The Danger of a Single Story

Thanks for the link. What she says is very true. For me it underlines the need for research into not only a place but the people of the place. While working on my current WIP I'm also researching another novel I plan to set in Burundi. I've been lucky enough to locate a book written by a man who came to the US from that area only a few years ago. The web is also great because if you're persistent you can find blogs written by people living all over the world and get a local point of view.

That was very good and true. There is never a single story, even in short stories there is something that had happened to the charater that the story dosen't tell. Thanks for sharing.

How wonderful!

Thank you Willie!

I always say, "You are what you read."

Have to add a few words. The chapters I just read tonight made me think of this again, in an oblique way.

There are a lot of ways that people get narrow views. One of them is school. I remember Social Studies, the boring muddy stream of facts and figures. I wanted to know about the people. There was nothing about the people. Maybe that's where a big percentage of it starts.

I filled in what the so-called educational system left out. Most people don't.

I have to say, Willie, that that was a great link, and thank you for sharing it with us!

That was really good. Thanks for sharing!

You are so right about the value of those Ted Talks. I've been referred to so many great ones.

Very nice. Simple concept, yet lots to think about. I could listen to her speak all day long.

Nicole

Such a good link. Well worth the watch.

Thanks for posting.

Excellent link, and thank you for introducing me to such a great website.

great talk, thanks for sharing.

It reminded me of a time in highschool. We had an exchange student from Brazil. We were talking one day and I can't remember what brought it up, but I asked him what the most common question he was asked. He said he was asked almost every day by different students if he rode and Elephant to school. He lived in Brasilia...a city of 2.5 million people. These students were invariably surprised they even had cities and even more surprised to find out they had cars and what not.

It is amazing how easy it is to get sucked in by the single story and how much it can dominate our perception of places we've never been to, or even people we see every day as we catagorize the world around us.

Very great speech. I myself have been pigeon holed by the single story by a teacher of mine who felt all poor people had no future and that none of us who lived below a certain poverty line would ever make anything of ourselves and those who made above that line would have the world. Just goes to show no one is immune from that.

icerose said:

It reminded me of a time in highschool. We had an exchange student from Brazil. We were talking one day and I can't remember what brought it up, but I asked him what the most common question he was asked. He said he was asked almost every day by different students if he rode and Elephant to school. He lived in Brasilia...a city of 2.5 million people. These students were invariably surprised they even had cities and even more surprised to find out they had cars and what not.

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I can relate. Canadians are viewed as living in extreme cold and snow all year round with uniformed mounties on horseback on every corner. We all say 'aye', are all hockey fanatics and only drink Tim Horton's coffee.

ishtar'sgate said:

I can relate. Canadians are viewed as living in extreme cold and snow all year round with uniformed mounties on horseback on every corner. We all say 'aye', are all hockey fanatics and only drink Tim Horton's coffee.

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Same with the perception of Scotland, especially in England.

We're not all drunken, penny-pinching, shortbread-eating, kilt-wearing wife-beaters. The Highland Games and the tartan-tourism industry have done more harm than good for the national image.

What a wonderful link.

True story. When I graduated from high school in 1963 there were parties at private homes all that week. One of them that I was invited to was to a home of a black classmate of mine. Up until this time I had never been in a black person's home before.

I went to the party and had a blast. There were about 60 of us there. I was there for about 15 minutes when I sit back and had an inner epiphany . It was my single story event.

I had never given it any thought of what the inside of a black persons house would be like. Imagine my surprise when it was just like my home. I did not go to the party with any thinking about what it might be like. I went because it was a party with my friends.

You have to remember the times. The 1950's-early 1960's. It had just never crossed my mind. The history parts only dealt with the slave times and early ww1-2 stuff.

Until this time in my life I had many black school friends but none on a social level yet. It opened a whole new out look of things for me.

Williebee said:

Chimamanda Adichie, from Nigeria, hammers home the "why" in this video, addressing

The Danger of a Single Story.

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I've only just found this talk (one of those link-within-a-link internet experiences). All I could think throughout the entire 20 minutes was "YES! THIS!"
Anyway, resurrecting the thread because I was going to post the video but thankfully I searched first and found someone beat me to it.

So. What she said.

ishtar'sgate said:

I can relate. Canadians are viewed as living in extreme cold and snow all year round with uniformed mounties on horseback on every corner. We all say 'aye', are all hockey fanatics and only drink Tim Horton's coffee.

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I know for a fact you have very cold streams