TED Talks: Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Knocks Down Stereotyping
Stories are everywhere – our perspectives on culture and our own lives depend on the stories we hear, create and share. In her amazing talk from TEDGlobal 2009, Nigerian novelist and Beyoncé collaborator Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses the importance of stories in the ways we build our perspectives about other people – and the critical disconnects that can occur by only listening to one story. Drawing from personal experiences with judging others and being judged for being Nigerian, she draws the parallels between single stories and stereotypes. In her words, “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.” This…