The Power and Danger of a Single Story

I recently watched a powerful Tedtalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie entitled 'The danger of a single story'. Its inspired me to write this post.

The concept that Adichie so beautifully and eloquently presents is that we as humans like to understand other humans by creating 'single stories' about them.

For example, when I was in primary school, my single story about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia was that they were poor, not very smart and needed to be looked after. I had not had any real contact with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, did not learn much about their culture and believed what I was taught, which is that they are one homogeneous group that needs to be looked after.

I learnt much later that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are as diverse and multifaceted as white people, that they come from over 250 nations and language groups, that they have as many strengths and weaknesses as everyone else and certainly don’t need the archaic notions of ‘these people need our protection or our laws to survive’. Much more than just a single story I created in my childhood.

Recently I discovered I had a single story of Pakistan. I had no idea that there was a substantial christian population of 2.8 million (this only represents 1.6% of the population, but is nevertheless a large number of people).

We create so many single stories about people, places and culture. Sometimes people create these single stories without having direct experience of a place or culture.

For example, I knew the Taj Mahal in India was acclaimed to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, that everyone should attempt to see at least once. I didn’t know that its not just a stunning building, but its a mausoleum, built out of grief for the Mughal emperor's wife who died at childbirth. I did not know it was also an exquisite story of love and loss. It was not until I went there that I understood this, and the many other stories of this masterpiece.

I began to wonder how many of these single stories I have created about people, places and culture that I need to reconsider.

In one workplace, I developed a single story about a woman I worked with, it was that she was a spoilt princess, brought up in Sydney with a silver spoon in her mouth. I didn’t see her as a young mother struggling to be accepted in a community that she was not from and that did not accept her.

We are all guilty of creating single stories about other people or groups. What single stories have we developed in our communities or countries? Have we developed as a nation a single story of foreigners? Of refugees? Of our employers? Of our government?

What single stories do our politicians focus on?

What single stories does the media put out?

As a lawyer, I quickly understood that there is never just one story, or two. There are usually 6 different stories to each case. Especially in family law.

Yet my clients would focus on single stories. Their single stories of their ex-partner, of their children, of their time together. I used to wonder how these people ever got together or lived together for so long.

But there was always so much more. Of love, and experiences that could never be encapsulated into a two page Affidavit.

Extending the concept further...

I think that this concept of creating single stories of people, places, religions and culture can be extended further. To ourselves. What are the single stories I have created about my own life?

For example, the single story I developed about myself in my 20s was that I was a lawyer. It was the defining story of my life at the time. It was what I introduce myself as, it would define how I work, how I thought. I would have my lawyer filter goggles on in most interactions I had inside and outside of work. It is also how others viewed me.

A regular refrain from my friends at the time, ‘Such lawyer speak!’, and ‘Ok pick the lawyer in the room!’

I was a lawyer. Not a passionate cook, hobby photographer, friend, family member, yoga lover. I had so many other stories about me and my life that I pushed aside.

We clutch onto single stories. I listen to people everyday that repeat the same stories about their lives.

‘I was never good at school. That’s why I can’t learn go back and study now.’

This single story affects many areas of a persons’ life including relationships, financial gain, satisfying work. This story is repeated, continuously. And then often adopted by those closest.

Defining oneself by a single story like this prevents other stories that could be more helpful becoming more prominent in a persons’ life. For example, there would have been something that a person ‘never good at school’ enjoyed or subjects that s/he were better at than others.

Introducing stories that are more than one dimensional offers a richer tale. It also shows a person that everything does not have to be defined by a single story.

For example, the person may have been better at history than maths. If they are better at something, then the story of ‘I was never good at school’ does not need to be the sole defining characteristic of a person, (or that particular story), thereby opening up possibilities for the future.

If I continued to solely focus on the story in my 20s that I was a lawyer, I would have prevented myself from having wonderfully diverse work opportunities and growth. I would have also prevented myself from taking life risks that I now feel very comfortable in taking.

I would have stayed in my single story. And boy am I happy I didn’t!

What are your single stories about you? About your loved ones?

Everyone’s lives are made up of so much more than just one story. What new stories would you like to discover or create about you or your loved ones?