[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm a storyteller.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.00,0:00:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I would like to tell you a few personal stories
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.00,0:00:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.00,0:00:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.00,0:00:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mother says that I started reading at the age of two,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.00,0:00:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,although I think four is probably close to the truth.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.00,0:00:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I was an early reader, and what I read
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.00,0:00:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were British and American children's books.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.00,0:00:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was also an early writer,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.00,0:00:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.00,0:00:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stories in pencil with crayon illustrations
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.00,0:00:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that my poor mother was obligated to read,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.00,0:00:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.00,0:00:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All my characters were white and blue-eyed,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.00,0:00:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they played in the snow,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.00,0:00:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they ate apples,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.00,0:00:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they talked a lot about the weather,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.00,0:00:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how lovely it was
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.00,0:00:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the sun had come out.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.00,0:01:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.00,0:01:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.00,0:01:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had never been outside Nigeria.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.00,0:01:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.00,0:01:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we never talked about the weather,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.00,0:01:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there was no need to.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.00,0:01:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.00,0:01:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the characters in the British books I read
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.00,0:01:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,drank ginger beer.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.00,0:01:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.00,0:01:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.00,0:01:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.00,0:01:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to taste ginger beer.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.00,0:01:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that is another story.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.00,0:01:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What this demonstrates, I think,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.00,0:01:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is how impressionable and vulnerable we are
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.00,0:01:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the face of a story,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.00,0:01:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,particularly as children.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.00,0:01:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because all I had read were books
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.00,0:01:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which characters were foreign,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.00,0:01:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had become convinced that books
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.00,0:01:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by their very nature had to have foreigners in them
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.00,0:01:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and had to be about things with which
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.00,0:01:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I could not personally identify.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.00,0:01:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Things changed when I discovered African books.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.00,0:02:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There weren't many of them available, and they weren't
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.00,0:02:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quite as easy to find as the foreign books.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.00,0:02:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.00,0:02:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I went through a mental shift in my perception
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.00,0:02:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.00,0:02:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realized that people like me,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.00,0:02:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,girls with skin the color of chocolate,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.00,0:02:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.00,0:02:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could also exist in literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.00,0:02:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started to write about things I recognized.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.00,0:02:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I loved those American and British books I read.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.00,0:02:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They stirred my imagination. They opened up new worlds for me.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.00,0:02:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the unintended consequence
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.00,0:02:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that I did not know that people like me
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.00,0:02:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could exist in literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.00,0:02:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.00,0:02:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It saved me from having a single story
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.00,0:02:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what books are.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.00,0:02:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.00,0:02:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My father was a professor.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.00,0:02:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mother was an administrator.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.00,0:02:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we had, as was the norm,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.00,0:03:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.00,0:03:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the year I turned eight we got a new house boy.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.00,0:03:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His name was Fide.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.00,0:03:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only thing my mother told us about him
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.00,0:03:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that his family was very poor.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.00,0:03:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mother sent yams and rice,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.00,0:03:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and our old clothes, to his family.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.00,0:03:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when I didn't finish my dinner my mother would say,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.00,0:03:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Finish your food! Don't you know? People like Fide's family have nothing."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.00,0:03:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.00,0:03:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.00,0:03:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.00,0:03:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.00,0:03:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was startled.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.00,0:03:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.00,0:03:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could actually make something.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.00,0:03:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All I had heard about them was how poor they were,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.00,0:03:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that it had become impossible for me to see them
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.00,0:03:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as anything else but poor.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.00,0:04:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their poverty was my single story of them.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.00,0:04:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.00,0:04:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to go to university in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.00,0:04:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was 19.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.00,0:04:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My American roommate was shocked by me.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.00,0:04:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.00,0:04:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was confused when I said that Nigeria
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.00,0:04:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,happened to have English as its official language.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.00,0:04:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music,"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.00,0:04:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was consequently very disappointed
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.00,0:04:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.00,0:04:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.00,0:04:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She assumed that I did not know how
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.00,0:04:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to use a stove.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.00,0:04:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.00,0:04:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even before she saw me.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.00,0:04:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her default position toward me, as an African,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.00,0:04:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.00,0:04:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My roommate had a single story of Africa:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.00,0:04:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a single story of catastrophe.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.00,0:04:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this single story there was no possibility
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.00,0:05:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Africans being similar to her in any way,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.00,0:05:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no possibility of feelings more complex than pity,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.00,0:05:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no possibility of a connection as human equals.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.00,0:05:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I must say that before I went to the U.S. I didn't
