There is never a single story.....

Upon watching the video of Chimamanda Adichie's speech on the dangers of a single story, I came to the realization that there is never a single story, no matter who or what is being discussed. Adichie, a Nigerian novelist spotlights the idea that people often have an essentialized view of cultures other than their own becuase they are misinformed or are constantly exposed to only one perspective. This leads to a single story and after listening to Adichie speek, I discovered that I had a single story of Africa which began with its early colonization by white merchants followed by violence, slavery, and disease. This is because I have been constantly exposed to only one perspective of Aftica and its inhabitants. This is the perspective of a caucasian American male that doesn't know too much about africa except for what he learned from all the stories flourishing throughout the media. When thinking about Africa's story, I didnt recall any knowledge about the government, the art, music or religion; only what I had seen on television or read in texbooks.

When only one story is available, we risk a critical miscommunication and Adichie has the perfect example. When she was attending college, Adichie's roomate was surprised that she knew English so well and asked if it was tough to get down. What her roomate didn't realize was that English was the official language of Nigeria and Adichie has been speaking it her entire life...

There is never a single story, and if there is, something is drastically wrong. This leads me to the conclusion that there is no single story for what it means to be a woman and with that said, it would be ridiculous to try and represent women globally. I say this because in order to represent women globally one would need to essentialize women, in turn creating a single story...