Single Story

There are many misconceptions that have been universally accepted mentioned in Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, many of which are based on biased and incorrect accounts and are extremely offensive. Three important myths are that Africa is a land of cannibals, it is backward and very uncivilized, and that it is one country where everyone and the climate are the same all over. These will be explained, refuted, and the detriment to the people of Africa will be discussed.

Throughout the reading "How to Write About Africa" by Binyavanga Wainaina, the author was mentioning exactly what people, in general, see and hear in the average about Africa. What catches my eyes the most about this reading is how many people talk about African countries as if they had the same health problems, culture, economy, nature and so on. The climate diversity, land, plants, animals and people divided into five continent. Africa is one of them. However, if this continent is so big, so diverse, and as complex as any other continent, why do we treated as a country?

Between America and other European nations, stereotypes and misrepresentations have ultimately plagued the continent of Africa. To every side there is often another story, yet unfortunately for the many countries of Africa, they are ultimately victimized and suffer through further oppression. According to Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, Keim suggests that Africa is essentially under the public microscope, it tends to be scrutinized, and compared to European nations and America. Keim elaborates on human natures need to group people, places, and things, which creates the theory of superiority or dominance over races, cultures, and even religions.

My room-mate had a single story of Africa; a single story of catastrophe”. Adichie also tells how growing up in Nigeria reading only American and English children’s books made her deaf to her authentic voice. As a child, she wrote about such things as blue-eyed white children easting apples, thinking brown skin and mangos had no place in Literature. That changed as she discovered African writers.

Chimamanda Adichie gives audience examples in order of time. She begins with her impression on British and American literature, compared with that of Nigera together with her experience with Fide’s family. Chimamanda then mentions her interaction with her roommate and university professor, presenting the fact that other people feel sorry for her as she is an African. Those proves the fact that stereotype can rob people’s dignity and hurt their hearts. Though there are great amount of catastrophes, a great many people failed to see the positive side of Africa. In addition, she shows her guilty after she finds that she was deceived by notorious stories about Mexican. Chimamamda reasons that a stereotype is created through consistent repeat on only a single story, which makes people unconsciously generate

Africa is a continent plagued by misinformed and false stereotypes, rarely being seen or portrayed as what it really is. Countless amounts of myths and ideas are formulated based off of single stories or one-sided stories from the region, often without a second thought. These stereotypes give Africa an overall negative image to the rest of the world and suppress the reality that is hidden behind the slew of stereotypes. The belief that all of Africa is poor and undeveloped is an uninformed statement that harms the reality and worsens the image of the continent by perpetuating an incomplete idea into the world.

Chimamanda Adichie is a Yale-educated Nigerian nonfiction/short story writer and novelist. She has been awarded fellowships from Princeton and Harvard University in addition to the 2008 MacArthur Genius Grant. Her accomplishments are often viewed as even more outstanding because she is from Nigeria, as if she is achieved these things despite her nationality when truly that and her academic exploits are simply two different aspects of her life. this kind of thinking is exactly what I do she encourages to question and her 2009 TED talk. In Chimamanda Adichie's lecture, "The Danger of a Single Story," she emphasizes the importance of storytelling by relating experiences that she is had in her own life.

Africa is a bountiful and beauteous continent filled with unique individuals, various attractions, and a myriad of cultures. It is a land of genetic diversity, technological achievement and riches. From the East African nation of Kenya where expansive wildlife reserves and national parks can be found to the Arab republic of Egypt in the North where pyramids harken back to the past, no part of Africa is the same. Yet despite this, there are those who refuse to see the real Africa and instead choose to perpetuate outdated and racist stereotypes. The numerous stereotypes about Africa are detrimental, not just to the continent, but to Africans as well.

I often see images about Africa that include vast grassland and very few people with your occasional elephant or cheetah. With this in mind I would have though Africa had a miniscule population despite its size on earth. Contrary to popular belief, it is actually the second most populated continent. With that in mind it is also the poorest continent in the world. All in all, Africa is thought about in a negative manner.

Africa is a continent that attracted European countries decades ago, who colonized various countries in Africa in search of gold, iron, zinc, diamond and especially crude oil. It is sad that most of these countries with natural resources still suffer immensely from lack of basic things such as clean water, light, cooking gas, good schools, roads, good health care etc.

“I 'm hearing only bad news from Radio Africa, I 'm hearing only sad news from Radio Africa”, sang the pop group ‘Latin Quarter’ in their song “Radio Africa” released in 1985. ‘Radio Africa’ refers to all the news you hear about from the Western press and sadly, this quote still holds truth with the reportings of Africa by the Western press. The situation is made even worse by the fact that the ‘bad news’ is not even reported until it becomes a disaster of epic proportions. We have just recently witnessed the reporting of the Ebola Crisis in West Africa and the abduction of the 200 Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria by terrorists Boko Haram. These events were barely covered until they became a crisis. With reference to the reporting of the genocide in Rwanda, it “claimed the spotlight only after there were indisputably ‘lots of dead bodies’” (Carruthers, 2011, p.166). Western press collectively ignores Africa at best and at worst report only ‘bad news’ creating the impression that Africa is at best irrelevant and at worst barbaric. The Western press refers to the press of many developed countries and continents such as Europe and in addition, countries that have been colonised by them such as America. Peter Adamson, founder and author of UNICEF’s annual State of the World’s Children report observed that “western audiences dramatically over-estimate the problems and dependency of people in the developing countries” (Diane Publishing, 1995, p.31). He argues that Western news’

because I see it on TV doesn’t mean that’s how Africa really is.” “What is your

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the strongest voices in the world presenting a nuanced and different perspective that challenges a system deeply embedded in visions of a developing, self-contained system of traits that distinguishes one gender from another. She is a human rights activist and feminist who is dedicated to changing our society one step at a time. Adichie grew up in a traditional African household where women were told that they would not have a voice because of limiting factors like their religion, gender, and race. In society, her goal is to have every woman around the world gain a newfound confidence in themselves, regardless of what normal appears to be.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an award-winning novelist, a TED talk phenomenon, and an exemplary feminist. Among her award-winning published works, the followings are some examples: Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. She is an advocate for gender equality. She continues to raise awareness about controversial issues.

Throughout the first anecdote, Adichie explains the danger associated with seeing a single perspective of a story. First, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie portrays the literature of her youth: “All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out” (10-12). Through the use of “white” and “blue-eyed” Adichie creates a sense of desire. By placing both words beside each other, and emphasizing the physical descriptions of the characters, Adichie strengthens the racial hierarchy present in western literature. This strategy causes Adichie to question her own racial identity, making her feel less valued than her western counterparts. In addition, the quote illustrates an impressionable tone in which she openly accepts the non-applicable western values. Similar to a child, Adichie embraces a single perspective