Tag Archives: gender

Chimamanda’s Danger of a Single Story

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“When we reject the single story. When we realize that there is never a single story about any place. We regain a kind of paradise.”                  – Chimananda Ngozi Adichie

This is the last phrase of Chimamanda Adichie’s excellent TED talk about the danger of a single story. Although the TED talk was given in 2009, its message, specially about immigrants, is stronger today.  Chimamanda, a Nigerian author, encourages us to avoid single stories (having one single perspective or narrative of a person, community or country) and learn about our peers thoroughly and holistically. She grew up near higher education institutions because her parents were faculty at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, and continued to be close to universities throughout her education. She began her undergrad in Drexel University, then transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University. She did her master’s degree at John Hopkins University, followed by a second masters from Yale University. Additionally, she was awarded fellowships from both Princeton and Harvard Universities.

Higher education is present in her novels as well. Her characters range from academics in the heart of planning revolutions, to Nigerian immigrants facing the challenges of American higher education, both as students and as immigrants. Through her storytelling, the readers are given another perspective of what it means to study in the United States and what international students face when entering a new academic system while getting used to a different culture. In between lines, she highlights the importance of diversity in universities and how international students enhance the educational experience.

Universities are spaces where the danger of a single story can be eliminated. As Chimamanda’s experience meeting her undergrad roommate who had a single story about Africans, cultural and friendship exchanges can help bridge cultural perceptions and share knowledge.  After reading her novels, being an international student myself and coming from a Mexican University with only 5% international students, I question: How can diversity of students and nationalities be encouraged in universities? What type of activities can students and faculty do to avoid the danger of a single story? What are other advantages of having international students in higher education institutions?

Here is the link to the TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Novels by Chimamanda N. Adichie:

Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus, Americanah

 

 

Art, Racism, and Higher Education

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Hello, all!

My name is Gayoung Kim and I am in the art group. While googling, Timothy and I found an interesting dance performance to share with everybody. It is called, Octavia’s Brood: Riding the Ox Home, performed by an anti-racist choreographer, Meghan Abadoo. She, as a black woman dance performer, tries to reveal the identity of black womanhood (It is all performed by black female dancers) and to create a space for freely sharing the vulnerability of black women with the witnesses who watch the performance. Throughout the performance, one movement captured my sight really strongly when the performers try to run forward but they keep failing because of cloth tying their bodies to the walls from 26’-33’. (The whole performance is 46 minutes, but I think this part is the highlight.) The dancers keep trying to reach forward but they tumble and fall, and I felt like that is the reality of racism and gender discrimination.

Meghan Abadoo also wrote a short essay about the subtle systematic injustice in society and how University of Maryland tries to deal with it. She points out that it is a widely held misconception that racial inequality does not exist anymore because race-based discrimination is illegal and shares the moment when she participated the Words of Engagement intergroup dialogue program at University of Maryland. There, she had profound experience gathering with people of different racial backgrounds, listening divergent viewpoints and stories.

Personally, as an Asian female student, I have not experienced specific occasion, but her words made me think about how race and gender are still the issue to resolve and how those are under-estimated as a problem. I think this performance is a worth while piece to watch.

You can watch the performance here:
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/18432
And her essay, you can read it here:
http://terp.umd.edu/sights-unseen-2/#Abadoo

And here some inviting questions to think for you all;

  • Do you think racial or gender discrimination is still prevalent in US higher education institutions today?
  • What do you think are the merits and limitations of Abadoo’s project of using dance as a medium to champion notions of racial and gender equality in HE institutions? 
  • Are you able to think of any other ways for HE institutions to leverage their academic and cultural influence to advocate social causes in the world? How might these ways or approaches differ in an Asian HE context?