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Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger Of A Single Story

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Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger Of A Single Story
The Danger of a Single Story Paper
Taeler Wilson: UNIV 100
After watching the movie “The Danger of a Single Story”, I immediately became interested in how ignorant we as people can be. Chimamanda Adichie, the speaker of the video, spoke about the misconceptions there were of Africa and its people; one those being that they all are the same. I myself realized that I too grouped all of those from the continent into one category, not separate countries and cultures. We in America tend to do this frequently, and because of it, Adichie had several difficulties when moving to the United States. Her college roommate assumed that she didn’t know how to use a stove and that she listened to “tribal” music. People naturally went to her with questions about Africa assuming that she knew knowledge about the entire continent not just her home (Nigeria). People already had a “single story” of Africa and Adichie’s life growing up without actually doing the research. That itself is quite shameful to me.
Africa is not the only subject she spoke of however. Adichie spoke about her
…show more content…
Emily Stoten has Down syndrome and I specifically remember that the first time I was introduced to her, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think she could relate to me like a normal person, therefore I didn’t realize that I could act like a normal person around her. But what is the word normal? There is no normal. Everyone is a human being, including Emily and I soon learned that even more just like me, she was a teenage girl. Emily loves the color pink and she loves talking about boys. She enjoys playing on a softball team, has a job, is involved in choir and is even an active athlete in the Special Olympics. The only difference between Emily and me is that she has a learning disability that she was born with. It isn’t her fault, and she embraces what god gave her to the

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