Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s lecture starts off with Adichie as a “story teller,” wanting to illuminate "The Danger of the Single Story." Some single stories are as dangerous as the people who push those stories to become a personal truth, a national truth, or even a global truth. Hitler promoted hatred, torture and death through anti-Semitism. Famous Shock Jock Howard Stern, on the morning of the Oklahoma Bombing, 1995, announced on the radio, he knew “Towelheads” were responsible. Donald Trump is busy trying to grow Islamophobic ideology as truth. These leaders work(ed) hard to put blinders on their citizens and the world, to further their own agendas. It is important to take in others information, rather than rely on what we think we know and judge them. Cultural Humility encourages one to think and feel, another’s point of view, similar to walking that proverbial mile in another person’s shoes.
Recognizing single stories allows people to reflect and become vulnerable. If a person bases life on a single story, they will have very limited personal experiences, “Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding” (NPR/TED).
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Some Single Stories Are More Dangerous Than Others
Imagine you are in the local emergency room, so sick you do not even finish the admission papers, and are rushed to a cubicle, where an IV is started and penicillin is administered to you. No one asked you about medical allergies, and you were treated on how you present, but not what you know about yourself, and you are indeed allergic to penicillin, so now your life is at risk. That’s a dramatic example of a single story, but actions were taken without staff knowing more about you, and your life is now at risk. What a story includes and omits shapes the thoughts, actions and reactions of others; singularly, as a community, and all around the earth. At one extreme of a “Single Story Continuum” could be a predator using social media spinning an illusion meant to capture a target. While one side of that relationship may be posting too much information (TMI), the other may be deliberately crafting a story, omitting truths, making the predator seem very much like a friend or protector. Obviously dangerous. Less obvious, but no less dangerous, is the danger of a single story which can limit cultural humility and result in failures in self-evaluation, power balances, and healthy partnerships. Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s lecture starts off with Adichie as a “story teller,” wanting to illuminate "The Danger of the Single Story." Some single stories are as dangerous as the people who push those stories to become a personal truth, a national truth, or even a global truth. Hitler promoted hatred, torture and death through anti-Semitism. Famous Shock Jock Howard Stern, on the morning of the Oklahoma Bombing, 1995, announced on the radio, he knew “Towelheads” were responsible. Donald Trump is busy trying to grow Islamophobic ideology as truth. These leaders work(ed) hard to put blinders on their citizens and the world, to further their own agendas. It is important to take in others information, rather than rely on what we think we know and judge them. Cultural Humility encourages one to think and feel, another’s point of view, similar to walking that proverbial mile in another person’s shoes.
Recognizing single stories allows people to reflect and become vulnerable. If a person bases life on a single story, they will have very limited personal experiences, “Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding” (NPR/TED).
The danger of single stories may be perceived as a newer school of thought, but, from 2,400 years ago, comes maybe the earliest recorded example of a single story, before “Cultural Competency” and “Cultural Humility” were coined phrases. In “the allegory of The Cave” by the philosopher Plato, men were imprisoned from birth in a cave, allowed to witnesses only a single story; in fact, a single dimension version of a single story. The prisoners are only allowed to see shadows and hear the echoes of the world outside their cave, passing by and bouncing off a wall in front of them, like a shadow puppet show. They believe this is reality; they have no experience with the real world nor what the whole world is like. One of the men escapes, learns the truth and upon return, offers freedom to the others from this microworld, this singular view theater-of-life. They react violently against him to protect their reality. The danger of the single story limits our understanding of whole truths. Full faceted stories expand our perceptions of others to spark a richer exchange within ourselves and with the world around us.
Adichie’s point is life with limited knowledge or limited “single stories” means people will misjudge others and fail to genuinely connect. Adichie shares that on a personal level, she gets quite irritable when Africa is referred to as a country, like on the Virgin flight she took which announced about charity work in "India, Africa and other countries. Adichie declares, “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”. Adichie speaks of her own experience in visiting Guadalajara, Mexico, and expecting to see only abject immigrants. Instead she experiences the full life of Guadalajara first hand. Her prior awareness of abject immigrants through her limited experience in the USA led her to understand the concept of the single story as needs to be shared through many more stories over a period; stories that all people should hear. Walt Whitman wrote a poem, in which a child goes out into the world, and the world enters him, in an eloquent explanation of how the child was shaped. "There was a child went forth every day, and the first object he looked upon and received with wonder or pity or love or dread, that object he became... And that object became part of him for the day... or for many years or stretching cycles of years." Adichie states “Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.” Adichie describes some people from the south who moved north. When they moved, their southern heritage became distant. A book they shared, restored their feeling of paradise and their overall concept of being southern again, “Children, adults, all of us everywhere can use the magic of story to find aspects of ourselves in others, and of others in ourselves. Story reminds us that connectedness to the world does not always mean some have more and some have less, but that we all have stories and that is what brings us together” (Allyn). Adichie makes some incredible points in this TED Talk that can be used to review general perceptions to recognize our views of others and how we can choose humility over competence with a mind open to continually learning.