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.00,0:05:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,consciously identify as African.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.00,0:05:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the U.S. whenever Africa came up people turned to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.00,0:05:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.00,0:05:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I did come to embrace this new identity,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.00,0:05:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in many ways I think of myself now as African.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.00,0:05:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although I still get quite irritable when
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.00,0:05:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Africa is referred to as a country,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:30.00,0:05:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.00,0:05:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Lagos two days ago, in which
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.00,0:05:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was an announcement on the Virgin flight
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.00,0:05:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.00,0:05:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:05:44.00,0:05:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.00,0:05:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I began to understand my roommate's response to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.00,0:05:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.00,0:05:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were from popular images,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.00,0:06:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I too would think that Africa was a place of
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.00,0:06:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.00,0:06:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and incomprehensible people,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.00,0:06:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.00,0:06:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unable to speak for themselves
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.00,0:06:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and waiting to be saved
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.00,0:06:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by a kind, white foreigner.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.00,0:06:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would see Africans in the same way that I,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.00,0:06:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a child, had seen Fide's family.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.00,0:06:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.00,0:06:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, here is a quote from
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.00,0:06:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the writing of a London merchant called John Locke,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.00,0:06:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who sailed to west Africa in 1561
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.00,0:06:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.00,0:06:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After referring to the black Africans
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.00,0:06:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as "beasts who have no houses,"
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.00,0:06:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he writes, "They are also people without heads,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:48.00,0:06:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.00,0:06:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I've laughed every time I've read this.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.00,0:06:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one must admire the imagination of John Locke.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.00,0:07:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what is important about his writing is that
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.00,0:07:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it represents the beginning
Dialogue: 0,0:07:03.00,0:07:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a tradition of telling African stories in the West:
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.00,0:07:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.00,0:07:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of difference, of darkness,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.00,0:07:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.00,0:07:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rudyard Kipling,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.00,0:07:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are "half devil, half child."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.00,0:07:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I began to realize that my American roommate
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.00,0:07:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,must have throughout her life
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.00,0:07:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seen and heard different versions
Dialogue: 0,0:07:27.00,0:07:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of this single story,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.00,0:07:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as had a professor,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.00,0:07:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.00,0:07:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I was quite willing to contend that there were a number of things
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.00,0:07:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wrong with the novel,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:40.00,0:07:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it had failed in a number of places,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:44.00,0:07:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I had not quite imagined that it had failed
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.00,0:07:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at achieving something called African authenticity.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.00,0:07:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact I did not know what
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.00,0:07:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,African authenticity was.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.00,0:07:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The professor told me that my characters
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.00,0:07:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were too much like him,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.00,0:08:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an educated and middle-class man.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.00,0:08:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My characters drove cars.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.00,0:08:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were not starving.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.00,0:08:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Therefore they were not authentically African.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.00,0:08:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.00,0:08:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the question of the single story.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.00,0:08:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.00,0:08:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.00,0:08:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there were debates going on about immigration.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.00,0:08:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, as often happens in America,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.00,0:08:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,immigration became synonymous with Mexicans.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.00,0:08:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were endless stories of Mexicans
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.00,0:08:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as people who were
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.00,0:08:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fleecing the healthcare system,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.00,0:08:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sneaking across the border,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.00,0:08:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.00,0:08:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember walking around on my first day in Guadalajara,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.00,0:08:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,watching the people going to work,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.00,0:08:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rolling up tortillas in the marketplace,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.00,0:08:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,smoking, laughing.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.00,0:08:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember first feeling slight surprise.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.00,0:08:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then I was overwhelmed with shame.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:59.00,0:09:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realized that I had been so immersed
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.00,0:09:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the media coverage of Mexicans
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.00,0:09:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they had become one thing in my mind,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.00,0:09:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the abject immigrant.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.00,0:09:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had bought into the single story of Mexicans
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.00,0:09:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I could not have been more ashamed of myself.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.00,0:09:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that is how to create a single story,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.00,0:09:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,show a people as one thing,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.00,0:09:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as only one thing,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.00,0:09:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over and over again,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.00,0:09:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that is what they become.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.00,0:09:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is impossible to talk about the single story
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.00,0:09:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without talking about power.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.00,0:09:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is a word, an Igbo word,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:33.00,0:09:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I think about whenever I think about
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.00,0:09:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the power structures of the world, and it is "nkali."
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.00,0:09:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a noun that loosely translates
Dialogue: 0,0:09:40.00,0:09:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to "to be greater than another."
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.00,0:09:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like our economic and political worlds,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.00,0:09:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stories too are defined
Dialogue: 0,0:09:48.00,0:09:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the principle of nkali:
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.00,0:09:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How they are told, who tells them,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.00,0:09:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they're told, how many stories are told,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.00,0:10:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are really dependent on power.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.00,0:10:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:03.00,0:10:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to make it the definitive story of that person.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:07.00,0:10:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes
Dialogue: 0,0:10:09.00,0:10:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that if you want to dispossess a people,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:12.00,0:10:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the simplest way to do it is to tell their story
Dialogue: 0,0:10:15.00,0:10:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to start with, "secondly."
