Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

[BODHI]

WATCH THIS A POWERFUL MESSAGE

Inspirational talk about how just ones perspective can change so much. I think we are all guilty of falling victim to the "one story," but being aware, recognizing it when it happens and consciously seeking a diversity of stories is a very powerful and simple way to really change and impact the world.

[BODHI]

Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie believes in the power of stories, and warns that hearing only one about a people or nation leads to ignorance. She says the truth is revealed by many tales.

She illustrates this with a story about coming to the United States, as a middle-class daughter of a professor and an administrator, and meeting her college roommate. Adichie says that her roommate's "default position toward me, as an African, was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning, pity. My roommate had a single story of Africa. A single story of catastrophe."