Adichie illustrates how the single story can not only do damage, but also do good, “Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.” Adichie uses her own personal journey through implications of the “single story” and how people viewed her, and how she minimalized others. Her self-revelations are truthful and in-line with her ability to engage through telling stories. Today, in American society we have many single stories regarding policing and incarceration: “In the realm of criminal justice, one true story is that America’s criminal justice system was constructed within a system of slavery and racism” (Brooks). There may be many versions of that single story, but it remains a heated and embattled current issue, in need of healing (Karakatsanis). In telling many stories of many people there is greater understanding. Instead of stagnating in what we are sure we know (immovable), we become flexible and willing to accept change.
Can Cultural Humility go too far? Has cultural humility opened the door to mandating lowering standards and being forced to accept a lesser quality work force? Employers may not be making the connection, but educators are. When teachers are afraid of getting in trouble, for correcting students classwork, and being accused of microaggressions, what will students learn (Caplin)? Schools are the learning and training grounds for the world beyond school. Employers are experiencing the current work force that is suffering a diminished potential for productivity. “A detailed worldwide report on worker skills, released last month by the Organization for Economic Development, found that the United States ranked below average among OECD member countries in literacy and numeracy, which measures math skills” (Linn). There is a fine line between nourishing and empowering, and doing dis-service when giving people the space to “be themselves.” One professor points out "just 24 percent of eighth and 12th graders were proficient in writing. From colleges on down, Ellet said, nobody takes responsibility for writing instruction" (Ellet quoted in Holland). When reading about cultural humility, it becomes clear, the three main components to cultural humility are a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, fixing power imbalances, and developing partnerships with people and groups who advocate for others. People need to keep their eyes on the balance of power. Adichie herself became aware of a mental shift in her consciousness, after discovering African books, discovering people like herself in literature and began to read about things she recognized. Society needs to be careful that as the pendulum swings from cultural competence and its educational standpoint, to that of cultural humility it does not advance what seems to be a “logical implication is that we should stop correcting students completely” in the curricular arena (Caplin). Then the failure of cultural humility in education can become its own dangerous single story.
Going forward to shaping the future, the world needs citizens from all walks of life who can balance analytical skills with critical thinking, social justice and citizenship. Bridges will be built, developing a community requires creative thinking, and two heads are better than one. When cross-cultural tolerance is advanced in the world that is becoming a global village, quality of life can only get better. People are created equal and to maintain balance, fair entitlement (vs rampant self-serving entitlement) can be shared. Continuous learning develops minds, exercises spirituality and fosters human life and dignity. Hope has a goal and to make it to that goal we need to know who we are, allow others to be who they are and share our many stories, our many strengths, peacefully, productively and humanly. Rather than e pluribus unum, we need to shift to e pluribus pluribus.
Work Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda. "The Danger of the Single Story." TED. Jul. 2009. Lecture.
Allyn, Pam. "Storytelling Connects Us All." Psychology Today. PsychologyToday.com, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Brooks, David. "The Danger of a Single Story." The New York Times. NYTimes.com, 19 Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Caplin, Troy. "Microaggression or Neglect? — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal." The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. jamesgmartin.center, 13 June 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Chavez, Vivian. "Cultural Humility (complete)." YouTube. YouTube.com, 09 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Holland, Kelley. "Why Johnny Can't Write, and Why Employers Are Mad." CNBC. CNBC.com, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Karakatsanis, Alec. "Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers." Harvard Law Review. HarvardLawReview.org, 10 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Linn, Allison. "Employers: 'Skills Gap' Is Not Our Problem to Fix." CNBC. CNBC.com, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
NPR/TED Staff. "What Are the Dangers of a Single Story?" NPR. NPR.org, 07 June 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Whitman, Walt. "There Was a Child Went Forth Every Day."Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 11 May 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.
Other Resources/Notes:
Plato, “The Cave.” The Republic, 514a–520a.
Wikimedia Contributors. "Allegory of the Cave." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2017. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.
"The Republic." SparkNotes. Barnes And Noble, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2017. TEDEducation. "Plato's Allegory of the Cave - Alex Gendler." YouTube.com Ted-Ed, 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.
Austerlic, Silvia. "From Chronic to Critical." From Chronic to Critical - Culturally Competent Care - Resources - Bioethics - Focus Areas - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics - Santa Clara University. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 1 Feb. 2009. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
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- J Deborah Coss (Autor:in), 2017, Some Single Stories Are More Dangerous Than Others, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/368622
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