Don’t Buy Into A Single Story
I encourage everyone to watch novelist Chimamanda Adichie’s 2009 TED talk “The Danger of A Single Story.” Adichie uses her personal experiences to illustrate the importance of sharing different stories about people. She warns of the consequences of a single story and how it can rob people of their dignity, create stereotypes, and make difficult the recognition of our equal humanity.
Adichie’s talk made me ponder current events and how many American politicians and leaders are attempting to create a single story about immigrants and others. One, in particular, is the group of Central American migrants fleeing danger and desperate situations for a new life in America. The president and others are painting them as criminals who are trying to invade the country. This is dangerous. It’s a seemingly hateful attempt to fan the flames of division and stoke the fears of his supporters. Adichie says, “show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” She continues “power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” Imagine if the first story told about this group of migrants was that many are mothers and fathers who desire safety and security for their families. Doing so would change the narrative entirely. To insist on only negative stories, those in power are attempting to dehumanize migrants and encourage Americans to believe that migrants are in no way similar to them. These views are extremely dangerous and can result in violence against an entire group of people.
I hope Adichie’s talk will encourage more people to not buy into a single story told about others. And in doing so, recognize that all people are informed and shaped by many stories. This is needed always, but especially in current times.
Chimamanda Adichie, author of <em>Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, </em>and other works
“The Danger of the Single Story,” a TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie
2018
Olympia Friday, Digital Engagement and Marketing Coordinator, National Humanities Center
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Origin Stories: Or, Making Sense of Surprises in the Family Tree
My Humanities Moment happened when my husband and I received the results of the genetic testing kits we’d ordered. The stories that my husband’s DNA told matched up pretty closely with his family’s history, but mine delivered some surprises. In addition to indicating a lot of northwestern European and Central European ancestors, which I expected, my report pointed to Scandinavian, West African, and North African ancestors! This all came as news to my whole family. We wondered: how did these encounters happen? What were the circumstances under which these distant and diverse relatives met? The map that accompanied my DNA results was particularly striking to me. I was amazed to see how my ancestors emerged over the course of the last several centuries from that violent, complex, and fascinating region of interaction that stretched up from the west coast of Africa, across the Strait of Gibraltar, through Iberia into northern, central, and eastern Europe. My humanities moment came when I realized that although I may never know the details of my ancestors’ travels, I can indeed explain a lot of the context behind that map of my family’s origins. The migrations, the wars, the famine and curiosity and opportunities that pushed people out of one territory and into the next: I know those stories, because I am a historian! Trained in the history of the Atlantic world and now a university professor of world history, I rely on the humanities to help my students and myself interpret the past. Science can tell us a lot, but so can history. Data means little if we don’t know the context—the stories and histories—behind it. Humanities and the sciences can and should work hand in hand in our efforts to understand and explain the world we live in and our shared past.
<a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/humanities-in-class-guide-thinking-learning-in-humanities/">Molly A. Warsh</a>, Assistant Professor of World History, University of Pittsburgh
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Contested Autonomy
The video clip I saw of a young Vietnamese-American woman who opened an art gallery in Vietnam led to my humanities moment. She said that her mother disowned her because of her decision to go back to Vietnam. I could relate this to my personal experience. My mother was very upset when any one of her children wanted to go back to visit Vietnam. She told us that she risked her own life for us to escape Vietnam in 1978, and we should not want to go back to visit a country with a horrific and unjust communist dictatorship. She said that we should not support the communists by going back there, even as a tourist. This made me realize that our lives are full of conflicts because we are tempted to believe that our own experiences and points of view are more important than others. <br /><br />Like Ambassador MacWhite and his Asian friend in <em>The Ugly American</em>, we refuse to listen to each other’s perspective. Just as Vietnam was contested territory, our autonomy is also contested. Rather than being open to different avenues for deeper understanding, we are often close minded. I know that conflicts are inevitable. While I may not have power to control every encounter, I must accept that these challenges strengthen my understanding and empathy.
<em>The Ugly American</em> by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Julie Doan, Elementary Teacher, Oregon
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