WEBVTT

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I'm a storyteller.

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And I would like to tell you
a few personal stories

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about what I like to call
"the danger of the single story."

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I grew up on a university campus
in eastern Nigeria.

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My mother says that I started
reading at the age of two,

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although I think four
is probably close to the truth.

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So I was an early reader,

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and what I read were British
and American children's books.

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I was also an early writer,

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and when I began to write,
at about the age of seven,

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stories in pencil
with crayon illustrations

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that my poor mother was obligated to read,

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I wrote exactly the kinds
of stories I was reading:

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All my characters were
white and blue-eyed,

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they played in the snow,

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they ate apples,

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(Laughter)

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and they talked a lot about the weather,

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how lovely it was
that the sun had come out.

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(Laughter)

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Now, this despite the fact
that I lived in Nigeria.

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I had never been outside Nigeria.

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We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,

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and we never talked about the weather,

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because there was no need to.

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My characters also drank
a lot of ginger beer,

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because the characters
in the British books I read

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drank ginger beer.

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Never mind that I had no idea
what ginger beer was.

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(Laughter)

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And for many years afterwards,

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I would have a desperate desire
to taste ginger beer.

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But that is another story.

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What this demonstrates, I think,

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is how impressionable
and vulnerable we are

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in the face of a story,

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particularly as children.

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Because all I had read were books
in which characters were foreign,

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I had become convinced that books

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by their very nature
had to have foreigners in them

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and had to be about things with which
I could not personally identify.

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Now, things changed
when I discovered African books.

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There weren't many of them available,

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and they weren't quite as easy to find
as the foreign books.

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But because of writers like
Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye,

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I went through a mental shift
in my perception of literature.

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I realized that people like me,

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girls with skin the color of chocolate,

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whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,

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could also exist in literature.

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I started to write
about things I recognized.

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Now, I loved those
American and British books I read.

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They stirred my imagination.
They opened up new worlds for me.

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But the unintended consequence

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was that I did not know
that people like me

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could exist in literature.

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So what the discovery of African writers
did for me was this:

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It saved me from having a single story
of what books are.

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I come from a conventional,
middle-class Nigerian family.

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My father was a professor.

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My mother was an administrator.

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And so we had, as was the norm,

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live-in domestic help, who would often
come from nearby rural villages.

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So, the year I turned eight,
we got a new house boy.

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His name was Fide.

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The only thing my mother told us about him
was that his family was very poor.

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My mother sent yams and rice,
and our old clothes, to his family.

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And when I didn't finish my dinner,
my mother would say,

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"Finish your food! Don't you know?
People like Fide's family have nothing."

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So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.

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Then one Saturday,
we went to his village to visit,

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and his mother showed us
a beautifully patterned basket

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made of dyed raffia
that his brother had made.

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I was startled.

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It had not occurred to me
that anybody in his family

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could actually make something.

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All I had heard about them
was how poor they were,

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so that it had become impossible for me
to see them as anything else but poor.

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Their poverty was my single story of them.

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Years later, I thought about this
when I left Nigeria

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to go to university in the United States.

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I was 19.

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My American roommate was shocked by me.

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She asked where I had learned
to speak English so well,

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and was confused when I said that Nigeria

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happened to have English
as its official language.

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She asked if she could listen
to what she called my "tribal music,"

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and was consequently very disappointed

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when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.

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(Laughter)

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She assumed that I did not know
how to use a stove.

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What struck me was this:

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She had felt sorry for me
even before she saw me.

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Her default position
toward me, as an African,

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was a kind of patronizing,
well-meaning pity.

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My roommate had a single story of Africa:

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a single story of catastrophe.

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In this single story,

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there was no possibility of Africans
being similar to her in any way,

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no possibility of feelings
more complex than pity,

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no possibility of a connection
as human equals.

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I must say that before I went to the U.S.,

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I didn't consciously identify as African.

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But in the U.S., whenever Africa came up,
people turned to me.

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Never mind that I knew nothing
about places like Namibia.

