Chimamanda Adichie El peligro de una sola historia (sub castellano y francés)
Summary
TLDREl orador comparte experiencias personales sobre el peligro de la 'single story', la narrativa unificada que puede distorsionar la percepción de un lugar o una persona. Desde su infancia en Nigeria, leía libros de personajes blancos y azul de ojos, lo que le hizo creer que los libros tenían que ser extranjeros. Descubre luego literatura africana, lo que le permite ver la diversidad en las historias. Expone cómo las historias pueden ser utilizadas para opresión o empoderamiento, y subraya la importancia de contar con múltiples historias para una comprensión auténtica y empática del mundo.
Takeaways
- 📚 La narradora creció leyendo libros británicos y americanos, lo que influenció sus propias historias escritas, llenas de personajes ajenos a su cultura.
- ❄ Aunque vivía en Nigeria, una región sin nieve, sus personajes ficticios jugaban en la nieve, reflejando la ausencia de diversidad en la literatura que consumía.
- 🌟 El descubrimiento de literatura africana le permitió ver a personas como ella misma representadas en los libros, lo que alteró su percepción de la literatura.
- 🏡 La historia de FID, el muchacho de la casa, le enseñó que la pobreza no define a las personas y que hay más historias que la única que se cuenta.
- 🗽 Al mudarse a Estados Unidos, se dio cuenta de cómo las personas ven a los africanos a través de una 'sola historia', basada en la catástrofe y la pobreza.
- 🌏 La 'sola historia' de África, perpetuada por la literatura y los medios, reduce a los africanos a estereotipos y negamos su complejidad y humanidad.
- 💡 La narradora aboga por la importancia de contar múltiples historias para contrarrestar los estereotipos y recuperar la dignidad de las personas y lugares.
- 🌱 La diversidad de historias es esencial para entender plenamente a una persona o un lugar, y es crucial para la empatía y la conexión humana.
- 📖 La literatura y los medios de comunicación tienen un poder巨大的影响力 en cómo se ven y se理解 las culturas y las personas.
- 🌈 La narradora promueve la creación y difusión de historias variadas para humanizar y empoderar a las personas, en lugar de marginarlas o estigmatizarlas.
Q & A
¿Qué es la 'peligrosidad de la única historia' que menciona el narrador?
-La 'peligrosidad de la única historia' se refiere a la limitación de la comprensión y percepción de un lugar o una persona basada en una sola narrativa o imagen, lo que lleva a estereotipos y falta de dignidad para aquellos a quienes se refiere.
¿Por qué el narrador comenzó a escribir historias con personajes blancos y de ojos azules?
-El narrador comenzó a escribir personajes blancos y de ojos azules porque los libros que leía, que eran de origen británico y estadounidense, representaban a personajes extranjeros, y él creció convencido de que los libros por naturaleza debían contener extranjeros y temas con los que no podía identificarse personalmente.
¿Cómo cambió la percepción del narrador sobre la literatura después de descubrir libros africanos?
-Después de descubrir escritores africanos como Chinua Achebe y Kamar L, el narrador experimentó un cambio mental en su percepción de la literatura, entendiendo que personas como él, con piel oscura y cabello rizado, también podían existir en la literatura.
¿Qué lecciones aprendió el narrador de su experiencia con FID y su familia?
-El narrador aprendió que su única historia sobre la familia de FID, basada en su pobreza, le impidió ver más allá de esa condición. Esto le enseñó sobre la importancia de no reducir a las personas a una sola historia o etiqueta.
¿Cómo reaccionó la compañera de cuarto del narrador en los Estados Unidos ante su llegada?
-La compañera de cuarto del narrador en los Estados Unidos estaba sorprendida y asumió que él no sabía usar un horno, que su música era tribal y que no podía hablar inglés bien, reflejando una única historia de África basada en la condescendencia y la pobreza.
¿Qué impacto tuvo el descubrimiento de escritores africanos en el narrador?
-El descubrimiento de escritores africanos salvó al narrador de tener una única historia sobre lo que los libros son, permitiéndole ver que personas como él también podían existir en la literatura y expandiendo su perspectiva sobre la diversidad dentro del continente africano.
¿Qué es 'anali' y cómo está relacionado con la historia única según el narrador?
