ipl-logo

The Danger Of A Single Story Summary

486 Words2 Pages

“The problem with single stories is not that they are untrue but they are incomplete (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie).” A single story is a preconceived notion of something or someone based on stereotypes and one-sided resources. In the video “The Danger of a Single Story,” writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is from Nigeria, Africa. As a child in a middle-class African family, she tended to be fascinated by English literature until she got her hands on some African literature. While reading, she noticed that there were many untrue statements about Africans. After graduating high school, Adichie moved to the United States to higher her education on the collegiate level. When she started college, she then realized that there were many more misconceptions about Africans. These stereotypes included, but were not limited to being poor, not knowing how to use a stove, not being able to speak English, and not listening to “American Music.” Her roommate was astounded to see that she was able to not only speak English but listens to Mariah Carey. Do you ever wonder how others see you? Everyone sees the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community as an …show more content…

The goal is to work toward the world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents, and interests (Sheryl Sandberg).” Many heterosexual males believe that men of this community cannot control their desires when around other males. For example, when I came out as bisexual in high school; one of my heterosexual friends said: “I do not dap up homosexuals because I don’t want them to think I like them”. Who in their sane mind would think that someone likes them due to a handshake? Because of common misconceptions like this, many members are excluded from prior friendships. Some heterosexuals even go as far to say they do not want to catch the “Gay Disease”. Because we are not heterosexual, we have a

Show More
Related
414 Words | 2 Pages

Stereotyping affects individuals where their view of another is narrow and judging of other cultures. Ned experienced this in training, so did Adichie when attending college. The consequences of stereotyping were spread onto Adichie when visiting Mexico. She at first thought of them as “people who exploit healthcare”. Ned when training met a person from Georgia and like others did to him, he thought of him as “weird” and with a funny way of talking.

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

Their accomplishments and characteristics aren’t valued or appreciated by others. Instead, other Americans believe and apply stereotypes upon African

Read More
1587 Words | 7 Pages

For example, she perceives herself as a ‘Blackfoot’ rather than a Canadian, which showcases her proud outlook regarding her Native identity. Her perseverance and prideful nature rebel against the stereotypical perception of an Aboriginal women. Preliminary conclusions about a cultures proposed disposition can create misconceptions. Judgment is a natural instinct and a necessary psychological adaptation. However, when judgement leads to stereotypes misinterpretations are bound to occur.

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

Although every race is known for distinct stereotypes, a few are worse than others and usually these stereotypes are not true. African Americans have suffered through discrimination for an extremely long time and even though it is not as severe as fifty years ago, stereotypes and racism still exists today. It becomes a fact that others

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

In her TED talk called “The danger of a single story” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, speaks about the negative effects, single stories can have on a certain people. A single story is created when the same discourse is being repeated over an over again in books, TV shows or in the news. The single story creates a stereotypical, one sided perception of a group of people. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells a story about how she, came to believe a single story in her childhood. When she was a child she read many American and English books, about people, with whom she had very little in common.

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

As an African, Ngozi Adichie had been affected by the single story; also as a writer, she seems determined to educate the audience about the danger of the single story. I believe when she started living with an American roommate, she was able to see very clearly what the single story can do, because her American roommate had many false ideas of Africans. The single story is a narrow and poor view of a certain culture, belief or country. It is dangerous, because it does not tell the whole truth and gives inaccurate information to mislead the readers. For example, many people believe that Africans are unable to speak for themselves, fighting senseless war and dying of poverty and AIDS.

Read More
612 Words | 3 Pages

In Adichie's The Danger of A Single Story Adichie enlightens us on how the bias of only viewing one perspective or opinion on an issue or story is disastrous. Adichie ties this into the problems of stereotypes, going on to say they are only one facet of an individual even if they are untrue. As well Adichie opens up and shares some of her experiences where people only saw a single story of her, and where she only saw a single story of some people. In her conclusion Adichie tells more stories in order to dispel the single story people know of her. I agree with Adichie on her argument, that single stories are dangerous, and that we need more stories to dispel these harmful ones.

Read More
984 Words | 4 Pages

Darroch Koel English102 Dave Rick 3 February 2017 Chimamanda Adichie’s: Danger of a Single Story “The Danger of a Single Story,” by Chimamanda Adichie is a very powerful and moving story. Chimamanda uses some very specific rhetorical techniques to try and shed light on a problem that she sees that needs to be fixed. Her Audience is the everyone of all ages, but more specifically to white Americans.

Read More
1963 Words | 8 Pages

Entry 12: What was the Social Gospel movement? What was the Social Gospel movement? The Social Gospel movement affected much of Protestant America and the Presbyterians describe its goals in 1910. The goals were salvation of humankind, shelter and nurture to the children of god as well as the promotion of social righteousness.

Read More
1179 Words | 5 Pages

When an individual interacts with another individual, his/her judgment about that individual is based on his/her own experiences, and expectations. In other words, those individuals are imprinting their past experiences on the new person. Chimamanda Adichie was misjudged herself and misjudged others. Adichie talks about in her speech how she was misjudged by her college roommates. “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” (Adichie 04:01).

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

Subsequently after viewing and listening to Chimamanda Adichie’s theory of a single story… I have come to understand her argument point. In easier terms said, a single story is a story told by one perspective and solo idea of a place, person, and thing. These single stories are created by the socialization and observations of every human being standing on this Earth today. A lot of these stories feed off of what people like to call stereotypes. Although, one must acknowledge that stereotypes are most likely the incomplete story of a place or person.

Read More
1274 Words | 6 Pages

At an official Ted conference in 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a TEDGlobal talk addressing the dangers of a single story. Adichie was a Nigerian novelist who came to America around the age of nineteen. Since then, she has understood what is like to be defined by a single story. She faced constant misconceptions of what it means to be an African. Because they didn 't understand that Africa was a place of many cultures and many ways of life, Americans treated her as the poor, starving African they saw on television.

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

How powerful is a single story? At Ted Global 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist, expresses her view of single stories and the ways in which they are used to create stereotypes and divides us as a people. Adichie’s talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”, stimulates careful consideration to what happens when people and situations are reduced to a single narrative. She believes single stories are highly correlated with the power structures of the world and have the ability to strip people of their humanity.

Read More
1026 Words | 5 Pages

The speech talks as well about the issue of power that is closely connected to the construction of the single story. The stories have been used to expropriate and label, but can also be used to empower and humanize. Accordingly, Adichie says, many stories matter, but we cannot know every story. However, we are

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, in my design, the figure which presents women is wearing a dress and the graphic is using red color. “To our 21st century ears, all this men in pink stuff may sound a bit blushy. It's so deeply entrenched in us and our culture. We think of pink as such a girlish color, but it's really a post-World War II phenomenon (Stemberg, 2014).” Actually, red and blue is the common contrast colors to stand for two genders, because warm hue can mostly represent female, which is feminine, romantic, etc.

Read More

More about The Danger Of A Single Story Summary

Related Topics

Open Document