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PART I: Using the material that you and your group mates produced in class on the shared google.doc, produce your 250 word summary of Ngozi Adiche's Danger of A Single Story (here is that link). You should feel free to edit or change what got written in your 250 words on the google.doc in anyway that makes sense to you--you might include parts of your group's writing. You might include parts from other group's writing that makes sense to use.
PART II: As we discussed in class, one single story can deeply affect how you are understood in the world and how the world understands you. So, for the last part of your post, in at least 100 words, what is the dangerous single story of your alum? What is the story that could be told about your alum that would limit who they can be in the world--or what story could have limited how they saw themselves but they made decisions to NOT let it determine who they are and what is possible in their world? Answering this question, even just using the info you got from them in the initial greeting email, will help you think about how to shape your essay around a thesis. HOW TO POST
NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end.
14 Comments
Emily Bachman
11/6/2020 09:50:38 am
The ted talk is about a writer named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is Nigerin writer.She talks about different events that happened during her life that shaped her into how she writes in her own stories and novels. Adichi had a dad who was a professor and her own mother was an administrator, her family did help out rural villages and taught her lessons from a young age. She had started to write from a young age and she forced her mother to read her writing and she realized that her own characters started to look like white children with blue eyes and blonde hair instead of her. She had learned, growing up her books were just filled with foreign children but no nigeria children. The main idea of the ted talk is how one single story can create a stereotype about someone. An example of this would be her american roommate, her own roommate thought that she has never seen a working stove or how to cook on a stove. Adichie felt bad for her since she learned from different stories about African and its people which created a stereotype for her.
Alexis Maldonado
11/6/2020 11:09:55 am
The ted talk is about a writer named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is a Nigerian writer. She talks about different events that happened during her life that shaped her into how she writes in her own stories and novels. Adichie had a dad who was a professor and her own mother was an administrator, her family did help out rural villages and taught her lessons from a young age. She had started to write from a young age, and she forced her mother to read her writing and she realized that her own characters started to look like white children with blue eyes and blonde hair instead of people like her. She had learned, growing up her books were just filled with foreign children but no Nigeria children. The main idea of the ted talk is how one single story can create a stereotype about someone without knowing the actual truth. An example of this would be her American roommate, her own roommate thought that she has never seen a working stove or how to cook on a stove because she was taught only one point of view and never learned the actual truth. Adichie felt bad for her since she learned from different stories about African and its people which created a stereotype for her and she later realized that that could be something that is dangerous because we can judge someone without knowing them and the whole time they are not the person that we thought they were.
Wicahpi Chaddlesone-Yankton
11/6/2020 07:50:28 pm
The ted talk is about a writer named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is Nigerin writer.She talks about different events that happened during her life that shaped her into how she writes in her own stories and novels. Adichi had a dad who was a professor and her own mother was an administrator, her family did help out rural villages and taught her lessons from a young age. She had started to write from a young age and she forced her mother to read her writing and she realized that her own characters started to look like white children with blue eyes and blonde hair instead of her. She had learned, growing up her books were just filled with foreign children but no nigeria children. The main idea of the ted talk is how one single story can create a stereotype about someone. An example of this would be her american roommate, her own roommate thought that she has never seen a working stove or how to cook on a stove. Adichie felt bad for her since she learned from different stories about African and its people which created a stereotype for her.