-Anali es una palabra que se traduce como 'ser mayor que otro', y está relacionada con la historia única porque refleja la estructura de poder que define quién puede contar historias y cómo, lo que a menudo resulta en una narrativa dominante que reduce a las personas a una sola historia.
¿Cómo describe el narrador la influencia de la literatura occidental en la percepción de África?
-El narrador describe la influencia de la literatura occidental en la percepción de África como una tradición que presenta a subsaharánfrica como un lugar de negativos, diferencia y oscuridad, con historias que enfatizan la catástrofe y la pobreza, en lugar de la riqueza cultural y la diversidad de experiencias.
¿Qué sugiere el narrador como solución para superar la historia única?
-El narrador sugiere que para superar la historia única, es necesario contar múltiples historias que representen la diversidad y la complejidad de un lugar o una persona, lo que permite una mejor comprensión y empatía, y evita la reducción a estereotipos.
¿Por qué es importante para el narrador que las historias cuenten más que solo la catástrofe y la adversidad?
-Es importante para el narrador que las historias cuenten más que la catástrofe y la adversidad porque, aunque estas son parte de la realidad, también existen historias de resiliencia, creatividad y logros que son esenciales para una comprensión completa y humana de un lugar o una persona.
Outlines
📚 La Peligrosidad de la Historia Única
El narrador comparte su experiencia de crecer en una universidad en Nigeria y cómo la ausencia de literatura diversa en su juventud la llevó a escribir historias donde los personajes eran blancos y azul de ojos, a pesar de que ella misma era africana. Esto refleja la influencia de la literatura de fuera de su contexto cultural y cómo la descubrimiento de escritores africanos cambió su percepción de la literatura, permitiéndole ver a personas como ella misma en los libros.
🌏 La Construcción de la Identidad a través de las Historias
El narrador describe cómo su identidad como africana fue moldeada tanto por su experiencia en Nigeria como por la percepción de los estadounidenses hacia los africanos. Explica cómo la historia única de Africa, que generaliza la continente como un lugar de catástrofes y pobreza, es perpetuada por la literatura y los medios de comunicación occidentales. Además, reflexiona sobre cómo la historia única puede ser dañina y cómo la diversidad de historias es esencial para una comprensión justa y humana de cualquier lugar o persona.
🌐 El Poder de las Historias y la Resiliencia
Se discute cómo las historias tienen el poder de definir la imagen y la realidad de un pueblo, y cómo la historia única puede desposeer a las personas de su dignidad y humanidad. El narrador comparte su propia vida y las experiencias de su familia como ejemplos de la complejidad y riqueza de las historias africanas, que van más allá de los estereotipos y las tragedias. Aboga por la importancia de contar y escuchar múltiples historias para una comprensión más profunda y empática.
🌈 La Importancia de Contar y Escuchar Diversas Historias
El narrador concluye su discurso enfatizando la importancia de contar historias que representan la diversidad y complejidad de las experiencias humanas. Explica cómo su propia obra literaria y la iniciativa de su editor nigeriano demuestran que las historias pueden empoderar y humanizar a las personas. Finalmente, sugiere que al rechazar la historia única y reconocer la multiplicidad de historias, se puede alcanzar una 'paradisea' comprensión más rica y respetuosa de la humanidad.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Historia única
💡Literatura
💡Identidad
💡Estereotipos
💡Poder
💡Compasión condescendiente
💡Resiliencia
💡Narrativa
💡Humanización
💡Dignidad
Highlights
La narradora comparte su experiencia de crecer con cuentos de niños británicos y estadounidenses, lo que la llevó a escribir historias con personajes ajenos a su cultura.
Descubre la literatura africana y cómo esto cambió su percepción de la literatura, permitiéndole ver a personas como ella misma en los libros.
Explica cómo la pobreza fue la única historia que conocía sobre la familia de su ayuda de casa, lo que la llevó a verlos únicamente a través de esa historia.
Cuenta su sorpresa al descubrir la habilidad artesanal de la familia pobre, lo que la hizo cuestionar su 'historia única' sobre ellos.
Describe su experiencia como estudiante nigeriana en Estados Unidos y cómo su roommate estadounidense tenía una 'historia única' sobre África.