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But I did come to embrace
this new identity,

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and in many ways I think
of myself now as African.

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Although I still get quite irritable
when Africa is referred to as a country,

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the most recent example being
my otherwise wonderful flight

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from Lagos two days ago,

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in which there was an announcement
on the Virgin flight

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about the charity work in "India,
Africa and other countries."

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(Laughter)

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So, after I had spent some years
in the U.S. as an African,

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I began to understand
my roommate's response to me.

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If I had not grown up in Nigeria,

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and if all I knew about Africa
were from popular images,

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I too would think that Africa
was a place of beautiful landscapes,

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beautiful animals,

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and incomprehensible people,

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fighting senseless wars,
dying of poverty and AIDS,

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unable to speak for themselves

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and waiting to be saved
by a kind, white foreigner.

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I would see Africans
in the same way that I,

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as a child, had seen Fide's family.

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This single story of Africa ultimately
comes, I think, from Western literature.

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Now, here is a quote from the writing
of a London merchant called John Lok,

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who sailed to west Africa in 1561

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and kept a fascinating
account of his voyage.

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After referring to the black Africans
as "beasts who have no houses,"

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he writes, "They are also
people without heads,

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having their mouth and eyes
in their breasts."

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Now, I've laughed
every time I've read this.

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And one must admire
the imagination of John Lok.

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But what is important about his writing

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is that it represents the beginning

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of a tradition of telling
African stories in the West:

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A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa
as a place of negatives,

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of difference, of darkness,

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of people who, in the words
of the wonderful poet Rudyard Kipling,

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are "half devil, half child."

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And so, I began to realize
that my American roommate

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must have throughout her life

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seen and heard different versions
of this single story,

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as had a professor,

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who once told me that my novel
was not "authentically African."

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Now, I was quite willing to contend

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that there were a number of things
wrong with the novel,

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that it had failed in a number of places,

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but I had not quite imagined
that it had failed

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at achieving something
called African authenticity.

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In fact, I did not know
what African authenticity was.

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The professor told me that my characters
were too much like him,

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an educated and middle-class man.

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My characters drove cars.

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They were not starving.

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Therefore they were not
authentically African.

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But I must quickly add
that I too am just as guilty

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in the question of the single story.

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A few years ago,
I visited Mexico from the U.S.

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The political climate in the U.S.
at the time was tense,

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and there were debates going on
about immigration.

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And, as often happens in America,

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immigration became
synonymous with Mexicans.

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There were endless stories of Mexicans

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as people who were
fleecing the healthcare system,

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sneaking across the border,

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being arrested at the border,
that sort of thing.

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I remember walking around
on my first day in Guadalajara,

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watching the people going to work,

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rolling up tortillas in the marketplace,

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smoking, laughing.

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I remember first feeling slight surprise.

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And then, I was overwhelmed with shame.

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I realized that I had been so immersed
in the media coverage of Mexicans

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that they had become one thing in my mind,

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the abject immigrant.

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I had bought into
the single story of Mexicans

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and I could not have
been more ashamed of myself.

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So that is how to create a single story,

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show a people as one thing,

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as only one thing,

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over and over again,

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and that is what they become.

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It is impossible to talk
about the single story

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without talking about power.

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There is a word, an Igbo word,

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that I think about whenever I think about
the power structures of the world,

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and it is "nkali."

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It's a noun that loosely translates
to "to be greater than another."

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Like our economic and political worlds,

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stories too are defined
by the principle of nkali:

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How they are told, who tells them,

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when they're told,
how many stories are told,

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are really dependent on power.

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Power is the ability not just to tell
the story of another person,

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but to make it the definitive
story of that person.

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The Palestinian poet
Mourid Barghouti writes

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that if you want to dispossess a people,

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the simplest way to do it
is to tell their story

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and to start with, "secondly."

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Start the story with the arrows
of the Native Americans,

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and not with the arrival of the British,

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and you have an entirely different story.

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Start the story with
the failure of the African state,

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and not with the colonial
creation of the African state,

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and you have an entirely different story.

