The Danger Of A Single Story Analysis

Afghanistan is a culture-rich land consisting of many ethnic tribes. The largest of these groups is the Pashtun tribe which constitutes an estimated 40% to 55% of Afghanistan’s total population. The third largest group in the country is the Hazara tribe which comprise between 15% of the population (Barfield 26). Historically, the Hazara people have been largely persecuted by other tribes in Afghanistan. In Martin Ewan’s book, Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics, he writes, “There has in the past been little love lost between [the Hazaras] and other Afghans, who despise them on both religious and racial grounds, while they themselves have a particular hatred

Lacking a wider variety of stories on any given topic can lead to dangerous misconceptions and casual racism. In her TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, Ms. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award winning Nigerian novelist and public speaker, uses personal encounters with the effects of a single story to normalize her experiences with her audiences so that they may internalize them and act upon them easier. Ms. Adichie's use of pathos, as well as her comedic tone and understanding of who her audience is makes it significantly easier for her to accomplish the aforementioned goal.

In July 2009, at a TED conference, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author, gave a stunning speech about “the Danger of a Single Story”. In her speech, she mentioned about negative consequences happening when people tend to form stereotypes based on a single story, the one-sided argument. The single story blindfolds our eyes and prevents us from seeing the complexity, diversity, and similarities that construct our world, just as Adichie says “these negative stories is to flatten my experience and overlook the many other stories that formed me” (12:56). Listening to all her own personal experience and argument, I have become fully convinced and also see myself reflected in her stories. The single story can cause underlying and harmful impacts not only on personal issues but also on the global scale.

The Danger of a Single Story - A speech that was said by Chimamanda Adichie that inspired me to write this report.

Afghanistan, a country of several ethnic backgrounds, is in constant struggle of standing united as a nation. The various beliefs, languages, social statuses, and ways of living have created tension among the ethnic groups (“Social Classes”). The Pashtuns and Hazaras are two particular ethnic groups that have clashed throughout history. The differences between the Pashtun and Hazara people created a major conflict with lasting effects on the way in which they live.

Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner reveals the effects of ethnic and religious division present throughout Afghanistan. The Afghan society places Hazaras as lower than the Pashtuns; the Hazaras were of Mongol descent and were mocked for their asian resemblances. Pashtuns have gone to the extent of excluding Hazaras out of their history textbooks, proving Afghanistan belongs to them. Pashtuns have a majority of the wealth and power in Afghanistan; they want to remain in supremacy so that they maintain ruling over the Hazara people. Majority of Pashtuns see the Hazaras as unworthy or undeserving of living in Afghanistan. In addition to the statement made previously we can further argue that Hazaras are seen as intruders,

Today, the society’s lives and cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. A single story confines a corner of the world to a generalized stereotype. Chimamanda Adichie in TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story, addresses that “if you hear a single story about a person or a country we risk a critical understanding.” Adichie also states, “a single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not what they are untrue, but they are incomplete.” Adichie believes everyone is guilty in creating single stories and they are dangerous because they rob people from their identities and dignity. Diversity of stories and possibilities are things that should be read and discussed. Single stories are dangerous because they make the differences in people stand out and the single story an incomplete description.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, is a book about what people in Afghanistan experienced throughout the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan. The book opened my eyes to see what people experienced during these events. The events that were happening were completely changing all aspects of their lives. The Taliban changed the lives of all people in Afghanistan. All of this information was all foreign and unfamiliar to me and I imagine it would be to most Americans. It is important to attempt to understand the changes and experiences people went through, even if they do not directly relate to us. Although all residents were impacted during this time, it is important to understand how the Taliban altered the lives of women residing in Afghanistan.

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, he tells a story about a boy, but he ultimately tells a story about Afghanistan. Division and barriers in relationships between Amir and Baba, Amir and Sohrab, Amir and Soraya, and many others is a common theme throughout the book and one of the main examples of this is the social separation of Hazaras and Pashtuns. Hosseini includes the historical, yet horrific, massacre of Hazaras in Mazar-I Sharif in 1998 to maintain a consistent timeline of Afghanistan and further support the theme of disconnection. The conflict between Pashtuns and Hazaras dates back to the time when the Mongols had conquered most of Asia, the Middle East, and were invading Eastern Europe.

Cynthia Heredia Prof. Moore English 1B 9/4/17 Reading Critique #1            In a recent TED talk, the famous author Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, spoke about her piece, “The Danger of a Single Story”, and how a single story that has been passed on from one person to another without being experienced by anyone else, can modify the way you see an individual or a group of people. She used many tactics such as personal stories and examples that she has encountered in life and also used humor to what I believed was used to attract and capture the audience. Her point strongly stayed throughout her whole speech as she shared her story and how she and the world viewed others around her after they had only a small amount of facts and information about them.

The danger of a single story – Rhetorical Analysis In her speech at Ted talks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about how people tend to believe in a single story and describes how that this is usually not accurate. She talks about a lot of her personal facts and cites well-known sources to gain trust and credibility. She effectively appeals to the emotions of the audience by talking about her own individual experiences and using examples that relate to the audience. She starts the speech talking about her own experiences of believing in the single story, outlining how she had believed in a single story about books, and their houseboy.

In Afghanistan, there is a divide between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras; the Pashtuns are upper class citizens who are treated with respect while the Hazaras are lower class, minority citizens who are treated poorly. Because of the contrasting history of the two groups, their responses to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul were complete opposites. The Pashtuns “danced on [the] street,” (Hosseini 200) while the Hazaras cried “God help the Hazaras now” (Hosseini 213). The conflict between the Pashtuns and Hazaras in “The Kite Runner” directly reflects the real life issues in Afghanistan starting in the late 70’s and continuing on past 2001.

There are two different types of people in Afghanistan, the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The Hazaras are not wanted in Afghanistan so they were treated differently. While the Pashtuns would go to school, the Hazaras were made into slaves. Amir, the narrator of the story, is a Pashtun; his best friend, Hassan, is a Hazara. Later on we find out that Amir and Hassan are actually half brothers.

In the Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”, Chimamanda Adichie talks about the dangers of a single story. She says that the problem with single stories is that they create a stereotype for people. She also says, “They rob people of their dignity and emphasize how we are different rather than our similarities.” She also says that if you only hear a single story about a person or country then, we risk a critical misunderstanding. After watching this Ted Talk I realize that the main problem and danger with single stories is that they create a stereotype for something or someone.

1. Discrimination is everywhere in the story of the book. From the very first part until to the end. On how the Afghanistan people treated each other if they are not in the same class or religion. The relationship between the Hazara people and the Pashtun where in one is Sunni Muslim and the other is Shia Muslim.