Watch and reflect on the TED Chimamanda video “
The Danger of a Single Story
.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie…
This video provides a way of kicking off a reflection on the power and influence of narrative in any
communication
course.
CM
Single Story of Missions
When I first started watching this video I was very angry. The deep-seated belly fire anger that only
injustice brings in me. As a missionary in Uganda for over twenty years, I am fed up with the single-story
people give missionaries, especially missionaries to Africa. We are compared to colonialists who
exploited people, pillaged their resources, and left them in civil war. Not just African missionaries, even
Canada is in turmoil because of unmarked graves found in boarding schools meant to educate Native
Americans. People say they were imprisoned there as children.
A documentary on a home for unwed mothers takes the charity work from the 1900’s out of context.
They condemn them for getting low-paid jobs for mothers as laundry workers. They made one story the
only story.
Single Story of Uganda
It makes me very frustrated when people ask me if I came to Uganda because I love the country. No.
No, I do not love the country; I love people who happen to be Ugandans. My husband for one. All my
family believes, even after all these years, is the single story of Uganda as war, AIDS, and poverty. Even
my own mother actually said, “Africa is a big country.”
I told my sister on the phone this week that the age of missions may be over. It is time to train locals to
reach their own people. For example, my husband grew up under Idi Amin, only he knows his story of
that, but it allows him to experience and share in all the other stories of people here. He knows the
language, the culture, and the heart of people here. Why do I come as a foreigner and try to re-invent
the wheel?
Single Story of Me
Ugandans also see white people in a single story. We are all rich. The word used in the video meaning
greater than or the one with power is Muzuungu here in Uganda. They have a single story of the West. I
am only seen as a Muzuungu, not as a person with my own story. That terrible word highlights how we
are different instead of how we are the same.
Capitalize on the Single Story
But on the other hand, I have watched my fellow missionaries capitalize on the single story of Africa and
wield it for great financial gain. I have been sickened by the stories they tell. They put themselves at the
center as saviors. The Africans are used as cardboard cutouts in PowerPoint presentations as if their
story was the property of missionaries. I’ve watched the money roll into missionaries’ coffers while my
integrity is the only thing that feeds us. They have told the story of another person and made it the
definitive story of that person and gotten away with it, have even been rewarded by it.
An acquaintance of mine (a missionary here) had her entire Ugandan support staff quit en masse when
they happened to see one of the newsletters she sent out to supporters. She talked about the support
staff in a way that cultivated pity and made it impossible to see them as anything else but poor. She
portrayed herself at the center of every story; greater than the people she rescued because of her selfsacrificing benevolence.
I am a member of a group called Integrity in Storytelling. But I’m not telling other people’s stories
because I fear getting it wrong.
How to Tell the Stories
I admire Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for getting her point across without offending. She made the issue
that sticks in my craw much more palatable through beauty and humor. I also appreciate that she
recognized she was just as guilty. I admire her for opening up this conversation that we all need to have.
Op
Our cultures are made up of different stories. The TED talk “Danger of a single story” by
Chimamanda Adichie gives us the message if we only hear a single story about another
person or country, we are running into a misunderstanding, prejudice, or bias. Her story
applies to not only her country but also anywhere globally, where the single-story, or
stereotype, dominates people with many preconceptions. A stereotype is a hazardous form
of perception, even more dangerous than prejudice because bias sometimes comes from
a class perspective. Still, even an ordinary person can fall into a stereotyped way of thinking
when judging behavior and the way of life of others. The significance of this video is to open
our minds to the importance of learning cultural differences and cultural communication.
In the cultural communication course, we would learn the impacts of cultures on conflict
and communication at various levels, including ecological, political, economic, social,
security, and humanitarian and legal problems. At the same time, we know how to prevent
and overcome racial and ethnic bias to minimize stereotypes. For the business industry,
learning cultural communication will bring more advantages in launching its businesses
globally than a company that has not invested in it.