The Danger of a Single Story

August 15, 2023 - Our lives are composed of many overlapping stories.

Science has shown that we form of opinions of someone extremely quickly. A study by Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov says it only takes a tenth of a second to form an opinion about someone. Neuroscientists at New York University and Harvard found that in twenty-seven seconds we decide if we like someone or not.

Not a lot of our life’s stories can get told in seven or twenty-seven seconds!

And that’s not even taking into account the huge role that age, gender and race play in first impressions.

A Single Story

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie, has a phenomenal TED talk on “The danger of a single story”. Definitely worth 18 minutes of your time if you’ve not yet seen it!

The “single story” is a narrative that presents only one perspective, repeated again and again until it becomes all that we know and all that that individual or that group of people knows.

It becomes the “default position”; the truth; the only truth. The one thing people know or remember.

For Adichie, it was her assumption that the boy working in their home, Fide, was poor. When she saw the beautiful baskets his family made and sold, she had a hard time putting these two images together: how could a poor family  make something that beautiful?

It wasn’t that the single story Adichie knew – Fide is poor – was incorrect. Fide’s family was poorer than hers. It was the fact that the single story – Fide is poor – didn’t tell the full story. That one could be poor and make absolutely beautiful baskets.

Unintended Consequences

When all we have is a single story or image in our head, we make incorrect assumptions and decisions; we jump to incorrect conclusions. We plan for and try to mitigate the wrong risk factors.

Single stories also rob people of dignity. People (and nations) are labelled; like an inanimate object, not a living person with a soul, a heart, desires, hopes and dreams.

Applying a label to something makes it official, gives it meaning, shapes decisions and policies and funding. It influences where money is invested, offices are opened and which people get hired.

A final unintended consequence is the misdirection of power. Power is the ability to tell the story of another person and to make it the definitive story of that person, that community, that nation, that continent.

African Proverbial Wisdom

I love the age-old, proven, common-sense wisdom of African proverbs.  There are three that come to mind when discussing the dangers of a single story.

Better you say what you know in person that what you’ve hear people say.

-  Nuer of South Sudan

First you should use your head and learn, then speak.

-  Ndebele of South Africa

Don’t judge somebody without understanding him/her

-  Samburu of Kenya

Facts are better than hearsay. We should learn to talk about matters that are supported by factual information, from a variety of sources, and where possible based on our personal, on-the-ground experiences.

When we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. Let’s intentionally look for additional stories to ensure we have well-rounded and multi-faceted views.

Photo: When I show people this photo of my office building, their first reaction is, “Oh, is this your office in Dubai?”  I love the looks on their faces when I reply, “no, this is my office in Maputo, Mozambique.” After which many ask, “that’s in Africa?!” To which I proudly respond, “yes, it is!”.  The danger of a single story.  And the fun one can have giving people other sides of the story to consider.