing students of a proper view of the world. Maybe at student wished to go to Africa one day but was deterred by the stories he or she had heard. The problem is that "It's easier to tell what's wrong" and "Harder to tell what's right." People only see the war torn and poverty stricken parts because it's convenient. Looking at the good and bad of a country or continent makes it harder to brand the location.
I think this will greatly help our study of African American History. It has at least shown me that learning only one side of history will not do the people or places involved justice. To me this TED Talks directly answered the question that was asked at the beginning of the year. It showed me that for the people of Philadelphia to truly understand each other and their shared history they have to understand, more than their own, the history of the other side.
A single story is similar to a small jigsaw piece that holds only a tiny part of the whole picture. You can take one and stare at it for a really long time, trying to decipher the big picture with it, but, more often than not, looking at just one is undoubtedly not enough to determine what the whole story is about. It's very dangerous, doing something like that. Listening to a single story, like determining the complete picture based off of one measly piece, leads you to unfairly judging the entire story before even trying to see the truth for yourself . Wars started. Thousands persecuted. Millions prejudiced. All of these are historical results of only listening to a single story.
“The Dangers of a Single Story” teaches us an important lesson, and that is never to take account of only one story of someone. The woman on the TED Talk, Chimamanda Adichie, had discussed on the video many reasons why doing that can be so hazardous. “It robs people of dignity.” It destroys the positives that a group have done by making others focus on the negatives. It brainwashes people into thinking poorly of a group, or too highly of themselves compared to others, and it eventually leads to bigger problems such as racism.
In order to see the three dimensional world that we live in, we have two eyes positioned at different locations. We use both eyes to perceive images as well as their depths. Using a single eye is not enough. Just the same, in order to understand the full story of something, we cannot only learn a single story. We must learn the other sides to it, to become as closely aware of the truth as we possibly can.
"Dangers of a Single Story" was very informative but also very relatable.Chimamanda grew up reading books with white, American characters. She decided that she would read and write books with Nigerian characters. These books saved her from having a single story, which is showing a people as one and only one thing. They also showed her that people like her coould exist in literature. I fould it very funny how her American college roommate thought all these things about her that were far from the truth. Chimamanda stated that white American's vision of Africans was formed by Western literature. Once she even found herself describing the Mexican people from a single story. She said that tou can really down- grade a people by starting with the second part of their story. Single stories create stereotypes and stereotypes are incomplete. Single stories rob people of their dignity.
The "Danger of A Single Story" opened my mind up and made me see life from a whole different perspective. Society now a days just get facts about a certain race based off of what we hear and read in the stories. We take one thing we hear about an event that took place involving a certain race and group everyone of that race to be just like the person in the story we heard about, creating a stereotype. Society tends to assume things about a person of a certain race based off of the stereotypes that their race has. Society doesn't see past anything but the stereotype. I'm guilty of it, I see homeless people everyday but don't think anything else of them except the fact that they made a bad turn in their life and are poor. I don't know what their story is and I don't know what their doing to try to get their life back. Chimananda teaches people that you cannot group people that look the same in the same category because everybody is different, no matter what skin color. You cannot judge a person based off of their "single story", your judgment will most likely be incorrect.
"The Danger of a Single Story" really captured my attention. Chimamanda Adichie is a woman from Nigeria. Chimamanda claims that single stories take away dignities of humans. She states that the problem with stereotypes are not because they are not true but rather they are incomplete. I agree with what she had to say because not everyone sees the whole picture. When one states an opinion and makes it clear, others begin to think that that is the only thing one consists of.
I really think this will help us in learning this course. It makes us aware of the fact that there is always 2 sides of the story. Like Chimamanda said, stories can do a lot such as break dignities but also repair. Her roommate and Adichie are both guilty of assumptions based on where a group of people reside from. This gave me a broader perspective on our society today. In my opinion, people are so quick to judge and that's not something to be proud of.