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I recently spoke at a university

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where a student told me
that it was such a shame

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that Nigerian men were physical abusers

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like the father character in my novel.

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I told him that I had just read a novel
called "American Psycho" --

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(Laughter)

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-- and that it was such a shame

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that young Americans
were serial murderers.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Now, obviously I said this
in a fit of mild irritation.

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(Laughter)

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But it would never have
occurred to me to think

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that just because I had read a novel
in which a character was a serial killer

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that he was somehow
representative of all Americans.

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This is not because I am
a better person than that student,

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but because of America's cultural
and economic power,

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I had many stories of America.

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I had read Tyler and Updike
and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.

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I did not have a single story of America.

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When I learned, some years ago,

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that writers were expected
to have had really unhappy childhoods

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to be successful,

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I began to think about how I could invent
horrible things my parents had done to me.

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(Laughter)

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But the truth is that I had
a very happy childhood,

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full of laughter and love,
in a very close-knit family.

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But I also had grandfathers
who died in refugee camps.

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My cousin Polle died because
he could not get adequate healthcare.

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One of my closest friends,
Okoloma, died in a plane crash

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because our fire trucks
did not have water.

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I grew up under repressive
military governments

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that devalued education,

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so that sometimes, my parents
were not paid their salaries.

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And so, as a child, I saw jam
disappear from the breakfast table,

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then margarine disappeared,

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then bread became too expensive,

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then milk became rationed.

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And most of all, a kind
of normalized political fear

00:12:47.185 --> 00:12:48.867 align:center
invaded our lives.

00:12:50.327 --> 00:12:52.464 align:center
All of these stories make me who I am.

00:12:52.961 --> 00:12:56.480 align:center
But to insist on only
these negative stories

00:12:56.504 --> 00:12:59.480 align:center
is to flatten my experience

00:12:59.504 --> 00:13:03.168 align:center
and to overlook the many other
stories that formed me.

00:13:03.898 --> 00:13:06.480 align:center
The single story creates stereotypes,

00:13:06.504 --> 00:13:11.480 align:center
and the problem with stereotypes
is not that they are untrue,

00:13:11.504 --> 00:13:13.480 align:center
but that they are incomplete.

00:13:13.861 --> 00:13:16.464 align:center
They make one story become the only story.

00:13:17.504 --> 00:13:20.076 align:center
Of course, Africa is a continent
full of catastrophes:

00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:23.480 align:center
There are immense ones,
such as the horrific rapes in Congo

00:13:23.504 --> 00:13:25.130 align:center
and depressing ones,

00:13:25.154 --> 00:13:29.654 align:center
such as the fact that 5,000 people apply
for one job vacancy in Nigeria.

00:13:30.504 --> 00:13:34.067 align:center
But there are other stories
that are not about catastrophe,

00:13:34.091 --> 00:13:37.480 align:center
and it is very important, it is just
as important, to talk about them.

00:13:37.504 --> 00:13:39.480 align:center
I've always felt that it is impossible

00:13:39.504 --> 00:13:42.480 align:center
to engage properly
with a place or a person

00:13:42.504 --> 00:13:46.480 align:center
without engaging with all of the stories
of that place and that person.

00:13:46.504 --> 00:13:50.084 align:center
The consequence
of the single story is this:

00:13:50.108 --> 00:13:52.065 align:center
It robs people of dignity.

00:13:52.836 --> 00:13:56.480 align:center
It makes our recognition
of our equal humanity difficult.

00:13:56.504 --> 00:14:00.668 align:center
It emphasizes how we are different
rather than how we are similar.

00:14:01.504 --> 00:14:03.993 align:center
So what if before my Mexican trip,

00:14:04.017 --> 00:14:07.480 align:center
I had followed the immigration
debate from both sides,

00:14:07.504 --> 00:14:09.480 align:center
the U.S. and the Mexican?

00:14:09.504 --> 00:14:13.480 align:center
What if my mother had told us
that Fide's family was poor

00:14:13.504 --> 00:14:15.480 align:center
and hardworking?

