Chimamanda Adichie - Os perigos de uma história única. LEGENDADO.

Summary

The speaker, a storyteller, recounts her journey from childhood immersion in foreign literature to a profound realization of the 'danger of the single story.' She discusses how early exposure to predominantly Western narratives shaped her early writing, leading to a narrow view of the world. Her discovery of African literature expanded her perspective, allowing her to see the diversity of stories that could be told. She extends this concept to her experiences with domestic help in Nigeria and her roommate in the U.S., illustrating how single stories can lead to stereotypes and misunderstandings. The speaker advocates for a multiplicity of narratives to restore dignity and humanity, emphasizing the power of stories to both divide and unite.

Takeaways

• 📚 The author's early exposure to predominantly Western literature led to her internalizing a 'single story' where characters were foreign and did not reflect her own experiences.
• 🌟 Discovering African literature helped the author realize that people like her could exist in literature, leading to a shift in her perception and writing.
• 🏡 Growing up with domestic help from a poor background, the author initially saw them only through the lens of poverty, which changed when she saw their creativity and capabilities.
• 🌐 The author's experience in the United States highlighted how a 'single story' of Africa as a place of catastrophe and helplessness was prevalent, influencing perceptions.
• 🗣️ The author emphasizes the importance of having multiple narratives to avoid stereotypes and to recognize the humanity and complexity of individuals and places.
• 💪 The power dynamics in storytelling are crucial; those with the power to tell stories often define the narratives that become widely accepted.
• 🌱 The author's own experiences of a happy childhood and the hardships she witnessed coexist, illustrating the need for a balanced representation of any story.
• 🌟 The potential for stories to both harm and heal is discussed, with the author advocating for the use of stories to empower and humanize.
• 🌍 The author calls for a rejection of the 'single story' mentality, suggesting that a more nuanced understanding can lead to a regained sense of paradise.
• 📖 The script concludes with a call to action to support storytelling that represents the diversity and complexity of experiences, particularly in underrepresented communities.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the storyteller's narrative?

The main theme of the storyteller's narrative is the danger of the single story, which refers to the oversimplification of a place or a person by reducing them to one narrative, often leading to stereotypes and misunderstandings.

Why did the storyteller's early stories feature characters that were white and blue-eyed?

The storyteller's early stories featured characters that were white and blue-eyed because the books they read as a child were British and American children's books, which influenced their early writing to imitate those stories.

How did the storyteller's perception of literature change after discovering African books?

After discovering African books, the storyteller went through a mental shift, realizing that people who looked like her could also exist in literature, which led to her writing about things she recognized and could personally identify with.

What was the single story that the storyteller had about F's family?

The single story the storyteller had about F's family was that they were poor, to the extent that she could not see them as anything other than poor, which limited her perception of their capabilities and humanity.

Why was the storyteller's American roommate shocked by her?

The storyteller's American roommate was shocked by her because she had a single story of Africa as a place of catastrophe and could not fathom that an African would speak good English or have complex, human experiences similar to her own.

What is the storyteller's perspective on the importance of multiple narratives?

The storyteller believes that engaging with multiple narratives is crucial for a proper understanding of a place or person, as it avoids flattening experiences and acknowledges the complexity and diversity of human stories.

How does the storyteller connect the single story to power dynamics?

The storyteller connects the single story to power dynamics by explaining that power allows certain narratives to dominate, shaping perceptions and often leading to the marginalization or misrepresentation of certain groups or places.

What is the storyteller's view on the role of stories in shaping identity?

The storyteller views stories as powerful tools that can both dispossess and malign people by perpetuating single narratives, but also as means to empower and humanize by offering a more balanced and diverse representation of identities.

Why did the storyteller feel shame after visiting Guadalajara, Mexico?

The storyteller felt shame after visiting Guadalajara because she realized she had bought into the single story of Mexicans as immigrants, which was heavily influenced by media coverage, and had failed to see them as complex individuals with their own stories.

What is the storyteller's suggestion to counter the single story?

The storyteller suggests that to counter the single story, one should seek out and engage with multiple narratives, listen to diverse voices, and promote a balance of stories that represent the full spectrum of human experiences.

How does the storyteller describe the impact of stories on people's dignity?

