Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's phenomenal 2009 TED Talk, "The Danger of A Single Story," is just simply that: phenomenal. With over seven million views on TED website alone it represents one of TED's most popular talks.
Every now and then friends and acquaintances from around the world watch the video and, knowing my passion for Africa, send me a link, wondering if I have seen the video and what's my take on it. My response is always, "amazing," "phenomenal." And then I'm prompted to watch the video again, relieving the joy of having a sister tell her African story with pride and joy in her Africanness.
As I watched the video the umpteenth time this morning, I was struck anew by Adichie's insightful location of power at the root of telling a single story. She emphasizes that "it's impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power." Using nkali, an Igbo noun that loosely translates as "to be greater than another" to illustrate this power structure, Adichie brilliantly points out, "power is the ability not just to tell a single story of a person, but to make it the definitive story about that person."