Colm McDonough
11/6/2020 08:49:20 pm
Ngozi is telling us about her past and growing up in Nigeria. How she used to write stories as a kid with white people and blue eyes. She moved to university at 19 while speaking great english. Her roommate was surprised she knew english so well. Living in Nigeria, Ngozi had an oddly american childhood reading american stories. But as she moved to america for university, people were shocked to see an african american being able to speak english so well. Growing up Ngozi's father was a professor and her mother was an administrator. So Ngozi was lucky enough and was taught to write at a young age. She also forced her mother to read to her. A childhood most kids like her wouldn't normally get. She wrote more and more and even had some people say her strokes weren’t african enough because she was talking about driving and some necessities most Nigerians don’t have. They judged the book from the cover. For example “how can Nigerians live nicely like this with cars and such. Aren’t they poor”. But clearly we all know that is not true mostly because of where we grew up and how we were taught. So Ngozi used the example of an american book about a serial killer. Saying after reading that book does it make her think all Americans are killers? Obviously she did not think that but that is the point she was making. She was telling us not to judge a book by it’s cover but rather open it to read for yourself. No story for Alumni yet
Tk Okla
11/7/2020 06:01:22 am
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up on a University campus in Nigeria. She began to read and write at an early age. When she started actually writing books she wrote books based off on the other books she was reading (british children books). Most of her characters looked nothing like her and drunk ginger beer, a drink that she had never tasted before but desired to after writing about it so much. She later discovered African books. When she discovered these books she had a change of mind. Who would’ve known that writers from the same continent as her would change her story. Ngozi Adichie’s family hired a house boy called Fide. A houseboy is usually hired to take care of things around the house and is sometimes sent on errands. Usually in NIgeria if you have a houseboy you are considered not poor because you can afford to pay someone to work. Chimamanda’s mother hadn’t given her a full background story of Fide’s life but only told her how poor he and his family were. So in Chimamanda’s mind she had blocked everything else and set her mind that they were just a poor family so when she saw that his brother was capable of doing something she was shocked. A single story of my alumni is when she traveled abroad for a year but returned early because of financial problems. I could make this the topic of my whole paper of how she was low on money but this would make it a single story. Instead I want to include not only how she was poor or became poor, but how she made it out of that poverty and became who she is because it wasn’t an easy route at all.
Omayra Saez
11/9/2020 04:57:11 am
In the ted talk the novelist chimamanda talks about how she grew up reading american stories and she thought that all stories had to be foreing to be a good story. She talks about how when she would write she would write she would make all of her characters (even herself) based off of the books she would read because there weren't a lot of african books that she could read. So they would have blue eyes, speak with a different accent, and live a life that she personally wasn't accustomed to. She explains how later on she realizes that it is not true. She starts reading different stories and gets a different perspective on the life of different cultures. She then goes to America and starts to write about her life as a nigerian. She was told that her stores were not “authentically afican” enough because in her stories she spoke on how nigerians were driving in cars and how they lived a good life. She talks about how she talks to this american that read one of her books and because she talked about how evil this man was, that was her perspective on nigerians. So then she goes on to explain to the American how she had read a book about this American that was a serial killer and she tells the women “so are all americans serial killers”? Throughout the Ted Talk she tries to get her audience to understand that you cannot determine or make a perspective of a culture based off of one story and one person's perspective of life.
Kyle McCrea
11/9/2020 06:17:43 am
This ted talk is by a novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a very intelligent woman. She began writing at the age of seven and has always had a love for literature. She points out how growing every character in her writings were white and blue eyed. As a black young girl she didn’t see books that depicted anyone who looked like her. She admits she admires British and American literature, however her life changed when she found African books. She comes from a middle class family and her parents have always made her aware of how fortunate she is. When she didn’t finish her food they would point out she should be grateful and eat her food because some families near them have nothing. When she went to college there was a cultural bias about her because she was from Nigeria. Her roommate was shocked she knew English so well and that she listens to Mariah Carey. She points out that if she was not from Africa she would think like her roommate, that Africa is beautiful land with majestic animals. However, people do not see the struggle that she knows. Her professor pointed this out as well, he said that her characters were not authentically African. Her characters were Americanized in the sense they drove cars and did not struggle like the real African citizens. A character in her story was physically abusive and someone commented on how they can’t believe this is how Nigerian men are. She points out all of these stories about serial killers in America are written and she has never once associated America with a book character. This whole ted talk has shown us that a book that has a certain cultured characters does not define that culture. You can read about how beautiful Africa is and all the animals that live there, but if you do a little more research you can see that African citizens seriously need out help.