The storyteller describes the impact of stories on people's dignity by stating that while stories can rob people of their dignity by perpetuating stereotypes, they can also repair broken dignity by offering a more nuanced and respectful portrayal of individuals and communities.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Impact of Single Stories on Perception

The speaker shares her experience growing up in Nigeria reading predominantly British and American children's books, which led her to write stories featuring characters that were white and blue-eyed, despite her own Nigerian background. She discusses how her perspective shifted upon discovering African literature, which allowed her to see people like herself represented in stories. The narrative also includes her experiences with domestic help and the stereotypes she held about them until she saw their capabilities firsthand. This paragraph emphasizes the importance of diverse stories in shaping our understanding of the world and the danger of relying on a single story.

05:02

🌍 The Single Story of Africa and Its Consequences

The speaker reflects on the single story of Africa that she encountered in the United States, which was one of catastrophe and despair. She contrasts this with her own experiences as a Nigerian and how she had to embrace an African identity in the US. The paragraph discusses the historical roots of this single story in Western literature and how it has perpetuated stereotypes of Africans as 'other'. The speaker also acknowledges her own complicity in perpetuating single stories about other cultures, such as her initial impressions of Mexicans based on media coverage. The paragraph concludes with a call to recognize the power dynamics at play in storytelling and the importance of diverse narratives.

10:05

🗣️ The Power of Narrative and the Danger of Stereotypes

The speaker delves into the concept of 'power' in storytelling, explaining how the stories we tell can define and limit the narratives of others. She uses examples such as the Palestinian poet's experience and the Nigerian student's perception of American Psycho to illustrate how stories can be used to dispossess people of their complexity and dignity. The paragraph also discusses the importance of having multiple stories to avoid flattening experiences into singular narratives. The speaker shares personal stories of her life in Nigeria, highlighting both the challenges and the resilience of its people, emphasizing the need for a balance of stories to fully understand and empathize with others.

15:06

🌈 The Beauty of Multiple Stories and the Potential for Change

In this final paragraph, the speaker shares her vision for a world where multiple stories coexist, enriching our understanding of different cultures and peoples. She imagines scenarios where her roommate in the US knew more about the richness and diversity of Nigerian life, including literature, music, film, and everyday resilience. The speaker also talks about her own efforts to promote storytelling in Nigeria through workshops and a nonprofit organization. The paragraph concludes with a powerful message from Alice Walker about the regaining of paradise through the recognition of multiple stories, emphasizing the potential for stories to empower, humanize, and restore dignity.

Keywords

💡Single Story

The term 'Single Story' refers to the reduction of a complex reality to a simplistic narrative that fails to capture the diversity and richness of a place or people. In the video, the storyteller uses her own experiences to illustrate how a single story can limit understanding and perpetuate stereotypes. For example, her initial perception of F's family as only poor, without recognizing their abilities and creativity, exemplifies the danger of a single story.

💡Impressionability

Impressionability is the susceptibility to be influenced or shaped by external factors, especially in early life. The video discusses how the storyteller, as a child, was impressionable to the British and American children's books she read, leading her to write stories that mirrored these foreign cultures rather than her own Nigerian context. This highlights the impact of early exposure to narratives on shaping one's worldview.

💡Cultural Stereotypes

Cultural stereotypes are generalized and often oversimplified ideas about a group of people based on their perceived cultural characteristics. The video addresses how stereotypes can be harmful by homogenizing diverse groups into one-dimensional representations. The storyteller's roommate's assumptions about Africans and her own initial views on Mexicans are cited as examples of cultural stereotypes.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in the context of the video refers to the genuine representation of a culture, place, or individual. The storyteller challenges the notion of 'African authenticity' as defined by her professor, arguing that authenticity is not about conforming to a single narrative but about the diversity of experiences and voices. Her characters' portrayal in her novel, which were criticized for not being 'authentically African,' is used to critique the narrow expectations of authenticity.

💡Power and Narrative

The video discusses how power dynamics influence the narratives that are told and how they are received. Power is depicted as the ability to control the stories that define people and places, often leading to the dominance of a 'single story.' The storyteller reflects on how her own perspectives were shaped by the powerful narratives of Western literature and media, which often depict Africa in a negative light.

