The Danger of a Single Story

Nigeria

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19 min

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2009

Story

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice - and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story."

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Did you know?

Adichie's debut novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, was named the Women's Prize for Fiction "Best of the Best" - the best winner of the prize's first decade.

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