The Danger of a Single Story

Introduction

• Personal stories about the "danger of the single story."
• Grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
• Early reader, exposed to British and American children's books.
• Early writer, writing stories in pencil with crayon illustrations, mimicking the books read.
  • Characters were white, blue-eyed, played in the snow, and talked about the weather.
  • Despite living in Nigeria, with no snow and eating mangoes.

Discovering African Books

• Initial belief that literature had to involve foreign characters.
• Change in perception after discovering African books by authors like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye.
• Realized African stories and people like herself could exist in literature.
• Began writing about familiar things.

Encountering Single Stories in Life

• Example of Fide, a house boy from a poor family.
  • Only knew of their poverty until visiting and discovering their craftsmanship.
• Studying in the US at 19, faced stereotypes and single stories of Africa as being catastrophically poor and different.
  • Roommate's preconceived notions about Africa.
• Realized the origin of single stories often comes from Western literature and media.

Power and Single Stories

• Stories are influenced by power dynamics (Igbo word "nkali" = to be greater than another).
  • Who tells stories, how they are told, and their impact.
• Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti quote on dispossession starting with a selective beginning.
  • Examples of how single stories are formed by focusing on particular narratives.

Personal Insight

• Awareness of her own biases when visiting Mexico, influenced by US media portrayal.
• Realization that single stories create stereotypes, making one story define a whole identity.

Importance of Multiple Stories

• The danger of a single story is that it robs people of dignity and highlights differences instead of similarities.
• Emphasized the need for multiple stories for a balanced understanding.
• Highlighted the resilience and diverse stories from Nigeria.

Conclusion

• "Stories matter. Many stories matter."
• Stories can be used to empower and humanize.
• Ending with the thought that rejecting the single story regains a "paradise."