💡Dignity

Dignity in the video is linked to the recognition of the full humanity of individuals and groups. The storyteller argues that the 'single story' robs people of their dignity by reducing them to one-dimensional caricatures. She contrasts this with the 'paradise' of diverse narratives that acknowledge the complexity and worth of different cultures and individuals.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. The video highlights the resilience of Nigerians, who despite facing numerous challenges such as poor infrastructure and government failures, continue to thrive and maintain their ambitions. The storyteller's reference to her hair braider friend starting a business and the efforts of Nigerians to improve their libraries exemplify resilience.

💡Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to understand and share the feelings of others. The video suggests that a more diverse and nuanced storytelling can foster empathy by allowing people to see beyond stereotypes and connect with others on a human level. The storyteller's experiences in the US and her reflections on the stories she heard about Africa underscore the importance of empathy in bridging cultural divides.

💡Stereotyping

Stereotyping is the act of assigning fixed, oversimplified characteristics to a person or group. In the video, the storyteller discusses how stereotypes can be limiting and dehumanizing, as they prevent a full appreciation of the complexity and diversity of individuals and cultures. Her own initial assumptions about F's family and her roommate's assumptions about her are examples of stereotyping.

💡Humanization

Humanization refers to the process of recognizing the humanity of others, often by acknowledging their individual experiences and emotions. The video argues for the importance of storytelling in humanizing people, particularly those who are often dehumanized by 'single stories.' The storyteller's call for a 'balance of stories' is a plea for narratives that affirm the humanity and complexity of all people.

💡Paradise

In the video, 'paradise' is used metaphorically to describe a state of understanding and acceptance that comes from recognizing the diversity and richness of stories about a place or people. The storyteller contrasts the 'paradise' of multiple narratives with the limiting and dehumanizing 'single story,' suggesting that embracing a multiplicity of stories can lead to a more harmonious and enlightened perspective.

Highlights

The storyteller grew up reading British and American children's books, which influenced her early writing to mimic those stories.

The discovery of African literature led to a shift in her perception of what literature could represent.

The storyteller's characters initially were white and blue-eyed, reflecting the books she read rather than her own Nigerian background.

The storyteller's family had a house boy named Fidi, from whom she learned about the danger of a single story.

A visit to Fidi's village challenged the storyteller's preconceived notions about his family's poverty.

The storyteller's American roommate had a single story of Africa as a place of catastrophe, which influenced her interactions.

The storyteller's roommate's assumptions about her were based on stereotypes rather than personal experience.

The storyteller reflects on how she had also bought into the single story of Mexicans due to media influence.

The concept of 'power' is introduced as a key factor in determining whose stories are told and how they are told.

The storyteller discusses the importance of having multiple stories to avoid the flattening of experience and identity.

The storyteller argues that stereotypes are incomplete rather than untrue, and that they rob people of their dignity.

The storyteller shares her experiences of growing up under repressive military governments in Nigeria.

The storyteller emphasizes the importance of stories in empowering and humanizing people.

The storyteller talks about the Nigerian publisher MTAR Bakari, who challenged the notion that Nigerians don't read literature.

The storyteller shares an anecdote about a Nigerian woman who read her novel and wanted a sequel, demonstrating the hunger for local stories.

The storyteller discusses the potential of stories to repair broken dignity and the importance of diverse narratives.

The storyteller concludes by advocating for the rejection of the single story to regain a kind of paradise.

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

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 in 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 Kamara 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 pony tales 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 that 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 middle

class 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

fidi 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 F's

family then one Saturday we went to his

village to visit and his mother showed

us a beautifully patterned basket made

of dyed 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 night 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

carry 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 patronized in

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 out people turned to me never mind

that I knew nothing about places like

Namibia 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 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

writing 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

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 rette Kipling are

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 for 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

Mexicans 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

past structures of the world and it

isali it's a noun that Loosely

translates to to be greater than another

like our economic and political worlds

story stories too are defined by the

principle of unali 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 bagui

writes that if you want to dispossess a

people the simplest way to do it is to

tell their story and to start with

second

ly 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 the failure of the African States

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 was 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 no

no 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

Tyler and opdik and Steinberg and

gateskill 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 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 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 disappear 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 this story 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 ons

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's 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

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

walking what if we had an African

television network that broadcasts

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 of it and

felt justified in telling me what to

write in the

SE now what if my roommate knew about my

friend fi y a Fearless woman who hosts a

TV show in Lagos and is determined 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 euroba

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 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 are failed

infrastructure are 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 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

[Applause]

[Music]

you

[Music]