In my previous blog I mentioned stories. I figured there might be some confusion so I wanted to expand on it.
In Reading 2, which discusses the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she mentions “stories”. In fact, she introduces herself at her TED Talk with “I’m a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories about what I
like to call ‘the danger of the single story.'”
“I’ve always felt that 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. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”
Everyone has stories and no one ever has just one. It is the single story that people tend to believe. They sometimes only see one story and that’s all they ever want or even try to see. If enough people believe that single story, sometimes even that invididual ends up believing that single story. Adichie states “that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.”
We must move away from single stories. We need to stop believing in single stories, single truths. You, me, the world, none of us is one dimensional. There is never just one side.
“All of these stories make me who I am. But to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience and to overlook the many other stories that formed me.”
“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,” Adichie said.
Adichie herself is not exempt from being influenced by the “single story” mindset. Because of the strong media coverage on Mexican immigration she “had bought into the single story”, automatically associating all Mexicans with immigration.
Single story preconceptions are everywhere. It is something we must be aware of at all times, any time we have any preconceived notions about anything, we should research and make it multi-dimensional. For me, while growing up and even as a young adult, I thought “third world countries” were like those images in National Geographic. You might remember them. Naked children sitting in the dirt, barely dressed adults working. Everyone looking sad, stressed and uncomfortable. But then, thanks mostly to the internet, I discovered the truth. There are cities, big cities, just like any other country, with skyscrapers, schools and universities, politics and rich and poor people. Truly, they are not so different than the United States of America.
Fortunately, “Third World Countries” (and similar ratings) have been recognized as being derogatory so that is a story that has changed since my childhood. According to Investopedia “‘Third World’ is an outdated and derogatory phrase that has been used historically to describe a class of economically developing nations. Today, the preferred terminology is a developing nation, an underdeveloped country, or a low- and middle-income country (LMIC).”
What are your single story ideas?