I thought "Danger of a Single Story" is about people not willing to expand their knowledge. People can hear just "one story" and think they know everything about the topic. To me it's just people being cocky and thinking they KNOW ALL about EVERYTHING. It is also a matter of steriotypes as my fellow classmates said. An example of this would be Chimamanda's room-mate. Her room-mate had already concluded before Chimamanda got there that she didn't know how to do anything and steriotyped Africans as being incomprehensible. The main thing is that a single story makes people not respect other people. I agree with Elizabeth in that "by learning African American history, we are going to see the two sides of the same story." There is not just one way to do things or one way to see things. It's the same with history, it's not made one way, it's made in many different ways by many different groups of people. The "Danger of a Single Story" relates in a way to race and racism. It has an element of division and lack of understanding/ignorance.
I believe that “The Dangers of a Single Story” was a very influential story to listen to. One quote that I found to be very important was “a single story is to view a people as 1 thing”. To me this one statement means that people often judge an entire group of people one way for and action or behavior of one individual. Chimamanda Adichies’s example was how she assumed that all Mexicans were illegal immigrants from her hearing about the actions of a few Mexicans that have crossed the border. I think many of us do that today without even knowing. I also believe that a single story also does create stereotypes because it categorizes one group of people and makes everyone think that every person that fits into that group or “stereotype” is the same way. The single story is basis of judging people off of other people actions. After listening to this story I now do believe that there are dangers to a single story. It allows you to judge people off of what you think you know about them but most of the time our predictions are wrong. Rather than getting to know people for what they actually are, a single story can block us from even associating with certain groups of people.. The single story “robs people of their dignity”. I also agree with this because it puts people into certain classes that may not always be correct. You can categorize someone into a certain class of people by the way that they appear but many times you actually could be very wrong. The last statement said by Chimamanda Adichie was very important. She said “When we reject the single story we regain paradise. By this I think she meant that when we let go of our stereotypical minds of how people should be viewed we can all live in a peaceful world of equality.
"The Danger of a Single Story" was a very thought provoking video. In my opinion, it helps open minds to a bigger picture than what we always hear about. Chimamanda was able to successfully explain to us how telling people only a certain thing about a culture or a people can really affect their way of thought. She had implied that people are influenced by what others tell them repeatedly and that it can lead to an ignorance. This ignorance is the product of "making one story the only story." Stories are more powerful than what we expect them to be and the single stories that are told are what creates stereotypes and expectations that are not completely true. Even so, this made me think about how people often forget that there are more sides to story than what we know.
This may help our study of African American History because it is an example of how a person's tale in their perspective can influence so many others. It expresses forms of ignorance and prejudice in other cultures. African American History has a lot to do with race which is why this known idea of prejudice and stereotypes against certain people will be able to help us connect with the same concepts. Those are also the reasons why we have to study it in Philadelphia. Getting rid of the misconceptions about the subject could help a lot in being able to understand the subject.
Watching this made me think, really think about what I perceive to be the truth. It makes me wonder whether or not I'm believing stereotypes because of "a single story" I may have heard. It was such an interesting topic to talk about and she opened my mind to new perspectives.
This is probably how most, if not all, stereotypes start. It's sad because there are so many and no stereotype can be true. Your family history doesn't define you as a person. Everyone is different. There are plenty on different races, but I'm mostly familiar with the stereotypes of African Americans. They say we love fried chicken. They say we love grape soda. They say we love watermelon. They say so many things, but unless you ask every single African American in the world and they all agree, what you're saying is nothing more than a "Single Story".
I agree with others that "The Danger of a Single Story" was interesting. A single story is when you only know one side to the story, and base your opinions on that one aspect. Chimamanda Adichie describes the creation of a single story as when you, "show a people as one thing, as only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become." Just because you hear a story about one person in a group, you assume the whole group is that way. She uses many personal experiences to support her views, such as how she used to read American books. She started writing her stories like those books because that was all she knew. She had developed a "single story of what books are". When all you know is that one thing, that is what you will believe. A single story has a lot to do with the term power. Power can determine whether the story can become the definitive story of a group/people. Adiche also uses the term "nkali", which means to be greater than another. This idea connects to how the story is told, who tells them, and the power of the story. The danger of a single story is that is has the power to only show one side of a people. If you only know the negative, you will perceive them that way. There might be many great things about a group/person, but that one negative thing will overpower the good. The bad stories are not the only things that make a person, the good stories do too. The problem with a single story is that it can easily form stereotypes, " it robs people of dignity", and "emphasizes how we are different". Stories really do matter, and just one can change how a group is viewed. Accepting a single story is not only unfair to who it is about, but it robs you of the knowledge of who they really are.
