After watching Chimamanda Adichie's TED Talk, can you think of a single story that has existed in your life (either culturally, personally, etc.) that you feel excludes you? Can you think of a single story or stories that you tend to think of as "normal," that you realize actually excludes certain people or groups? How do these single stories affect and shape your thinking? How do you feel about that?
(Think of the examples that Adichie gives in her speech to help you come up with examples of your own.)
I know that the single story that all asians are very smart and only study has existed in my life for a long time. I went to an American school, where after we were exposed to the internet, many saw the stereotype that all asians spend all their time studying, and we were excluded and made fun of continually for it, and people were constantly surprised when we were good at sports or music or anything that wasn't purely academic. Being an Indian also came with its own single stories. People were surprised when they realised my parents could speak english well, their life wasn’t exactly like slum dog millionaires life, I wasn’t already arranged for marriage, and many others. I can think of many times we made fun of the intelligence of our american friends and would compare our honours classes in front of them, excluding them, making the assumption they were not going to be in that class with us. However when we started to expose ourselves to different cultures and we really got to know the diversity in our school, most of our single stories began to dissolve, and we started mixing more and were more careful about the way we made assumptions because all of us were from all over, and listening to the different stories everyone brought back from breaks made us all so excited and proud to be friends with such a diverse group that we didn’t have those assumptions as often and as blatantly.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, especially in middle school, I was perceived to be an innocent and naive girl. Although true, some incidences that have occurred have hurt me emotionally. When people would talk about subjects that I am unaware of, people would tend to leave me out of the conversation because they thought I wouldn’t understand, or that I’m too innocent to fully get where the story is coming from. They would tell some of my other friends, but they would leave me out of it. I think people looked at me as this naive, sweet girl instead of also being mature enough to handle certain subject matters. So, my single story is related to my personality. I seemed to be just an innocent girl who couldn’t handle or understand certain subjects, but in reality, I could handle a lot. Even if I was unaware of them from the start. When I was younger, I tended to think that african americans are not as educated and are less wealthy than people who are not of color. I’m not sure how this idea came into my mind, but after living, becoming more informed, and meeting more people, I know this is not true at all. All ethnicities have people more unfortunate than others, and I should not have let this single story control the way I look at certain ethnicities. I agree with Suki, for I too have also believed that asians are smarter and more educated than other races. Although some Asians may be very well educated, not all Asians are smarter than everyone else in the world. I have let single stories affect how I think, and now I know that I should never assume. I should always look at both sides of the story.
ReplyDelete(Help and ideas from Suki, online, TED talk)
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ReplyDeleteMy personal experience with single stories and how they affect me is how in post 9/11 America, people have been afraid of me and my family. My religion was not always apparent, but if I told someone my name was an Arabic name, they would assume I'm Arab and that that meant I was Muslim. However, the two are not synonymous. Most Muslims I know aren't Arab and a lot of Arabs I know aren't Muslim. Also, the connotation of being Muslim, Arab and other religions and ethnicities drastically changed after 9/11. What those terms entailed was suddenly different. I was alive for a very short time when these terms did not mean such terrible and frightening things, so it took me a while to realize why it may take longer for my mother to get on a plane or why someone would think my name was a code for something else. There is also a single story about a piece of my true identity, being from Ethiopia. Having been born in America, I too had a single story of foreign countries and even people from them, which I didn't realize included my family and myself. Just like Chimamanda Adichie's story about Fide (?), I was unaware of the rapid developments and advancements being made in Ethiopia or the fact that opportunities to learn could still arise from a conflict stricken nation. A single story that doesn't directly affect a part of my personality is the media's grip on heteronormativity and my last single story is its persistent use of whitewashing. It is engrained in us from a very young age that being straight is normal and being a sexual minority isn't. In Western media, there is a fine line between who the majority is and what normal is. In books, it is very easy to assume that a character is white and if it is never specified, movie adaptations are likely to cast a white actor. That being said, it is harmful to the mind of a young sexual minority or person of color and how they view themselves. It is harder for them to view themselves as normal or relate to the characters they see on TV, and I know because it is true for me and many of my friends. It is even worse to non sexual minorities and people who don't identify as a person of color who are taught to view themselves as normal or even perhaps superior. (apologies for any tangents)