Muestra cómo la 'historia única' de África, basada en la catástrofe, puede ser una percepción distorsionada y falta de diversidad.
Comparte una cita del escritor John Lock, ilustrando cómo la literatura occidental ha contribuido a la 'historia única' de África.
Argumenta que la 'historia única' puede ser tan dañina como los estereotipos, ya que ambas son incompletas y limitan la visión de la diversidad humana.
Explora la idea de que el poder es la capacidad de definir la 'historia única' de un pueblo, y cómo esto puede ser usado para opresión o empoderamiento.
Cuenta una experiencia en México donde su 'historia única' sobre los inmigrantes mexicanos la hizo verlos de una manera distorsionada.
Destaca la importancia de contar historias complejas y diversas para contrarrestar la 'historia única' y promover una comprensión más rica y empática.
Comparte ejemplos de la resiliencia y la creatividad de los nigerianos, desafiando la 'historia única' de fracaso e infraestructura fallida.
Explica cómo la literatura y las historias pueden ser herramientas para empoderar y humanizar, más allá de ser solo una fuente de opresión.
Propone la idea de que al rechazar la 'historia única' y reconocer la diversidad de las historias, se puede 'regresar al paraíso' en términos de entendimiento y conexión humana.
Gracias a la narradora por su discurso, que resalta la importancia de las historias complejas y la necesidad de romper con la 'historia única'.
Transcripts
[Applause]
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 grew up on a University campus
in eastern Nigeria my mother says that I
started reading at the age of two
although I think four is probably close
to the
truth so I was an early reader and what
I read were British and American
children's books I was also an early
writer and when I began to write at
about the age of seven stories in pencil
with crayon illustrations that my poor
mother was obligated to read I wrote
exactly the kinds of stories I was
reading all my characters were white and
blue-eyed they played in the
snow they ate
apples and they talked a lot about the
weather how lovely it was that the sun
had come out
now this despite the fact that I lived
in Nigeria had never been outside
Nigeria we didn't have snow we ate
mangoes and we never talked about the
weather because there was no need to my
characters also drank a lot of ginger
beer because the characters in the
British books I read drank ginger beer
never mind that I had no idea what
ginger beer
was and for many years afterwards I
would have a desperate desire to taste
ginger beer
but that is another story what this
demonstrates I think is how
impressionable and vulnerable we are in
the face of a story particularly as
children because all I had read were
books in which characters were foreign I
had become convinced that books by their
very nature had to have foreigners in
them and had to be about things with
which I could not personally
identify now things changed when I
discovered African books there weren't
many of them available and they weren't
quite as easy to find as the foreign
books but because of writers like Chino
a and Kamar L I went through a mental
shift in my perception of literature I
realized that people like me girls with
skin the color of chocolate whose kinky
hair could not form ponytails could also
exist in literature I started to write
about things I
recognized now I loved those American
and British books I read they stirred my
imagination the opened up new walls for
me but the unintended consequence was
that I did not know that people like me
could exist in
literature so what the discovery of
African writers did for me was this it
saved me from having a single story of
what books
are I come from a conventional
middleclass Nigerian family my father
was a professor my mother was an
administrator and so we had as was the
norm living domestic help who would
often come from nearby rural Villages so
the year I turned eight we got a new
house boy his name was
FID the only thing my mother told us
about him was that his family was very
poor my mother sent yams and rice and
our old clothes to his family and when I
didn't finish my dinner my mother would
say finish your food don't you know
people like F's family have nothing so I
felt enormous pity for
family then one Saturday we went to his
village to visit and his mother showed
us a beautifully patterned basket made
of died Rafia that his brother had made
I was
startled it had not occurred to me that
anybody in his family could actually
make something all I had heard about
them was how poor they were so that it
had become impossible for me to see them
as anything else but poor their poverty
was my single story of them
years later I thought about this when I
left Nigeria to go to university in the
United States I was
19 my American roommate was shocked by
me she asked where I had learned to
speak English so well and was confused
when I said that Nigeria happened to
have English as its official
language she asked if she could listen
to what she called my tribal music and
was consequently very disappointed when
I produced my tape of Mariah car
sry she assumed that I did not know how
to use a
stove what struck me was this she had
felt sorry for me even before she saw me
her default position toward me as an
African was a kind of patronizing
well-meaning
pity my roommate had a single story of
