User:Vana mekhsijejrian/Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"The Danger of a Single Story"

"Post Colonial Literary Theory"

Empowering subaltern women's voices to be heard

According to post-colonial literary theory, understanding two key words “orientalism” and “subaltern” is of utmost importance. “Orientalism”, according to Edward Said, can be best described by the notion of how the stories of certain tribes could be told through others. An important point emphasizing the way colonizers behave, would be tackling the issue of choosing what aspect of the invaded people’s story to tell, how to tell it, and manipulating the knowledge about that particular invaded country. Hence, the “single story” told would most likely include stereotypes. Moreover, another aspect of grasping a clearer definition of the post-colonial literary theory would be defining the word “subaltern”. According to “Can the Subaltern Speak?" by Spivak, understanding the notion of how to address the “other” is vital. The subaltern is a person in a subordinate position (marginalized) who may lack freedom of expression and hence influence on others and their surroundings.

Adichie spoke in a TED talk entitled "The Danger of a Single Story", posted in July 2009, in which she expressed her concern for under-representation of various cultures. She explained that as a young child, she had often read American and British stories where the characters were primarily of Caucasian origin, this in particular, left a huge impact on herself, highlighting how vulnerable children are in the face of a story. At the lecture, she said that the under-representation of cultural differences could be dangerous.  Adichie claimed that it is of utmost importance to tackle power structures since it constitutes the root of the problem of creating a single story. She mentioned that knowing who is telling the story and how they are telling it makes a huge difference. Additionally, according to her, with power more stories could be circulated, thus allowing the different representations of a particular nation to be visible rather than a single one. This point in particular was also proven in one of her other works, entitled ‘Olikoye’, that got published only when funded by an American Association (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).Moreover, the subaltern’s voice, especially, African subaltern women, face various challenges according to Adichie. In the article entitled “The Indigenous Structures of Narrative in Half of a Yellow Sun”, she emphasized on the extent to which women’s voices were silenced due to the male dominated patriarchal system and how their stories were removed from history and distorted from archives. Adichie concluded the lecture by noting the significance of different stories in various cultures and the representation that they deserve. She advocated for a greater understanding of stories because people are complex, saying that by understanding only a single story, one misinterprets people, their backgrounds, and their histories.  Since 2009, she revisited the topic when speaking to audiences such as the Hilton Humanitarian Symposium of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 2019. Moreover, according to her, the subaltern may have access to fewer opportunities compared to that of the more advantaged party mainly due to prevalent and inherent stereotypes. In the article entitled “The Indigenous Structures of Narrative in Half of a Yellow Sun”, Adichie stated that, according to various publications, Nigerians were thought to have “marvelous energy but very little sense of hygiene”. These stereotypes hinder the subaltern’s voice from being heard and portray a false vision of what authentic Africans should look like. Similarly, in a poem entitled ‘Caged Bird’ written by Maya Angelou, it was highlighted how the free bird which represents privileged people (European colonizers), tend to have various tools and means to become free (various opportunities) unlike the subaltern.

“Literary Hope Theory”

By acknowledging the plenty of reasons for anger and despair, the need to challenge these circumstances and a sense of hope can be replenished in any individual. As Kristeva mentioned “It is only by traversing our grief that there can be any possibility of hope.” The concept of Literary Hope was highlighted by Adichie during the TED Talk of 2009, whereby she mentioned that it is only by acknowledging the difficulty of getting more than a single story out and by feeling the guilt and humility of such an act, a sense of hope and a light in the end of the tunnel will be present. This is how a "kind of paradise could be regained" and the subaltern’s voice could be heard. The portray of literary hope was also evident in “Olikoye”, whereby she talked about the difference that can be made when two traditionally voiceless people meet, despite the social inequities related to various tribes and divisions.

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