In her TEDtalk, novelist Chimamanda Adichie “warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.” She highlights this issue by recounting her personal experience of being viewed as uneducated and backwards as a Nigerian by people she encountered in the West. Indeed, cultures and lives comprise of numerous stories, and to rely solely on one set of lens would lead us to a dangerous conclusion of the lives of people we do not fully understand. This concept of the “single story” was taken up for discussion by several of my classmates in their previous blog posts, where they identified either representations of the “single story”, or attempts to counter it, in various settings. In this blog post, I would like to examine their various interpretations of the “single story” and link it to the sociological concept of “stereotype threat” to aid in our understanding of the harms of the “single story” and the importance of asking ourselves: What are we not shown?

The Single Story in various contexts

Anna argues in her blog that Western media is a significant contributor to the single story as a misrepresentation or limited representation of other cultures. She shows how the media does so in the example of the media coverage of Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2010, as well as the recent (and similar) coverage of Hurricane Matthew. In both situations, Haitians are depicted as “vulnerable people waiting for western aid” and “in need of our aid, unable to improve their own situation without it”. This depiction of Haitians as helpless victims is fuelled by the limited “single story” framed by Western media, which excludes the stories of the Haitian community standing strong and rebuilding together. Anna argues that this depiction is dangerous, as it limits our understanding of other cultures as relying on us for help, which leads to our kind, but blind efforts in helping their cause. In order for us to truly help communities such as Haiti, “we must acknowledge that the “single story” the media has ingrained in our mind about Haiti is not accurate”. Here, we turn to Elena’s blog, where she shows us how Dany Laferriere’s The World Is Moving Around Me provides us with counterhegemonic frames in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. She suggests that Laferriere’s writing is “affected by the negative portrayal of Haiti” by these “single stories”, and “counter[s] that by showing the strength of the people in the midst of a tragic event.” By sharing stories from the perspectives of himself and those who experienced the earthquake with him, Laferriere offers us a different representation of Haiti than that provided by the Western media. He also reminds us that these people exist beyond the earthquake alone by sharing stories of their lives before and after the event. In doing so, Laferriere challenges the perception created by “single stories” of Haitian people living only in disaster and poverty.

Gurveer succinctly summarises the concept of the “single story” as “essentially, the product of stereotypes founded on single sources of information.” Yet, it is important to note that stereotypes alone are not harmful; they are, after all, merely simplified descriptions that we consciously or unconsciously apply to every person in the same category. Everyone is prone to using stereotypes to make quick decisions and intuitive judgements, even if they have good intentions. There is usually some truth in stereotypes, or they wouldn’t work in the first place. The real problem with “single stories” occurs when we rely only on these stereotypes generated by the limited frames provided by the “single stories”. Gurveer applies this concept to the media representation of women – as women are often sexualised, objectified, and presented as “passive and vulnerable” in advertising, the “single story” of women presented in advertising normalises violence against women and desensitises society’s reaction to it.  Thus, women are “not viewed as people, but exist only as possessions belonging to male counterparts.”

Stereotype Threat

Understanding the harm of “single stories” as a result of an overreliance on stereotypes brings us to the concept of “stereotype threat”, introduced by sociologist Claude M. Steele in Whistling Vivaldi. Steele defines “stereotype threat” as “the idea of a situational predicament as a contingency of their group identity, a real threat of judgement or treatment in the person’s environment that went beyond any limitations within.” (59-60) Through his experiments, Steele shows that stereotypes are powerful social constructs that have the ability to influence the performance of people within the group, and this effect is strengthened when they are reminded of their identity and belonging to these groups and stereotypes. For instance, women do poorer on math tests under the stereotype threat that they are worse at math than men. When we identify “single stories” as drawing from and contributing to stereotypes in a cyclical relationship, we see how “single stories” may reinforce the stereotype threat: women feel less self-worth than men; Haitians view themselves as lesser than others even on an even playing field.

Final Thoughts

Through the works of Anna and Gurveer, we see that Adichie’s concept of “single stories” applies to many other media representations beyond Nigeria, such as women and Haiti. And by understanding the harms of “single stories” in the form of stereotype threat, we can better recognise the importance of broadening our lens to other works that challenge these limited frames, through counterhegemonic texts such as that introduced by Elena. When presented with information in the media, we should always remember: What are we not shown?

P.S Remember to check out the blog posts by Anna, Elena, and Gurveer!

Works Cited:

“The Danger of a Single Story.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story | TED Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016. <https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en>.

Steele, Claude M. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.