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.00,0:10:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.00,0:10:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not with the arrival of the British,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.00,0:10:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have an entirely different story.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.00,0:10:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Start the story with
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.00,0:10:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the failure of the African state,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.00,0:10:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not with the colonial creation of the African state,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.00,0:10:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have an entirely different story.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.00,0:10:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I recently spoke at a university where
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.00,0:10:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a student told me that it was
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.00,0:10:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,such a shame
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.00,0:10:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Nigerian men were physical abusers
Dialogue: 0,0:10:49.00,0:10:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the father character in my novel.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.00,0:10:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I told him that I had just read a novel
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.00,0:10:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called American Psycho --
Dialogue: 0,0:10:56.00,0:10:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.00,0:11:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- and that it was such a shame
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.00,0:11:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that young Americans were serial murderers.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:03.00,0:11:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:07.00,0:11:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.00,0:11:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:16.00,0:11:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:18.00,0:11:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it would never have occurred to me to think
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.00,0:11:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that just because I had read a novel
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.00,0:11:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which a character was a serial killer
Dialogue: 0,0:11:24.00,0:11:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he was somehow representative
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.00,0:11:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of all Americans.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.00,0:11:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is not because I am a better person than that student,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:31.00,0:11:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but because of America's cultural and economic power,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.00,0:11:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had many stories of America.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.00,0:11:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.00,0:11:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I did not have a single story of America.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.00,0:11:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I learned, some years ago, that writers were expected
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.00,0:11:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to have had really unhappy childhoods
Dialogue: 0,0:11:50.00,0:11:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be successful,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:52.00,0:11:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I began to think about how I could invent
Dialogue: 0,0:11:54.00,0:11:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,horrible things my parents had done to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.00,0:11:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:58.00,0:12:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the truth is that I had a very happy childhood,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.00,0:12:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,full of laughter and love, in a very close-knit family.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:05.00,0:12:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I also had grandfathers who died in refugee camps.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.00,0:12:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My cousin Polle died because he could not get adequate healthcare.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:13.00,0:12:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a plane crash
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.00,0:12:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because our fire trucks did not have water.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.00,0:12:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I grew up under repressive military governments
Dialogue: 0,0:12:22.00,0:12:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that devalued education,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.00,0:12:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that sometimes my parents were not paid their salaries.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:27.00,0:12:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.00,0:12:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then margarine disappeared,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:33.00,0:12:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then bread became too expensive,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:36.00,0:12:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then milk became rationed.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:39.00,0:12:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And most of all, a kind of normalized political fear
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.00,0:12:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,invaded our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.00,0:12:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of these stories make me who I am.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:48.00,0:12:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But to insist on only these negative stories
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.00,0:12:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to flatten my experience
Dialogue: 0,0:12:55.00,0:12:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to overlook the many other stories
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.00,0:12:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that formed me.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:59.00,0:13:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The single story creates stereotypes,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:02.00,0:13:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the problem with stereotypes
Dialogue: 0,0:13:05.00,0:13:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not that they are untrue,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:07.00,0:13:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that they are incomplete.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:09.00,0:13:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They make one story become the only story.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:13.00,0:13:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:15.00,0:13:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are immense ones, such as the horrific rapes in Congo
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.00,0:13:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and depressing ones, such as the fact that
Dialogue: 0,0:13:21.00,0:13:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,5,000 people apply for one job vacancy in Nigeria.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.00,0:13:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:29.00,0:13:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:33.00,0:13:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've always felt that it is impossible
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.00,0:13:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to engage properly with a place or a person
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.00,0:13:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:42.00,0:13:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The consequence of the single story
Dialogue: 0,0:13:45.00,0:13:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is this: It robs people of dignity.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.00,0:13:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:52.00,0:13:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It emphasizes how we are different
Dialogue: 0,0:13:55.00,0:13:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rather than how we are similar.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.00,0:13:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what if before my Mexican trip
Dialogue: 0,0:13:59.00,0:14:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had followed the immigration debate from both sides,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.00,0:14:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the U.S. and the Mexican?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:05.00,0:14:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my mother had told us that Fide's family was poor
Dialogue: 0,0:14:09.00,0:14:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and hardworking?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.00,0:14:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if we had an African television network
Dialogue: 0,0:14:13.00,0:14:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:17.00,0:14:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls
Dialogue: 0,0:14:19.00,0:14:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"a balance of stories."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:22.00,0:14:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.00,0:14:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mukta Bakaray,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:27.00,0:14:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a remarkable man who left his job in a bank
