• Home
  • Blog
  • University of Colorado at Boulder The Single Story by Chimamanda Discussion

University of Colorado at Boulder The Single Story by Chimamanda Discussion

0 comments

Discussion 2 

2828 unread replies.3737 replies.

This week’s discussion takes Chimanda Ngozi Adichie’s video “The Danger of the Single Story” (Links to an external site.) and the Al Jazeera video “How does colonialism shape the world we live in?” (Links to an external site.) as its primary focus. You should engage with other course materials as well your own experience/expertise as you respond to the following questions.

  • In your own words, what does Adichie mean by a single story?
  • Think of a time where you realized your idea of someone/something was based off of a single story. How did you realize you were trapped by the single story? How did it make you feel? What did you learn?
  • Is there a single story of colonization? Of development? What is it?
  • How does the Al Jazeera video attempt to challenge the single story?
  • What is the danger of the single story and how might we avoid falling into its trap?

“Adichie refers to the single story as skewed depictions of an unfamiliar place a person has never been to or learned about. When she asked her roommate in a college in the US about Nigeria, the people had no idea that English was the official language in Nigeria, and Adichie was shocked (TED). In my personal experience, I first thought that Rwanda was not a technologically advanced country. I knew that Rwanda has a horrible past with genocide and colonization by Belgium. When I learned that Rwanda was a technologically advanced country with high emphasis in IT, I was really shocked. Although I learned this fact from a Netflix show, this has forced me to reconsider whether the single story of Africa is true, which is Africa is not a developed continent and there is continuous wars, and democracy is very fragile.

There is a single story of colonization and development. For example, after World War II ended, Japan became a prosperous country with a booming economy with the help of the US. However, many people do not know that Japanese economy did not start booming after the Korean War started1. The Aljazeerja video attempts to challenge a single story by gathering a group of excerpts from various backgrounds by giving their viewpoints on various topics such as national identity and long term effects of colonialism in a specific country, which cannot be learned from a history textbook.

Knowing a single story about colonization and development does not necessarily give a holistic view point and accurate context about a country. In order to avoid getting into the trap of a single story, it is important to learn history from multiple points of view in a foreign country in order to avoid falling into the trap of a single story and orientalism.  For example, if I want to know what the US did to help reconstruct Japan after WWII, it is important to learn about post-war construction efforts in Japan, US, and another country. In addition, it is important to promote cross-cultural exchange especially among the young people, so that they can learn and experience a different country that does not necessarily match a single story”

#2 to respond to: 

”  I’ve watched Adichie’s ted talk a countless amount of times and my ever changing view on the single story changes every time I listen to it. She mentions how she grew up as a creative individual writing stories and having each character in her story be what her imagination wanted it to be. Her idea of a single story is of a single story of catastrophically. She mentions her single stories of writing of American children’s books, her roommates response, and her from being from Africa. Single stories are formations of stories that only have one view or side to a total concept. She takes the time to show the importance of knowing both sides of a story and to be educated on others before assumptions are made. This will yield a better response and understanding of others in the way we are able to perceive a single story. 

    A time I took advantage of a single story was of my roommate freshmen year. He would sit around all day, wouldn’t go to class, sleep in, as well as never take out the trash. I saw him as a lazy person who had no drive motivation or saw anything for himself. One day after seeing things so pied up I just sat down and had a conversation with him. I found he was lost, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, and wanted to take new classes that made him excited in things he wanted to study. My assumptions I made of him were wrong. He wasn’t lazy, rude, and gross, but yet these were in effect of him not doing things he wanted to do. These were his way of expressing himself as he didn’t want to do what he wanted. It was exciting to talk to him to see what he was doing and how I could see him grow over the rest of freshmen year. 

    I believe there is a single story of colonialism and development as they are each difficult in the way we choose to describe them. Deepening on your culture, where your from in the world, and how you are raised, this will change the way these are defined. This is why it is so difficult to describe these concepts as we look at each one and see it a different way. 

    Al Jazeera’s video Challenges the single story in a way that exploitation has changed colonialism. We are all now becoming more involved in learning and traveling to new parts of the world to really understand how and why countries are ran as they are, as well as how they came to be. One of the major contributors to this is the individuals who lived in that country. One of the guys in the video describes how he only knew this one side to his county as that is all he was told through his political and well up being. 

    The danger of single stories ranges from our upbringing to what we know about others. It is critical to take the time to to venture out, learn, and become educated on all aspects of the concept to then make an assumption about it. In being close minded and not learning about the full issue will raise problems as raised by Adichie. “

About the Author

Follow me


{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}