Summary
The Ted Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie touches on the subject about how America and American media, white males, and educators in the U.S. all contribute to the making of single stories, constantly portraying a group of people as one thing over, and over again, then that’s what they become in society. Adichie talks about how she had a single story about her house boy Fide, and how he was constantly portrayed as poor, but when she went to his village, she saw how there was more to him, she saw how hardworking his family is. Another time Adichie experienced a single story was when she moved to the U.S. and her roommate felt bad for her just because she was from Nigeria. She thought Adichie was brought up in the mot poorest conditions, but it wasn’t like that. Adichie takes her experiences with single stories and proposes the idea of always providing two sides to a story without any bias just both stories with no prejudice.
I agree with Adichie’s main argument because I remember being asked if there are any vegetables in Ecuador since most dishes look like they don’t have any. Sometimes people assume that I also eat Cuy, while many do eat it, my family doesn’t so I haven’t. When I say I don’t get questioned if I’m Ecuadorian because I don’t eat it but what people don’t know is that Cuy is mostly eaten in the mountainous regions, but my family is from the coast. Just because I don’t eat a traditional food it doesn’t mean I’m not Ecuador, there are more traditional dishes that are not as known as Cuy but you never hear about them. Some single stories are much more dangerous than just traditional dishes some change the reality of religions, regions, group of people, etc. Thus, leading to many problems, we have today like racism. I think Professor Barnes assigned this to us so we can also realize that we have experienced single stories either first hand or we’ve seen it around us.
One thought on “Mary Zambrano Conversation 2”
Hey Zambrano,
I would say you’re thinking about the single story, which matches my viewpoint, too. I found some excellent descriptions of Adichie’s experiences in the US and her home country. What you share in your life experience, I think, is pretty much like this situation whenever someone doesn’t know the real story about my culture, people, or the country’s diverse environment. We have to think beyond our judgment of thers. We must change our way of thinking, or the environment of two stories needs to change our thinking.