Adichie’s
speech on storytelling shared some interesting insight into the world of
storytelling that I have never thought of.
While I have been witness to manipulation in storytelling it is not
often that you think of it as being a worldwide problem. The way we view our world is through
storytelling. We develop a sense of
understanding of the world around us through watching the news, reality TV
shows, visiting websites and most likely through Facebook. I often forget about the world outside my own
9 hour work day and four hours at home before I go to bed. My world is so consumed with my own needs and
responsibilities that I forget about the millions of stories that take place
every minute of every day in other lives.
Adichie’s
speech reminded me that it is important to get out of the bubble I live in and
see beyond my own street and neighborhood.
My youngest brother is living in the Philippines doing missionary work
right now. He sent pictures home of a
nasty flood that took place in the village he is living in. The water ran up to his knees and many of the
small homes made of scrap wood and metal in the pictures were falling apart
from the water damage and the storm that had hit before. Had I not lived there myself 10 years prior I
would have no clue about the daily joy, fun and games and the amazing culture
that makes up the Filipino people.
Adichie mentions in her speech the idea of the single story. She talks about how these stories show us
only one side of a complex situation.
She has even fallen prey to this while learning about Mexicans in the
U.S. and Mexico. She began to picture
them as the quintessential immigrant rather than the complex people they
are.
I
have lived in many different places and met many different people. Although I feel I have had many great
experiences in my life that have given me a breadth of understanding, I am
still incredibly limited. The more we
seek to understand, listen to the stories of the world around us and abandon
our preconceptions the more good we can do in this world. Rather than pitying those around us like
Adichie did with her house boy Fide we should open our minds to all the things
that make up the people that live in these different cultures.
Chapter
3 of Denning’s text is called Motivating
Others to Action. The chapter
discusses the Springboard story and what makes up this type of story. A good springboard story is meant to inspire
change in people. I believe this is what
Adichies story was meant to do. She
never mentioned physical actionable change like Jamie Oliver did in his
speech. Her change comes within the
hearts and minds of people. Her change
comes from within. I believe this can
sometimes be even more powerful than other forms of change. Through Adichie’s stories we are meant to
look inside ourselves and examine the way we think, how we treat others and the
way we see the world.
Adichie’s
story followed many of the main elements discussed in the text. The story had a worthwhile message, a
positive ending and mostly told from a single protagonist point of view. Her experiences, realizations and inadequacies
made up most of the story. She talked
about different places she lived, locations that things happened and the things
she learned through those experiences.
Her ideas were clear and her most important lesson she wanted to share
was repeated on several occasions in order to solidify her purpose in sharing
her story. She repeatedly mentions the
idea of the single story, abandoning our preconceptions and seeking to
understand and help others.
Adichie’s
story was meant to open our eyes to the world of storytelling, damage it can do
and the lives it can change. One of my
favorite quotes during her speech was this, “Stories matter. Many stories
matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but
stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the
dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity” (Adichie,
2009) .
References
Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). Ted. Retrieved from ted.com: http://
www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript#t-119000
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