Chimamanda
Adichie: The danger of a single story
Chimamanda
Adichie is a storyteller from Nigeria who has discovered the dangers of a
single story. Adichie informs her audience that a single story about any
culture can create a stereotype about that culture. Although stereotype are not
necessarily untrue, it does not providing an accurate story of that culture. For example, my supervisor Frederic is from
Africa. After obtaining this information, I wanted to sit down with Frederic
and learn more about his culture. However, because I knew he was from Africa, I
had already painted a picture in my mind of all the amazing animals and
landscapes of Africa that we were to discuss. Little did I know that there was
more to Africa than animals and landscapes? Just as Adichie described, I had
created a stereotype about Africa.
As
the conversation between Frederic and I continued, I learned that he grew up in
Senegal. His father was a diplomat and came from wealth. Frederic even had his
own butler. Furthermore, Frederic informed me that he has never seen an animal
of any kind while living in Africa; it wasn’t until after he moved to the US
and visited the Georgia Zoo. I found all this information to be shocking.
Frederic and his family did NOT fit the Africa stereotype displayed in movies.
From that moment, I learned to not categorize and stereotype people. Just as
Adichie says “It is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person
without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person”.
No comments:
Post a Comment