The subject of a single story relates to our study of African American history because it is possible that we have a single story of it. We may only know what we have heard from others, or from what we learned in a different viewpoint of history. It is important to study this so that we are not victim to the single story. We will get the chance to know another side of the history and expand our knowledge. We will be able to see the other stories instead of just one, being able to fully know and understand the history.
"The Danger of a Single Story" really hit me hard. I never really thought about ignorance and prejudice in that way, but now that I do it makes so much sense. Chimamanda grew up reading American and British books about white kids with blue eyes, and because of that she believed that was the only kind of people used in storybooks. It just shows how easy it is to be ignorant, to stick to one thing and then forever believe that.
Single stories happen everyday, pretty much everywhere. I see it a lot, but it mostly occurs with different races or cultures interacting. Every time we meet someone who comes from a different environment, we tend to look at that person and only see the stereotypical stuff, the things we see when we google search that race or culture. It's not even something we notice, it just happens and we don't really know how ignorant and stupid we sound until someone does it to us. Hopefully one day, everyone can work on this and we can stop using single stories to describe the people around us.
In my opinion, "the danger of a sideline story" was very interesting. The speaker talks about her personal experience and her experience as growing up and kind of noticing how the world is stereotype. When she was younger she notice that the people were always white and had blue eyes. And the way she was living, she didn't grown up like that. She states that how stereotypes are not true, but they're incomplete. Basically proving that like the typical blonde white girl that's in a book or something is always so.i agree with her 100% because as a nation people think they know the facts about things, when in reality, they don't.
This was extremely moving. It says a lot about life in Africa, but even more about life itself. The truth that only seeing one side of something is creating a false image is something we should all know. Because that one side will give you an opinion, and it can be hard to change an opinion once you have it. Once the full image is seen, you might still believe in that one angle you perceived. Balance needs to be achieved. I think that's what she means about regaining paradise.
"The Danger of a Single Story" has made a huge impression on me. It made me really think about single stories in everyday life. They are everywhere you go, and I know that isn’t very likely to change in a day. However, it has become very apparent that they are all over. Chimamanda’s story expresses how, even she who was subject to a single story, she had fallen into the trap herself. “I had bought into the single story… and I could not have been more ashamed of myself…” The assumption that everybody in a group is the same is what you hear about them is wrong. It makes me feel ashamed for any and all of the times I’ve believed in a single story. Everyone believes some single story at one point in their life. It‘s stereotyping, and when you’re taught to believe something, that is what becomes your opinion until someone comes along to prove you right. “Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.”
This can help with studying African American history by preparing us, at least a small amount, for all the stereotypes and opinions that people have. I think, it will make us be more open minded about the things we’ll be studying. That’s important because race and racism are a big part of history. It reminds us that we have to look at things from more than one perspective because if we only see things one way, it sometimes blinds us from seeing the truth. I think, this quote is extremely true, “When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.”