Africa a single story of
catastrophe in this single story there
was no possibility of Africans being
similar to her in any way no possibility
of feelings more complex than pity no
possibility of a connection as human
equals I must say that before I went to
the US I didn't consciously identify as
African but in the US whenever Africa
came up people turned to me never mind
that I knew nothing about places like
namia but I did come to embrace this new
identity and in many ways I think of
myself now as African although I still
get quite irritable when Africa is
referred to as a country the most recent
example being my otherwise wonderful
flight from Lagos two days ago in which
um there was an announcement on the
Virgin Flight about the Charity Walk in
India Africa and other
countries so after I had spent some
years in the US as an African I began to
understand my roommate's response to me
if I had not grown up in Nigeria and if
all I knew about Africa were from
popular images I too would think that
Africa was a place of beautiful
landscapes beautiful animals and
incomprehensible people fighting
senseless Wars dying of poverty and AIDS
unable to speak for themselves and
waiting to be saved by a kind white
Foreigner I would see Africans in the
same way that I as a child had seen
fed's
family this single story of Africa
ultimately comes I think from Western
literature now here's a quote from the
writer of a London Merchant called John
Lock who sailed to West Africa in
1561 and kept a fascinating account of
his
voyage after referring to the black
Africans as beasts who have no houses he
writes they are also people without
heads having their mouths and eyes in
their
breasts now I've laughed every time I've
read this and one must admire the
imagination of John lock but what is
important about his writing is that it
represents the beginning of a tradition
of telling African stories in the west a
tradition of subsaharan Africa as a
place of negatives of difference of
Darkness of people who in the words of
the wonderful poet rad Kipling a half
devil half
child and so I began to realize that my
American roommate must have throughout
her life seen and heard different
versions of this single story as had a
professor who once told me that my novel
was not authentically
African now I was quite willing to
contend that there were a number of
things wrong with the novel that it had
failed in a number of places but I had
not quite imagined that it had failed at
achieving something called African
authenticity in fact I did not know what
African authenticity
was the professor told me that my
characters were too much like him an
educated and middle class man my
characters drove cars they were not
starving therefore they were not
authentically
African but I must quickly add that I
too am just as guilty in the question of
the single story a few years ago I
visited Mexico from the
US the political climate in the us at
the time was tense and there were
debates going on about
immigration and as often happens in
America immigration became synonymous
with Mexican
there were endless stories of Mexicans
as people who were fleecing the Health
Care System sneaking across the border
being arrested at the border that sort
of
thing I remember walking around on my
first day in
guadalahara watching the people going to
walk rolling up to tears in the
marketplace smoking
laughing I remember first feeling slight
surprise and then I was overwhelmed with
shame I realized that I had been so
immersed in the media coverage of
Mexicans that they had become one thing
in my mind the abject
immigrant I had bought into the single
story of Mexicans and I could not have
been more ashamed of myself so 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 it is impossible to talk about
the single story without talking about
power there is a word an EO word that I
think about whenever I think about the
power structures of the world and it is
inali it's a noun that Loosely
translates to to be greater than another
like our economic and political worlds
stories too are defined by the principle
of anali how they are told who tells
them when they are told how many stories
are told are really dependent on power
power is the ability not just to tell
the story of another person but to make
it the definitive story of that person
the Palestinian poet mid bouti writes
that if you want to dispossess a people
the simplest way to do it is to tell
their story and to start with
secondly start the story with the arrows
of the Native Americans and not with the
arrival of the British and you have an
entirely different story start the story
with with the failure of the African
State and not with the colonial creation
of the African State and you have an
entirely different
story I recently spoke at a university
where a student told me that it was such
a shame that Nigerian men were were
physical abusers like the father
character in my
novel I told him that I had just read a
novel called American
Psycho
and and that it was such a shame that
Young Americans were serial
murderers now
now now now obviously I said this in a
fit of mild irritation
but it would never have occurred to me
to think that just because I had read a
novel in which a character was a serial
killer that he was somehow
representative of all Americans and now
this is not because I'm a better person
than that student but because of