00:14:15.504 --> 00:14:17.600 align:center
What if we had an African
television network

00:14:17.624 --> 00:14:21.480 align:center
that broadcast diverse
African stories all over the world?

00:14:21.504 --> 00:14:25.835 align:center
What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe
calls "a balance of stories."

00:14:25.859 --> 00:14:29.835 align:center
What if my roommate knew
about my Nigerian publisher,

00:14:29.859 --> 00:14:31.480 align:center
Muhtar Bakare,

00:14:31.504 --> 00:14:33.552 align:center
a remarkable man who left
his job in a bank

00:14:33.576 --> 00:14:36.481 align:center
to follow his dream
and start a publishing house?

00:14:36.505 --> 00:14:40.192 align:center
Now, the conventional wisdom
was that Nigerians don't read literature.

00:14:40.216 --> 00:14:41.470 align:center
He disagreed.

00:14:41.494 --> 00:14:44.580 align:center
He felt that people
who could read, would read,

00:14:44.604 --> 00:14:48.480 align:center
if you made literature affordable
and available to them.

00:14:49.170 --> 00:14:51.480 align:center
Shortly after he published my first novel,

00:14:51.504 --> 00:14:54.480 align:center
I went to a TV station
in Lagos to do an interview,

00:14:54.504 --> 00:14:57.695 align:center
and a woman who worked there
as a messenger came up to me and said,

00:14:57.719 --> 00:15:00.480 align:center
"I really liked your novel.
I didn't like the ending.

00:15:00.504 --> 00:15:03.743 align:center
Now, you must write a sequel,
and this is what will happen ..."

00:15:03.767 --> 00:15:06.481 align:center
(Laughter)

00:15:06.505 --> 00:15:09.481 align:center
And she went on to tell me
what to write in the sequel.

00:15:10.068 --> 00:15:12.480 align:center
I was not only charmed, I was very moved.

00:15:12.504 --> 00:15:15.480 align:center
Here was a woman, part of the ordinary
masses of Nigerians,

00:15:15.504 --> 00:15:17.507 align:center
who were not supposed to be readers.

00:15:18.405 --> 00:15:20.029 align:center
She had not only read the book,

00:15:20.053 --> 00:15:21.862 align:center
but she had taken ownership of it

00:15:21.886 --> 00:15:24.989 align:center
and felt justified in telling me
what to write in the sequel.

00:15:26.084 --> 00:15:29.480 align:center
Now, what if my roommate knew
about my friend Funmi Iyanda,

00:15:29.504 --> 00:15:32.480 align:center
a fearless woman who hosts
a TV show in Lagos,

00:15:32.504 --> 00:15:35.504 align:center
and is determined to tell the stories
that we prefer to forget?

00:15:36.199 --> 00:15:39.480 align:center
What if my roommate knew
about the heart procedure

00:15:39.504 --> 00:15:42.480 align:center
that was performed in the Lagos
hospital last week?

00:15:42.504 --> 00:15:46.480 align:center
What if my roommate knew
about contemporary Nigerian music,

00:15:46.504 --> 00:15:49.480 align:center
talented people singing
in English and Pidgin,

00:15:49.504 --> 00:15:51.480 align:center
and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo,

00:15:51.504 --> 00:15:55.480 align:center
mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela

00:15:55.504 --> 00:15:57.686 align:center
to Bob Marley to their grandfathers.

00:15:58.504 --> 00:16:00.743 align:center
What if my roommate knew
about the female lawyer

00:16:00.767 --> 00:16:04.480 align:center
who recently went to court in Nigeria
to challenge a ridiculous law

00:16:04.504 --> 00:16:07.480 align:center
that required women to get
their husband's consent

00:16:07.504 --> 00:16:10.480 align:center
before renewing their passports?

00:16:10.504 --> 00:16:13.480 align:center
What if my roommate knew about Nollywood,

00:16:13.504 --> 00:16:17.884 align:center
full of innovative people making
films despite great technical odds,

00:16:17.908 --> 00:16:19.480 align:center
films so popular

00:16:19.504 --> 00:16:24.480 align:center
that they really are the best example
of Nigerians consuming what they produce?