Knowing the definition of a "Single Story" will aid in understanding African American history because all over the world people have a "Single Story" of each other. African Americans have been described by a "Single Story" and have lost freedom, rights and a sense of security because of the marketing of that "Single Story". Chimmamanda Adichie clearly explains a "Single Story" with, "Show a people as one thing, ONLY as one thing, over and over again and that is what they become." If you, as a person, have little or no experience with a group of people your understanding of those people is secondary. As Chimmamanda says, "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but, that they are incomplete." What occurs between what life really is for some people and how you perceive their life is similar to playing a game of "Telephone". Whether intentional or not, the true meaning of something is lost every time it is said. If you keep the same perspective about a race or group, no matter who you meet, after meeting a slew of different people you will be proven wrong. If you think poor people can't make anything, like Chimmamanda did, you will come to find that they can do things you never thought possible. This topic relates to why African-American history is studied in America because this is a lesson that we all must learn to be able to operate at school and work and etc. If you are in a position where your choices affect others, (and as a student/employee often times you are), you need to be empathetic and to do that, you must look at life from multiple perspectives. Chimmamanda said that a professor told her that her "novel was not 'authentically African' because the characters didn't fit HIS idea of what being African meant. He failed to understand the characters from her perspective, he missed a point in her novel and it may have resulted in her getting a grade lower than deserved. Avoiding this is necessary and schools are the perfect places to teach how not to base a group of people on a "Single Story."
Everyone comments about how "Dangers of a Single Story" is very interesting, which without a doubt it is, but its also very mind blowing. Only a small amount of people only knows what shes been through and has experienced to conclude how she sees the world internationally. It is good that she became a writer and used to write about literature of Americans stereotypes. When she became older and decided to write a novel about Nigerian people, so many other people disagreed with her outlook of Africa because of their ignorance. And she felt ashamed when she fell for the media about the Mexicans because she knew better.
I think this video is very interesting. i agree with Allie with how not a lot of people know what she has been through and its good how she become a better person now and become a writer. I hope that more people will know her story and what she has been through her book.
i agree with everyone that we see only the stereotypical and it blocks us away from that person,like getting to know them beyond what we are used to do..like it robs them from their dignity.I agree with Chimamanda because once people think they have the knowledge about a certain race, they become one-sided or treat them/look at them differently i agree with Amelia because thats true.
I believe that America does classify Africa as a steryotypical continent that it is helpless and desult and needs the support to survive but as chmamanda explains Africa is not a poverty striken place it is also a intelligent content that started off the world. BTW JUST JOINED BLOGGER!!!!
I feel that "The Danger of a Single Story" is when only one side of a story is told. that is what the speaker is explaining in her TED talk and how dangerous is. The speaker tells us the experiences she underwent when she came to America for the first time. The things her room mate said t her were very stereotypical but she didn't know that. I found this video very interesting for many reason mostly because i can relate somewhat. I've been racial profiled many times.
I think that "The danger of a Single Story" an single story of how people from many different races and culture are defined by which doesn't allow people the many other aspect of each race or culture for example when she went to america she had an expectation of see the type of people she read about and the people she meet had an expectation of her as a African. Also she explained how An single story "robs them from their dignity" in others take way that first impression factor in meeting some of another race or culture and could also slander they cuture. Last the danger of a single story relate to our study because the African american were put down and oppressed due to the single story many people had of them.
I think that "Dangers of a Single story" is just trying to show how ignorance and unknowings create story's of what might be untrue or possibly something that is true but a very cut up version of it. But not only was she a victim of being part of a single story but also somebody who believed in a single story of others.i feel like her being able to come into "our" world and possibly changing other peoples perspectives was a great thing. But before realizing that she could do that she had to realize that she was also having single stories of others. Like when she went to Mexico. I feel like this is the main reason we have African American History. To rid us of at least one of our single stories. To show us African Americans weren't just slaves. Yo show us facts behind all of that. To show us that not all whites believed in Black people being any less of us. I feel like getting rid of a single story can show people maybe how alike or how different we are or were.
I think that "The Dangers of a Single Story" shows us that we are blinded to all the good or bad in the world with our own ignorance. We only get to see what is conveyed to us through the corrupted media. We only see what they want us to. going to someplace first hand can show you a whole new perspective of what you really thought it was like. Even the woman in the video was subjected to a single story. The way the world thought of her life was the same that she thought on her trip to Mexico. Everyone is exposed to the single story whether we like it or not. This puts a facade on the whole world's view of everybody, which is more or less dangerous. We won't truly know anything about the world until the single story is gone.
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