America's cultural and economic power I
had many stories of America I had read
thaan opdik and steinber and Gat skill I
did not have a single story of
America when I learned some years ago
that writers were expected to have had
really unhappy childhoods to be
successful I began to think about how I
could invent horrible things my parents
had done to
me but the truth truth is that I had a
very happy childhood full of laughter
and love in a very close-nit family but
I also had grandfathers who died in
refugee camps my cousin Polly died
because he could not get adequate Health
Care one of my closest friends okoma
died in a plane crash because our fired
trucks did not have
water I grew up under repressive
military governments that devalued
education so that sometimes my parents
would not pay their salaries and so as a
child I saw Jam dis appear from The
Breakfast Table then maerin
disappeared then bread became too
expensive then milk became
rationed and most of all a kind of
normalized political fear invaded Our
Lives 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 of course Africa is a continent
full of catastrophes the immense ones
such as the horrific rapes in Congo and
depressing ones such as the fact that
5,000 people apply for one job vacancy
in
Nigeria but there are other stories that
are not about catastrophe
and it is very important it is just as
important to talk about them 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
so what if before my Mexican trip
I had followed the immigration debate
from both sides the US and the Mexican
what if my mother had told us that fed's
family was poor and had
working what if we had an African
television network that broadcast
diverse African stories all over the
world what the Nigerian writer Chino
Achebe calls a balance of stories what
if my roommate knew about my Nigerian
publisher MTAR bakari a remarkable man
who left his job in a bank to follow his
dream and start a publishing house now
the conventional wisdom was that
Nigerians don't read literature he
disagreed he felt that people who could
read would read if you made literature
affordable and available to them shortly
after he published my first novel I went
to a TV station in Lagos to do an
interview and a woman who walked there
as a messenger came up to me and said I
really liked your novel I didn't like
the ending now you must write a sequel
and this is what will happen
and she went on to tell me what to write
in the sequel now I was not only Charmed
I was very moved here was a woman part
of the ordinary masses of Nigerians who
were not supposed to be
readers she had not only read the book
but she had taken ownership of it and
felt justified in telling me what to
write in the
SE now what if my roommate knew about my
friend fumi y a Fearless woman who hosts
a TV show in Lagos and is deter to tell
the stories that we prefer to forget
what if my roommate knew about the heart
procedure that was performed in the
Lagos hospital last week what if my
roommate knew about contemporary
Nigerian music talented people singing
in English and pigeon and IO and Yuba
and E mixing influences from JayZ to
fella to Bob Marley to their
grandfathers what if my roommate knew
about the female lawyer who recently
went to court in Nigeria to challenge a
ridiculous law that required women to
get their husband's consent before
renewing their passports what if my
roommate knew about Nollywood full of
innovative people making films despite
great technical odds films so popular
that they really are the best example of
Nigerians consuming what they produce
what if my roommate knew about my
wonderfully ambitious hair braider who
has just started her own business
selling hair
extensions or about the millions of
other Nigerians Who start businesses
and sometimes fail but continue to nurse
ambition every time I am home I'm
confronted with the usual sources of
irritation for most Nigerians our failed
infrastructure our failed government but
also by the incredible resilience of
people who Thrive despite the government
rather than because of
it I teach writing workshops in Lagos
every summer and it is amazing to me how
many people apply how many people are
eager to write to tell
stories my Nigerian publisher and I have
just started a nonprofit called farafina
trust and we have big dreams of building
libraries and refurbishing libraries
that already exist and providing books
for State schools that don't have
anything in their libraries and also of
organizing lots and lots of workshops
and reading and writing for all the
people who are eager to tell our many
stories stories matter many stories
matter stories have been used to
dispossess and to malign but stories can
also be used to empower and to humanize
stories can break the Dignity of a
people but stories can also repair that
broken
dignity the American writer Alice Walker
wrote this about um her Southern
relatives who had moved to the north and
she introduced them to a book about the
southern life that they had left
behind they sat around reading the book
themselves listening to me read the book
and the kind of paradise was
regained I would like to end with this
thought that when we reject the single
story when we realize that there is
never a single story about any
place we regain a kind of paradise thank
you
[Applause]
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