Analysis paper- cultural criticism and transformation PDF

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professor Rangel. essay about The Danger of a single story" by Chimamanda Adichie, and Bell Hooks is an American author, professor, feminist, and social activist. In an interview, she discusses the prominence of patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism....

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The Danger of a Single Story Bell Hooks Cultural Criticism and Transformation

1 “The Dangers of a Single Story” is a TED talk given by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In this TED talk, Adichie shares the harm associated with sharing a “single story”. As an avid reader, Adichie learned about single stories at an early age. She began by reading British and American childrens’ books. Adichie didn’t limit herself to reading as she began writing at about seven years old. The characters in her writing were white with blue eyes, played in the snow, ate apples, and talked about the weather. Adichie notes that in Nigeria there was no snow, and that they ate mangos instead of apples. From this realization, Adichie learned how dangerous single stories are. Since the books she read only showed foreigners, she believed all stories had to have foreigners and did not have to be relatable. Eventually, Adichie started reading African books. After reading these stories, she states that there was “a mental shift in her perception of literature”. If it wasn’t for Nigerian writers, she would be stuck with a single story about what books are. Adichie gives an example of a single story she conjured of Fide, the house boy who would come in and assist as live-in domestic help. Because of her mother, she was under the impression that his family was very poor. Despite being poor, they were talented at making crafts but this talent never came to Adiche’s mind because of the single story she learned— them being poor made it difficult for her to see them as anything but poor. Another example of a single story is when Adichie came to America for university. She had a roommate who was confused by her proficiency in English, assumed she did not know how to use a stove, and was disappointed when Adichie played Mariah Carey instead of what she deemed to be stereotypical Nigerian music. She pitied Adichie because of her single story of Africa. With this single story, her roommate saw Africa as “a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people…” After spending some time in America,

2 Adichie understands why her roommate had that perception of Africa— the single story given to Africa is mostly a negative one as American media portrays the continent in a negative light. Rather than share positive aspects of Africa, the same stories are regurgitated. She then ends her Ted Talk by explaining how single stories are made: “show a people as only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become”. Bell Hooks is an American author, professor, feminist, and social activist. In an interview, she discusses the prominence of patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. Hooks talks about how people are represented in pop culture, and how representation is not coincidental. For example, when Hooks saw Larry Clark’s Kids, she told her white friends that the racial politics in terms of representation is poor in regards to the film. Her friends found this unimportant and Hooks had to express that it is “crucial” that the person “brutally bashed to death is a dark skinned black man, because in fact, people’s antipathy to dark skinned black men is actually much greater than their antipathy to black men in some kind of general way”. This was purely intentional and the media was well aware that by using a dark skinned man, he is proper representation of a victim of police brutality. Another example of motivated representation is in the movie Smoke. This movie has a black kid play the role of a thief. In the original script, there is no race assigned to the thief. When the director was questioned for making the thief black, he could not give an answer. Hooks notes that by making the thief black, white supremacist themes are being reinforced and the thief was assigned to a black kid because of racial stereotypes. Hooks later on mentions pop star Madonna and her being a proud feminist. Despite this, Madonna appears to be a white feminist and likely prioritizes white women’s roles in the feminist movement. This can be inferred because of her comments towards black men, where she

3 claims in an interview with Spin Magazine that they are “the most sexist men on the planet”. Hooks acknowledges how Madonna tackles patriarchy while reinforcing white supremacy— she is calling out men, but singles out black men. Despite being a victim of domestic violence from her white husband, Madonna chose to single out black men instead of addressing men as a whole. What do Adichie’s single story talk and Hook’s interview have in common? Both of them address the dangers of single stories. Adichie shared single stories she had about books, single stories she had about her live-in domestic worker, and single stories her roommate had about Africa. In Hook’s interview, she talks about the single stories a director had (that all black men were “thief’s” and “criminals”) and single stories Madonna had (that black men are the most sexist type of men). Both women share the harm of single stories and how they affect our perception of people. Because of a single story, an Asian man knew to portray a thief as a black man because of the single story he learned about black people. Because of a single story, a white woman knew that black men were the most sexist and despite speaking ill of them, she proceeds to fetishize them in the same interview. Because of seeing and hearing the same negative stereotypes about a group of people, certain people start to believe these stereotypes are true and applicable to everyone, allowing single stories to speak for an entire group of people....