The danger of a single story - Chimamada Ngozi Adichie

Chimamada Ngozi Adichie

She is women from Nigeria where she grew up. Later she moved to the United states. She is the author of "Purple Hibiscus", "Half of a Yellow Sun", "The Thing Around Your Neck", "Americanah", and "We Should All Be Feminists". Her work has been translates in many languages. 

The danger of a single story

She is an inspiring women who lets you understand how important stories are, but different stories. They come in different forms films, books, music theater, ... The danger of a "single story" is that you hear over and over again the same story in a different way. In time these single stories will be seen as reality but they are only stereotypes, where there is a truth but where many information is missing. 

Like she says in her Ted talk "A student told me it was such a shame that Nigerian man where physical abusers like the father character in my novel. I told him I just read a novel called American psycho, and that It was such a shame that young Americans where serial murderers." 

We risk critical misunderstanding when we hear only a single story 

Book Americanah

She has written an novel Americanah. I haven't read it yet but I'm interested in reading her book after watching her ted talk and other interviews about Americanah.

Summery 

The story of two Nigerians making their way in the U.S. and the UK, raising universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for identity and a home.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion;for each other and for their homeland.

Class practice 

How to avoid a single story in your class? 

Story telling comes as I mentioned earlier, in different forms: films, book, music, ... Story telling should be more important. Do not end the school day without a story. It doesn't have to be long, only meaningful. Invite parents to come and tell stories. Let children tell their stories. Be open to listen to different languages. 

Theories to help 

This are tools that I have learned in my GCC program Global Competence Certificate. To help you to see thing, understand thing in more then one way. We live in a globalized word where intercultural competences are important. 

DIVE tool 

The DIVE tool will help to consider more possibilities and not to jump too fast in your first conclusion.

1. Describe: What do I see? What elements can I observe in this situation
2. Interpretation: How do I make sense of what I see? What are my assumptions about what I observe? What are some possible interpretations of what is going on? 
3. Verify: Which of my possible interpretations most likely to be accurate? What more do I need to know to find out which interpretation most likely?
4. Evaluate: How do I judge what I see? What do I feel about what I think is going on? Good or bad? Right or wrong?

Margin and Mainstream 

Mainstream is the norm, everything what is out of "your" norm is the margin. That's why it is important to be aware of your own mainstream. Who could be in the margin? So that nobody has the feel left out.