00:16:24.504 --> 00:16:27.790 align:center
What if my roommate knew about
my wonderfully ambitious hair braider,

00:16:27.814 --> 00:16:31.480 align:center
who has just started her own business
selling hair extensions?

00:16:31.504 --> 00:16:35.480 align:center
Or about the millions of other Nigerians
who start businesses and sometimes fail,

00:16:35.504 --> 00:16:38.442 align:center
but continue to nurse ambition?

00:16:39.504 --> 00:16:41.480 align:center
Every time I am home I am confronted

00:16:41.504 --> 00:16:44.480 align:center
with the usual sources of irritation
for most Nigerians:

00:16:44.504 --> 00:16:47.948 align:center
our failed infrastructure,
our failed government,

00:16:47.972 --> 00:16:50.027 align:center
but also by the incredible resilience

00:16:50.051 --> 00:16:53.480 align:center
of people who thrive
despite the government,

00:16:53.504 --> 00:16:54.765 align:center
rather than because of it.

00:16:55.877 --> 00:16:58.480 align:center
I teach writing workshops
in Lagos every summer,

00:16:58.504 --> 00:17:01.480 align:center
and it is amazing to me
how many people apply,

00:17:01.504 --> 00:17:04.480 align:center
how many people are eager to write,

00:17:04.504 --> 00:17:05.890 align:center
to tell stories.

00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:09.802 align:center
My Nigerian publisher and I
have just started a non-profit

00:17:09.826 --> 00:17:11.480 align:center
called Farafina Trust,

00:17:11.504 --> 00:17:14.480 align:center
and we have big dreams
of building libraries

00:17:14.504 --> 00:17:16.647 align:center
and refurbishing libraries
that already exist

00:17:16.671 --> 00:17:19.480 align:center
and providing books for state schools

00:17:19.504 --> 00:17:21.600 align:center
that don't have anything
in their libraries,

00:17:21.624 --> 00:17:24.005 align:center
and also of organizing lots
and lots of workshops,

00:17:24.029 --> 00:17:25.480 align:center
in reading and writing,

00:17:25.504 --> 00:17:28.703 align:center
for all the people who are eager
to tell our many stories.

00:17:28.830 --> 00:17:30.480 align:center
Stories matter.

00:17:30.504 --> 00:17:32.480 align:center
Many stories matter.

00:17:32.504 --> 00:17:36.480 align:center
Stories have been used
to dispossess and to malign,

00:17:36.504 --> 00:17:40.480 align:center
but stories can also be used
to empower and to humanize.

00:17:41.146 --> 00:17:43.480 align:center
Stories can break the dignity of a people,

00:17:43.504 --> 00:17:47.207 align:center
but stories can also repair
that broken dignity.

00:17:48.504 --> 00:17:50.552 align:center
The American writer
Alice Walker wrote this

00:17:50.576 --> 00:17:54.480 align:center
about her Southern relatives
who had moved to the North.

00:17:54.504 --> 00:17:56.480 align:center
She introduced them to a book about

00:17:56.504 --> 00:17:58.572 align:center
the Southern life
that they had left behind.

00:18:00.096 --> 00:18:03.480 align:center
"They sat around,
reading the book themselves,

00:18:03.504 --> 00:18:09.032 align:center
listening to me read the book,
and a kind of paradise was regained."

00:18:10.083 --> 00:18:12.945 align:center
I would like to end with this thought:

00:18:12.969 --> 00:18:15.480 align:center
That when we reject the single story,

00:18:15.504 --> 00:18:18.480 align:center
when we realize that
there is never a single story

00:18:18.504 --> 00:18:20.945 align:center
about any place,

00:18:20.969 --> 00:18:22.480 align:center
we regain a kind of paradise.

00:18:23.199 --> 00:18:24.321 align:center
Thank you.

00:18:24.345 --> 00:18:27.345 align:center
(Applause)