In your own words, what is a single story? What is it a metaphor for?

“Single Story” is a stereotype- which is formed when we describe or form a perception about individuals, countries or groups by only relying on generalization when we meet them. It allows people to define individuals or situations from a specific perspective, thereby creating differences rather than showing similarities. Single story can be dangerous as it makes one story to be the only story, also prevents people to connect authentically with other people. I believe the process of understanding and researching people should not be a one-time process, rather it should be a culture of continual learning.

 

What type of stories did you have to read growing up? What were the characters/plots/tropes like? Were they guilty of portraying a single-story such as Adichie describes?

Growing up in India, I mainly read fictional stories. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to all kinds of narratives. The content in the books was diverse according to Indian standards. Although, I have to admit we were mainly exposed to Indian and British authors. We were taught old English books written by William Shakespeare like the Merchant of Venice in our English classes and then it was balanced by reading books written by Indian authors in our second language classes.

 

Do you think modern technology somehow contributes to these single-stories? If so, how?

I agree and disagree both at the same time with this question. Technology has grown drastically in the last decade, it is altering self-identity from being internally to externally driven.  In today’s world, the self- identity portrayed is to serve its own best interest rather than serving what is best for us. It is an identity projected on us by popular culture, which is usually not a reflection on us. On the contrary, modern technology has made single stories more diverse.  It is helping us to gain outside knowledge and also to know both sides of the stories rather than being confide with a single thought. It is helping us gain knowledge about almost everything going around the world. The technology is helping to create awareness of the deep reaching context of the ongoing issues around the world.

 

Are these two pieces speaking about overlapping issues of identity, or separate issues?

Both the issues discussed are overlapping issues of identity. In today’s society, people make assumptions based on their own perception about you, which are often baseless. An individual is often judged with their appearance, name, accent and so on. Both articles point out the inhumane and ignorant behavior of society towards each other.

 

Bonus-What is the significance, or stories, surrounding your own name?

The piece written by Mohamad Hassan resonates with me deeply. My first name is Anindita. When I moved to the US five years back, since the first day of college I have been told my name is too hard to pronounce and is there any easier way to pronounce it. The sad part is they would not even bother or take the initiative to pronounce it and so they would anglicize my name to Annie.

 

1. To me a simple story is oversimplifying your perception of someone or something to make sense of a complex situation that one doesn’t quite understand. There’s an example that perfectly describes this in the Ted talk “ The Danger of a single story” where Adiche only saw Fide and his family as poor and couldn’t grasp the idea that a poor person like Fide’s brother could make something like the woven blanket. A single story reduces people to one dimensional. A metaphor is comparing two things that have nothing to do with each other. For example “ her cheeks were red like tomato’s”. 
2. Growing up I read a lot of fictional books like R.L Stine series, Cam Jansen etc.Though looking back a lot of movies and children’s books always had the evil villain who I believe we’re just misunderstood. Their stories were never explained and they were just a part of the plot to make the protagonist this hero that the audience loved. 
3. I do think modern technology does contribute to these single stories because anything can be put on the internet and taken out of context or not explained enough. There’s so many sides to a story or a person and the media for example does not do justice explaining. So many negative stereotypes are portrayed that make a fool out of a community. 
4. These two pieces do speak about overlapping issues of identity as Adiche talks about how people have perceptions based on what they’ve heard or seen that contribute to a single story and negative stereotypes. Similarly, Hassan talks about dealing with the negative connotation around his name because of what people presume about Muslims that he would purposely pronounce it wrong to try and avoid it.
5. Bonus: I’m Albanian and my name is Jennifer which always confused me as to why I have such an American name considering my parents are immigrants who arrived in America a year before I was born. When I asked my parents why they didn’t give me an Albanian name they told me it was because they wanted me to fit in with everybody else and so that nobody would have a hard time pronouncing  my name like people do to theirs.