One of the most inspiring TED Talks I've run across, and was happy to place on our Yo Ghana! website, is Chimamanda Adichie's inspiring "The Danger of a Single Story."Adichie has been for the past few years the most prominent African writer in the U.S. Half a Yellow Sun has already been made into a film, and Americanah is about to be.
Like her novels, "The Danger of a Single Story" is a testament to the diversity of the human experience and our need to get to know each other personally rather than through stereotypes. She of course addresses American stereotypes of Africa. But she also addresses her own blind spots, discovered when she visited Mexico and the home of her family's houseboy, for example.
Speaking of houseboys, one of the most powerful parts of Half a Yellow Sun comes when the white British journalist decides that Biafra's story is best told not by himself, but by a houseboy. The first mistake we people of privilege make is to assume that our story is the only story. The second, often made shortly after discovering that other people have their own stories, is to presume to tell it for them.
The world is blessed to have such a superb story teller to listen to and learn from in Chimamanda Adichie.
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