Isabella Ciriaco – Conversation 2

In her speech for TED Talk, the author Chimamanda Adichie presents us with the idea a “single story” and why this can be dangerous to our perception of the world. She starts by introducing herself, mentioning she was an early reader, and by giving some context about where she grew up, a university campus in Nigeria. The first example of a single story in her life is how she was influenced by western writers since the only books she had access to were books with “white and blue-eyed characters who played in the snow”. This was her only reference in Literature until she discovered African books, and she finally started to read something that she could relate to. She gives another example by mentioning Fide, a boy who worked in her house, and the only thing she knew about him was that he and his family were really poor. She only had a single story about him until she visited his village and saw they were more than just that.

After moving to United States, she found herself in Fide’s position as her roommate had a single (and twisted) story about people from Africa. Adichie realized how people had a “default position” towards her and from this point of view there was “no possibility of a connection as human equals”. During her time in the States though, she came to an understanding of where these singles stories of Africa came from since so many works in American literature, and the media itself, would always describe the continent as “a continent full of catastrophes”. She also mentioned she never “consciously identify as African” but eventually had to embrace this new identity.

In addition, Adichie admits that, even though she was aware of the danger of single stories, she wasn’t immune to it either: during a trip to Mexico, she realized how one-sided was her vision about the country just because of the stories she had heard on the media about Mexican immigrants. She reinforces her beliefs that showing people “as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, that is what they become.”. In her opinion, the way stories are told has also to do with the ones who hold the power structures of the world: if you are in a position of power then it’s your story that is going to be told. One example of this is the fact that she had many stories about America.

The author finishes her speech by saying that every single person is a result of many stories, both good and bad, and insisting in single stories will only reinforce stereotypes that sometimes are not false, but always incomplete. The author demonstrates how much she would like to show the world the many good things that do happen in Nigeria and the things she is doing herself to allow other people in Lagos to tell their own stories. She paraphrases another writer, Alice Walker, by saying that “when we reject a single story, we regain a kind of paradise”.

After listening to this story, I can’t help but relate to it. I agree with the author about single stories being not necessarily untrue but incomplete. When we rely on single stories to make assumptions about someone or something we end up missing the whole picture. Just like her, I also grew up having so much influence from United States and not having the chance to learn and consume movies or books from my own country.

The topic of single stories is extremely relevant in today’s world when we think about the political conflicts happening around us: how much information are we getting about it and how much of our opinion is formed based on incomplete, single stories? Adichie mentions her beliefs that those who hold some power get to have their stories told, so even though we have access to so many things through internet, are we listening to all the stories/points of view available or just what is being presented to us by those who have the power to “speak louder”? I believe Professor Barnes assigned this reading to make us think more critically and less biased, as a reminder that every person is composed by many stories, including ourselves, and understand this can help us in many aspects of academic life and life in general.