I’ve been reading my RSS feed and going down some rabbit holes online. Specifically on the topic of ‘single stories’.
These are essentially stereotypes (Etymology: ‘solid’ + ‘impression’) about a group of people, usually those-other-people-over-there, that we don’t really understand, and they’re kept alive by stories, that are never questioned, thereby erasing nuance. They then become self-perpetuating.
There’s a famous TED Talk you can watch from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, called The Danger of a Single Story where she talks about attitudes towards her, as an African.
And then her own biases she noticed, upon visiting Mexico.
It’s a fascinating topic and it got me thinking that it’s not just something that happens on a societal level, it happens for us, individually, too.
We all have ‘single stories’ about our selves, kept alive by the mind’s stories, that go unquestioned, erasing nuance and ultimately becoming self-perpetuating.
You can spot them a mile off. They sound a bit like this:
- “Oh that’s the way I am”
- “I’m the kind of person who…”
- “Oh, I don’t do well with…”
- “I’m just not good with…”
- “I’ve always been like this.”
They tumble out of our mouths all the time, but they’re just as lazy, inaccurate, limiting and erasing-of-nuance as the wider nation-based stereotypes we’re all guilty of sliding into now and then.
They’re not true.
They’re just intermittent patterns of behaviour the mind observes, notes down, reinforces and solidifies into A THING… all without us noticing.
So why not begin this week with a commitment to catch yourself when you hear a ‘single story’ about your self tripping off your tongue.
You’re bigger, better—and more nuanced!—than that.
💟
Giles
Related
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Watch the TED talk