The Ohio State University The Danger of a Single Story Film Worksheet
Subject
Humanities
School
The Ohio State University
Question Description
TED Talk: The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Please answer the following questions. Your responses should be thoughtful, articulate, original, and written in complete grammatically correct sentences.
1. In Chimamanda Adichie’s talk, she relates several “single stories” that she either held about others or others held about her. Recognizing that we all are culpable in creating or buying into a “single story”, relate a “single story” you are familiar with and how peoples’ perceptions are not always accurate.
2. In Chimamanda Adichie’s talk, she relates how the books she read as child influenced how she perceived storytelling and ultimately shaped what stories she thought should be told and which stories were important. Thinking about the books you read as a child or young adult, did you see representations of yourself and your life in the books you read? What books were you reading? Would someone of another gender, ethnicity, religious belief system, or socio-economic standard of living find themselves equally represented in these books?
3. Given your understanding of week one / two’s lectures and chapter one of your text, how can anthropological concepts and perspectives be used to reject “the single story”?