ReplyDelete“You’re such a white girl.” I can’t say I am strongly offended by this, but there is a part of me that is. Yes, I get it, I am white, but that does not make me a typical, or a similar white girl compared to all the others. I can say that almost every teenage girl of my color has experienced someone say, “You’re such a white girl,” or just using, “white girl,” in general. There is an assumption that many “white girls,” are filthy rich spoiled people. From my experience, I can say this not always true. I grew/am growing up with little help of family, not including my nuclear family. Besides my mom and dad, I only have one grandfather, and two aunts, and two uncles. My other grandparents passed away when I was at a young age, and one of my aunts and one of my uncles live overseas. Unlike many people, my grandparents weren’t here to help my parents with money, babysitting, or anything. For the most part my parents were on their own. As a family we had our ups and down financially because we chose to move to the Netherlands and then back to Connecticut four years later. Still, my brother and I are heading towards college, leaving my parents and my brother and I with the entire cost. I’m not trying to say this is only the case for white people, but I’m trying to get the point across that I am not a typical white girl. Especially with the fact that I go to Choate. Even at Choate not everyone at can pay full tuition. With this in my mind I have learned to push aside stereotypes of all kind. And realize that everyone has their own unique story.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, I don't really know whether or not if a single story has ever existed in my life. I don't really remember much of my life before the age of 7, so its pretty hard for me to tell. As far as I can remember, I always fit in with the crowd in school, and I have never been excluded from an activity or game unless there were too many people, or if I had been eliminated from the game. So based off of what I can remember from my past, it doesn't seem like I've ever experienced a single story that excluded me, but that may also be because I was naive when I was little, and didn't exactly understand much about race and the differences between people in the world. I wasn't aware of the concept of race until my first day of kindergarten, when a little girl came up to me and assertively told me that I was "black," and I didn't become aware of the single story until my 6th grade year. However, even with all of this newfound information in my head, I don't believe anything really changed. I didn't treat my classmates any differently, and they didn't treat me any differently. Everything pretty much stayed the same, and I continue to view people as individuals, rather than as a uniform group of people.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this TED Talk, I can't necessarily say that I have never thought of a single story that has been used to exclude myself of my ethnicity. However, I can say that I have involuntarily believed certain stereotypes and misconceptions of certain ethnicity. Growing up two blocks away from the World Trade Center complex, my close family was shaken by the fall of the Twin Towers I had once heavily admired. The events led me to subconsciously classify anything or anyone from Middle East as dangerous a safety precaution. The traumatic events of 9/11 brainwashed me into stereotyping all Saudi Arabians, and led to me thinking that this was a fine, and normal idea. After I realized that this was only a gigantic stereotype, I thought back on how a single event could change the beliefs that I had lived my entire life with. After watching this video, I thought back to the time when I profiled different ethnicities in the Middle East without realizing the truth.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, I think my whole life I've felt excluded from everything else. Especially, being in Choate and living with the people I do right now. However, even before Choate growing up in a charter school, I was absolutely the same as everyone. I was obviously more intelligent than my peers and had more potential. Though, possessing intellect where I come from isn't the best quality. Specifically, I remember in 7th grade a teacher told me once that I should just stick to the sports aspect of my life and this would hopefully take me far in life. Now I'm at Choate and another "story" makes me feel excluded. I'm an African-American male from Brooklyn, New York. Of course I feel somewhat excluded being here. The answer would be yes I have felt in my life that I was excluded. It's not exactly easy being a minority in Choate or being a minority anywhere really.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my personal single story was not as severe as Chimamanda Adiche's because I'm not an foreigner that was raised in Nigeria nor do I have a unique accent, I have faced and can relate to her experiences. I remember one time in the 6th grade a boy asked me, "Are there any cute girls in Africa?", and I paused and stared at him just wondering what could spark such a question. I mean surely beauty isn't defined by location, right? But no. In his mind, he had a picture of dirty Africans living in huts and villages, not stylish and wearing "modern" clothing, or uncivilized people with arbitrary jewelry and paintings all over their bodies. Now, I don't blame him because that is how people from the continent of Africa are portrayed on the news and in the media. People dying of disease and hunger. Families who can't sustain themselves. Corruption in the government. How often do you here about the people from Africa doing innovative things and the rich culture and food? Rarely. It is sad that all stories of Africa don't thrive because people can't get past the impression that everyone in Africa is poverty-stricken. I wish we can remove the words and ideas that separate us so we can be accepted as individuals and not stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteFor most of the year, Nichols has had a theft problem. At first it was people taking grapes or popsicles from the fridge that didn’t belong to them, but it somehow developed into girls entering other girl’s rooms and stealing their things. It wasn’t just food, it was jewelry and money, too. I remember once, when I was in my room talking with my friends, the ongoing thievery was brought up. A friend told me that someone’s fridge locker (yes, we kept our food in a padlocked box) had been stolen. We laughed about it, and then started to think about who had the motives to do something like that. This rules out anyone on the second and third floor, we reasoned. Then names started coming up, which was unfair, because there was no proof that anybody was guilty. I heard someone say, ‘maybe it was ------… she’s on financial aid.’ Nobody disagreed, and all I could think was ‘why? Because the school pays for part of someone’s education, they are more likely to steal? I don’t think there is a stereotype around girls on financial aid at Choate, but we can’t make assumptions about people based on their financial situation.
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