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.00,0:14:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to follow his dream and start a publishing house?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.00,0:14:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, the conventional wisdom was that Nigerians don't read literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.00,0:14:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He disagreed. He felt
Dialogue: 0,0:14:38.00,0:14:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that people who could read, would read,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:40.00,0:14:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you made literature affordable and available to them.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:44.00,0:14:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shortly after he published my first novel
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.00,0:14:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I went to a TV station in Lagos to do an interview,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.00,0:14:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a woman who worked there as a messenger came up to me and said,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:53.00,0:14:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I really liked your novel. I didn't like the ending.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.00,0:14:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now you must write a sequel, and this is what will happen ..."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:59.00,0:15:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:15:02.00,0:15:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And she went on to tell me what to write in the sequel.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:05.00,0:15:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was not only charmed, I was very moved.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:08.00,0:15:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here was a woman, part of the ordinary masses of Nigerians,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.00,0:15:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were not supposed to be readers.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:14.00,0:15:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She had not only read the book, but she had taken ownership of it
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.00,0:15:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and felt justified in telling me
Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.00,0:15:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what to write in the sequel.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.00,0:15:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, what if my roommate knew about my friend Fumi Onda,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:25.00,0:15:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a fearless woman who hosts a TV show in Lagos,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:28.00,0:15:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.00,0:15:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about the heart procedure
Dialogue: 0,0:15:35.00,0:15:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was performed in the Lagos hospital last week?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.00,0:15:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about contemporary Nigerian music,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.00,0:15:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talented people singing in English and Pidgin,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:45.00,0:15:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:47.00,0:15:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela
Dialogue: 0,0:15:51.00,0:15:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to Bob Marley to their grandfathers.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:54.00,0:15:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about the female lawyer
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.00,0:15:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who recently went to court in Nigeria
Dialogue: 0,0:15:58.00,0:16:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to challenge a ridiculous law
Dialogue: 0,0:16:00.00,0:16:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that required women to get their husband's consent
Dialogue: 0,0:16:03.00,0:16:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before renewing their passports?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:06.00,0:16:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about Nollywood,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:09.00,0:16:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,full of innovative people making films despite great technical odds,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.00,0:16:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,films so popular
Dialogue: 0,0:16:15.00,0:16:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they really are the best example
Dialogue: 0,0:16:17.00,0:16:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Nigerians consuming what they produce?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:20.00,0:16:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What if my roommate knew about my wonderfully ambitious hair braider,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:23.00,0:16:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who has just started her own business selling hair extensions?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:27.00,0:16:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or about the millions of other Nigerians
Dialogue: 0,0:16:29.00,0:16:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who start businesses and sometimes fail,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.00,0:16:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but continue to nurse ambition?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.00,0:16:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every time I am home I am confronted with
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.00,0:16:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the usual sources of irritation for most Nigerians:
Dialogue: 0,0:16:40.00,0:16:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our failed infrastructure, our failed government,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:43.00,0:16:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also by the incredible resilience of people who
Dialogue: 0,0:16:46.00,0:16:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thrive despite the government,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:49.00,0:16:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rather than because of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:51.00,0:16:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I teach writing workshops in Lagos every summer,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.00,0:16:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is amazing to me how many people apply,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.00,0:17:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how many people are eager to write,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.00,0:17:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to tell stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:02.00,0:17:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit
Dialogue: 0,0:17:05.00,0:17:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called Farafina Trust,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.00,0:17:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we have big dreams of building libraries
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.00,0:17:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and refurbishing libraries that already exist
Dialogue: 0,0:17:12.00,0:17:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and providing books for state schools
Dialogue: 0,0:17:15.00,0:17:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that don't have anything in their libraries,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:17.00,0:17:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also of organizing lots and lots of workshops,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:19.00,0:17:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in reading and writing,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:21.00,0:17:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:24.00,0:17:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stories matter.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.00,0:17:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many stories matter.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:28.00,0:17:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:32.00,0:17:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:36.00,0:17:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stories can break the dignity of a people,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:39.00,0:17:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but stories can also repair that broken dignity.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:44.00,0:17:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The American writer Alice Walker wrote this
Dialogue: 0,0:17:46.00,0:17:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about her Southern relatives
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.00,0:17:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who had moved to the North.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:50.00,0:17:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She introduced them to a book about
Dialogue: 0,0:17:52.00,0:17:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Southern life that they had left behind:
Dialogue: 0,0:17:55.00,0:17:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"They sat around, reading the book themselves,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:59.00,0:18:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,listening to me read the book, and a kind of paradise was regained."
Dialogue: 0,0:18:05.00,0:18:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would like to end with this thought:
Dialogue: 0,0:18:08.00,0:18:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That when we reject the single story,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:11.00,0:18:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we realize that there is never a single story
Dialogue: 0,0:18:14.00,0:18:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about any place,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.00,0:18:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we regain a kind of paradise.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:18.00,0:18:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.00,0:18:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)