Miah Poindexter
11/9/2020 08:38:58 am
In the ted talk the novelist chimamanda talks about how she grew up reading american stories and she thought that all stories had to be foreing to be a good story. She talks about how when she would write she would write she would make all of her characters (even herself) based off of the books she would read because there weren't a lot of african books that she could read. So they would have blue eyes, speak with a different accent, and live a life that she personally wasn't accustomed to. She explains how later on she realizes that it is not true. She starts reading different stories and gets a different perspective on the life of different cultures. She then goes to America and starts to write about her life as a nigerian. She was told that her stores were not “authentically afican” enough because in her stories she spoke on how nigerians were driving in cars and how they lived a good life. She talks about how she talks to this american that read one of her books and because she talked about how evil this man was, that was her perspective on nigerians. So then she goes on to explain to the American how she had read a book about this American that was a serial killer and she tells the women “so are all americans serial killers”? Throughout the Ted Talk she tries to get her audience to understand that you cannot determine or make a perspective of a culture based off of one story and one person's perspective of life. my alumni talks about how she didn't enjoy BSU the she first joined, that could of been the perspective she got on BSU and she could of just went with it. if she didn't give it time so that she could get a different perspective which she did. she then found that she began to enjoy the school, and had a good experience.
Grace Reardon
11/9/2020 08:39:28 am
This ted talk is by a novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a very intelligent woman. She began writing at the age of seven and has always had a love for literature. She points out how growing every character in her writings were white and blue eyed. As a black young girl she didn’t see books that depicted anyone who looked like her. She admits she admires British and American literature, however her life changed when she found African books. She comes from a middle class family and her parents have always made her aware of how fortunate she is. When she didn’t finish her food they would point out she should be grateful and eat her food because some families near them have nothing. When she went to college there was a cultural bias about her because she was from Nigeria. Her roommate was shocked she knew English so well and that she listens to Mariah Carey. She points out that if she was not from Africa she would think like her roommate, that Africa is beautiful land with majestic animals. However, people do not see the struggle that she knows. Her professor pointed this out as well, he said that her characters were not authentically African. Her characters were Americanized in the sense they drove cars and did not struggle like the real African citizens. A character in her story was physically abusive and someone commented on how they can’t believe this is how Nigerian men are. She points out all of these stories about serial killers in America are written and she has never once associated America with a book character. This whole ted talk has shown us that a book that has a certain cultured characters does not define that culture. You can read about how beautiful Africa is and all the animals that live there, but if you do a little more research you can see that African citizens seriously need out help.
AJ Marangos
11/9/2020 08:47:59 am
This ted talk is by a novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a very intelligent woman. She began writing at the age of seven and has always had a love for literature. She points out how growing every character in her writings were white and blue eyed. As a black young girl she didn’t see books that depicted anyone who looked like her. She admits she admires British and American literature, however her life changed when she found African books. She comes from a middle class family and her parents have always made her aware of how fortunate she is. When she didn’t finish her food they would point out she should be grateful and eat her food because some families near them have nothing. When she went to college there was a cultural bias about her because she was from Nigeria. Her roommate was shocked she knew English so well and that she listens to Mariah Carey. She points out that if she was not from Africa she would think like her roommate, that Africa is beautiful land with majestic animals. However, people do not see the struggle that she knows. Her professor pointed this out as well, he said that her characters were not authentically African. Her characters were Americanized in the sense they drove cars and did not struggle like the real African citizens. A character in her story was physically abusive and someone commented on how they can’t believe this is how Nigerian men are. She points out all of these stories about serial killers in America are written and she has never once associated America with a book character. This whole ted talk has shown us that a book that has a certain cultured characters does not define that culture. You can read about how beautiful Africa is and all the animals that live there, but if you do a little more research you can see that African citizens seriously need out help.
