The Danger of a Single Story - Importance of Voice and Culture

This article discusses the TED Talk 'The Danger of a Single Story' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It highlights the importance of voice and culture in defining a culture and how single stories create stereotypes. The article also discusses the critical problems with stereotypes and how they can harm the next generation.

The Danger of a Single Story
Kar Htoo
Adult High School/6132392707 /Shanon (Guidance Counsellor)
U1 A3 A1
The Danger of a Single Story
After watching “The Danger of a Single Story”, respond to the following questions using the
chart below. Please provide specific examples from the TED Talk and from your personal
experiences.
** The chart will expand as you type **
Question Answer Example from TED
Talk
Personal
Example
1. How important is the
voice behind the
definition of culture?
2. Does it matter WHO
defines a culture?
3. Would a culture be
defined differently
between ages,
genders, wealth gaps
or races?
1.The voice is very
important behind
the definition of
culture. It’s an
important aspect of
how people assess
your credibility. It
represents values,
opinions, beliefs,
viewpoints, and
culture
backgrounds. For
example, If you
meet someone for
the first time, that
person’s first
impression of you
might not be who
you really are, but
if you speak out
and your voice is
authoritative and
well informed
about yourself, the
person will be
more
knowledgeable
and change her
impression of you.
2. It does matter
because each
individual may
define it differently.
1. Adichie uses the
Ibo word “Inkale” to
define the
importance of the
voce that defines
culture. This voice
or what she calls the
principle of Inkale
has to be authentic
in order to reflect
the true
manifestations of
what exists in that
particular culture
that the individual is
defining and making
it the definitive story
of the culture.
2. Adichie gives
the example of
stereotypes that
arise from one
story definition of
Africa as a place of
catastrophes. This
definition sees
Africa from the
single story
perspective since
everyone defines
the culture from
their won
I was born in
Burma, moved to
Thailand when I
was one year old,
and moved again
to Canada when I
was eleven.
Unfortunately, I
didn’t have the
opportunity to learn
Burmese in my 10
years in Thailand,
so I don’t speak
the language and I
don’t define myself
as a Burmese
citizen. When
people asked
where I’m from, my
answer would
always be
Thailand, but I
know in my heart
I’m originally from
Burma. The facts
that I don’t speak
the language and
didn’t grow up in it
make me present
the culture
differently.
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The Danger of a Single Story
It also depends on
the generation and
events that created
the culture. For
example, two
people come from
the same culture,
but experience it
differently, and
there fore
represent it
differently.
3. Yes, if a person
defines culture,
and
age/wealth/gender
defines a person,
those have effect
on culture.
perspective.
3. Yes, culture can
be defined
differently by people
of different race,
wealth, age and
gender.
Chimamanda gives
us an example of
how her roommate
was surprised to
hear her speak
English since she
knew that Africans
cannot speak
English. Further,
she quotes the
definition that John
Locle wrote on his
voyage to west
Africa where he
defined Africans as
people without
houses who have
their eyes on their
breasts.
4. What is the danger
when specific voices
are missing
5. How does this inform
ones cultural
identity?
4. Some part of
culture wouldn’t be
known and some
expectations exist
that may not be
true.
5. Everyone has
unique traditions,
values and beliefs
that are important
to them and how
they deliver them.
One can through
their living styles,
lived experience
with the culture,
and knowledge
4. Chimamanda
gives the example
of how she had a
single story
understanding
Mexicans as
immigrants due to
the crisis situation
that they were
facing. The
definition from the
media was missing
some voices thus
robing the people of
dignity.
5.the example of
how the presenter
The struggle I face
whenever I meet
new people is that
they ask where I’m
from and as soon
as I tell them
where, they start
assuming things.
For example, I am
horrible in math
and the fact that I
am Asian, they
think all Asian are
good at math.
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The Danger of a Single Story
base. views writes the
novel to reflect her
life rather than the
real culture that she
was brought up in.
6. How do single stories
create stereotypes?
6. Stereotypes
provide human
with the ability to
quickly sort out
patterns in a
randomly diverse
world filled with
people of every
size, shape,
gender, age,
colour, and sexual
orientation.
Fide’s family was
seen as poor by
Chimamanda and
incapable of doing
anything else
because all her
mother used to do is
use the word poor
when referring to
them. She created
only one side of the
story for
Chimamanda about
Fides family
Too many times
people say I am
good at math.
I go to black
church and I am
seventh day
Adventist when all
80% of thai people
are Buddhists.
7. What are some
critical problems with
stereotypes?
7. Stereotypes are
mean and often
disrespectful
generalization
about something.
An example of
cultural stereotype
is that Jewish
people are rich
and stingy or Asian
people are good at
math. The
existence of such
beliefs is harmful
because it will
have a negative
impact on the next
generation
especially children.
For instance, there
is a widespread
idea that “ all
people of Arab
decent are
terrorist.”
Obviously, this is
far from the truth. If
we spread this to
Chimamanda says
that they robe
people of dignity, as
seen in how she
was treated by her
American roommate
because of what
she had read about
Africa.
We accept them as
representing reality
and erroneously
equate them with
valid generalizations
based on accurate
data about a group of
people. In actuality,
they are nothing
more than
standardized mental
pictures reflecting an
oversimplified
opinion and have
little or no
ascertainable basis in
fact. They project
unidimensional
caricatures, masking
the diver-sity that is
an inherent feature of
every group of
people
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The Danger of a Single Story
children, it will
create hate and
fear emotion and
will ultimately harm
the children.
8. How do you think
Adichie might
respond to the
definitions presented
on the content page?
Adichie may
response differently
to the definitions of
culture because of
the way she was
raised. She grew up
in a well-educated
family, unlike most
African children; she
grew up learning
western culture,
reading western
children stories, so
this makes her to
have limit
understanding of her
true culture because
she didn’t have the
real connection.
An example is when
the professor told her
that the characters in
the novel were not
poor and starving
since they reflected an
upper middle class
rather than the poverty
stricken Africa.
Sometimes I feel
guilty because in our
culture we valued
new year celebration,
it’s a huge thing to
us. However, ever
since I moved
Canada it New year
celebration is like a
typical day, which I
think, is bad because
I feel like we are
losing our culture
and identity.
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