The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Adichie explains in a beautiful talk about how we construct single stories about people and cultures. This happens all the time with indigenous communities. People often hear one native person say something and attribute that quote or idea to a whole culture or even worse, to “Native Americans.”
Adichie goes deeply into how the flattening of stories results in power shifts that lead to marginalization. Spend the time watching…
I love this piece. Friends of mine are in Nigeria supporting the start of a new community development university. This young woman writer represents great hope in being able to make her experience and insights so available. When I was in Nigeria 30 years ago, the only books I had to teach from held stories of King Arthur and his scabbard. I have to say though that a Nigerian teacher I worked with embodied Shakespeare in a universal way coming into the staff room chanting, If Music Be the Food of Love, PLAY ON