Laura Schnitzer
11/9/2020 02:34:58 pm
In this Ted Talk we learn about a young girl named Chimanda Ngozie Adchie. She faced a lot of hardship growing up. She grew up in a middle class and is originally from Nigeria. At the age of 19 she came to the university in America. She was not accepted because of the color of her skin. Her roommate was astonished that she knew how to speak english so well. What her roommate did not know was that Nigeria was originally an english speaking country. It is appalling to me that her roommate was so dismissive not only about how she knew english so well but referred to her music as “tribal music.” I found this absolutely disgusting just because she is African American does not mean she listens to “tribal music.” Her roommate is judging her based on the color of her skin, not Ngozi’s story. All these experiences Ngozi went through growing up shaped her into the strong, powerful and remarkable woman she is today.
Ally Spencer
11/12/2020 11:56:29 am
This Ted talk is about a writer named Ngozi who tells us about her life and growing up in Nigeria. At the age of 19 she came to a University in America. Her roommate was shocked at how good her English was. After facing a lot of trauma in her life, her perspective in writing has changed. Ngozi had a very good childhood, filled with laughter and love. She has also faced a lot of death. She has lost a lot of people very close to her, but these losses shaped her to be who she is today. Ngozi was told that her stories were not African enough because she talked about African’s living a nice life, instead of talking about Africans being poor. Ngozi uses an example of an American book about a serial killer. So, she asks “Are all Americans serial killers” trying to prove the point that you can’t judge a book by its cover. This ted talk has shown that you cannot generalize a whole group just based off of things you’ve heard about part of the group.
Kaia Souza
11/12/2020 04:05:36 pm
this ted talk is about a girl named chimamada Ngozie Adchie a Nigerian writer, she tells us about the hardships and challenge's she faced throughout her childhood and up until now that has formed her as a writer. When she was young all she would see in books would be white children and nobody that looked like her or anyone in Nigeria and of course this affected her as a child. When she would write and even some of the characters were white, she also said that she admired American and British Literature. When she was 19 years old and moved America to attend college. While attending she was discriminated against by her roommate and other students for the color of her skin and for being from Nigeria. Her roommate had even assumed that she was unable to speak English, Her roommate had also compared her music to "tribal music" and was shocked that she listened to Mariah Carey. When she came to America she continued to write and she wrote about her life in Nigeria and people would question her about it being not "African" enough due to them driving around in cars and things.
Essiah Marcial
11/16/2020 07:30:08 am
The ted talk is about a writer named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is a Nigerian writer. She talks about different events that happened during her life that shaped her into how she writes in her own stories and novels. When she was young all she would see in books would be white children and nobody that looked like her or anyone in Nigeria and of course this affected her as a child. When she would write and even some of the characters were white, she also said that she admired American and British Literature. When she was 19 years old and moved America to attend college. While attending she was discriminated against by her roommate and other students for the color of her skin and for being from Nigeria. Her roommate had even assumed that she was unable to speak English, Her roommate had also compared her music to "tribal music" and was shocked that she listened to Mariah Carey. She has also faced a lot of death. She has lost a lot of people very close to her, but these losses shaped her to be who she is today. Ngozi was told that her stories were not African enough because she talked about African’s living a nice life, instead of talking about Africans being poor. Ngozi uses an example of an American book about a serial killer. So, she asks “Are all Americans serial killers” trying to prove the point that you can’t judge a book by its cover. This ted talk has shown that you cannot generalize a whole group just based off of things you’ve heard about part of the group. A character in her story was physically abusive and someone commented on how they can’t believe this is how Nigerian men are. She points out all of these stories about serial killers in America are written and she has never once associated America with a book character. This whole ted talk has shown us that a book that has a certain cultured characters does not define that culture. You can read about how beautiful Africa is and all the animals that live there, but if you do a little more research you can see that African citizens seriously need out help. Leave a Reply. |
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