Viewing the video Chimamanda Adichie (2009) in light of the previous lessons in this module concerning leadership and storytelling, I would strongly agree that there is power in a story. According to Denning (2011) “springboard stories are aimed at stimulating desire for action” (p. 64). These stories ignite new action and motivate listeners to see themselves in a better future. Int the TED Talks video, Adichie (2009) begins by telling her own personal story of how she began writing stories based on the stories she had read up until that point in her life. Although her own personal life did not reflect any of what the stories that she wrote, she still remained consistent with what she believed story telling consistent of. She was convinced that books and stories had to include things, which she could not personally identify with; therefore, her writing, at age seven, reflected this. This opening example demonstrates how the power (or danger) of a story for humanity begins at an incredibly early age.
She acknowledges that the American and British books she
read at a young age opened up her imagination and helped her explore
possibilities in writing; however, it wasn’t until she discovered African
literature that her perspective concerning literature made a shift.
She realized that rather than literature only having one
type of author, that it could have different authors coming from different
ethnicities, including her own. This opened her eyes to see a bigger, and more
accurate picture of literature.
Likewise, Adichie’s (2009) eyes were closed to the entire
picture of a “house boy” that her family had as she was growing up in her
middle class family in Nigeria. She said her mother continually told her of how
poor this boy and his family was, and that is the only thing she ever knew of
them. Then her perspective of that family took a shift when she realized they
were more than that single story of being poor. She visited them in their
village and saw that the boy’s brother could create beautiful baskets. Now she
saw them as more than merely poor, but as artistic as well.
Adichie (2009) goes on to tell how her American roommate
in college had only a single story of Africans, and as a result assumed that
Adichie (2009) didn’t know how to use a stove or speak English. She tells how
the media in America seems to be the origin for this single story perspective
and offers a broader perspective of Africa and its countries. She points out
how much like her limited perspective of her “house boy’s” family, that our
perspective of Africa, or any other story, or perspective, that is limited can
be broadened and seen clearer.
Adichie (2009) speaks about how she went to Mexico and
was just as guilty as being effected by her limited perspective, or single story,
concerning this people group, as she had experienced so many Americans be
concerning Africa. She said that her reaction of surprise concerning their
normal lives and their equality to every other people group caused her shame,
realizing that she too, had been a victim of the single story that media
portrayed.
Stories are dependent on power and are based on who tells
them and how they are told. She points out that when a story is started with
the arrows of the Native Americans, rather that with the arrival of the
British, that you have an entirely different story, and limited perspective,
than what is reality.
Whalen (2007) describes how, "Successful
communication begins with your desire to deliver messages you've mastered and
have a passion to deliver." Adichie (2009) tells many stories that offer
an insight how we can easily and often unintentionally, form a single story
concerning people or people groups. These stories shine a light on how having
these single stories create stereotypes. Adichie (2009) expresses that
stereotypes are not necessarily untrue, but they limit other stories of that
same place or person from being included in the perspective. This robs dignity
and emphasizes how we are different and not the same.
Stories can break the dignity of people, but stories can
also repair that dignity. When we reject the single story and realize that
there is never merely a single story about any place or person, we allow
ourselves to see reality and harmony and peace may result where it might not have
otherwise.
Adichie, C. (2009, July 01). The danger of a single
story. Retrieved October 29, 2015, from TEDTalks: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story
Denning,
S. (2011). The Leader's guide to Storytelling. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass
Whalen, J.D. (2007). The Professional Communications
Toolkit. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
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