Beyond the Single Story

Many are the times we as individuals subscribe to particular notions and ideologies. It isn’t a wonder to hear individuals saying that journalistic news must include comic elements for it to have successfully achieved its intended purpose.

            ChimamandaAdichie, a renowned female writer in her talk; The Danger of the Single Story notes that she was also once pre-disposed to the single story.  While growing up, they had a houseboy named Fide who came from a poor family.

Whenever she or her siblings were wasteful, her mother would assert thus; “stop being wasteful. Don’t you know that people like Fide’s family have nothing?” She thus grew up pitying Fide’s family and viewing them as poor and full of want. Upon visiting them, she came to learn that his family was very enterprising. She had all along viewed Fide’s family as poor that she never saw them as anything else but just that; ‘poor and full of want’

What if her mother had told them that Fide’s family was poor but hardworking? Perhaps that would have changed her perception of them.

The west is also party to this crime. They mostly view Africa as the Dark Continent full of want, a notion that is further fuelled by the poor governance in most African countries such that development is pushed to the background.

Similarly it is believed that to achieve action from the masses the dark side of a situation has to be presented. For instance must pictures of emaciated individuals flood the media to stir action?

The northern part of Kenya is also “a victim” of the single story. We are always told of the drought situation and lack of network coverage in the region such that when we hear of northern Kenya (mostly Turkana) starvation automatically comes to mind.

Women are rarely featured in the media unless sad or unfortunate events have happened to them namely, being held hostage in hospitals due to failure to pay maternity fees, battery by their husbands, drug trafficking, rape etc.

While growing up, we were socialized to believe that men were the bread winners, were to engage in tough activities and were never supposed to cry.

It is also assumed that only the girl child is in need of empowerment such that groups aimed at empowering men are viewed with curiosity and even jeered.

The danger of believing the single story in Chimamanda’s words, is that it reverberates over time and leaves stains that can never be washed off.

What if the west viewed Africa as a dark continent yet determined to achieve                development? What if persuasion and enlightenment were used to achieve mass action? What if men were also included in empowerment campaigns such that groups aimed at empowering men are supported?

What if society stopped for just a minute and paid attention to the boy child and also aired their grievances?  What if society viewed men as human beings prone to commit mistakes and in need of emotional support?

Chimamanda notes that when we reject the single story, when we realize that there never was a single story about any place or thing, we regain a kind of paradise.