Question

• What does Adichie mean when she talks about a ‘single story?’ In other words, what is a ‘single story?’
• Give two examples (from her lecture) of people who had a ‘single story’ about someone or someplace else.
• According to Adichie, what is the danger of a single story?

Answer 1

Chimamanda’s purpose is not to scold her audience for a lack of knowledge, but rather to explain that these misunderstandings and limited perspective are universal. By opening with her own admission in the tale about Fide and his family’s poverty, she opens herself to the criticism of this talk. It makes her a more human narrator, and also adds humor to the story in a way that helps the audience feel like she is a close friend, not merely an lecturer.

In your own presentations, show vulnerability. Make yourself relatable to the audience by describing a time when you didn’t have your business plan figured out, or perhaps a time that you’ve struggled with in the past. A human experience is a flawed experience.

The purpose of this talk is to encourage us to broaden the scope of stories we consume about other people and cultures. But this isn’t a high level talk that spells out why this is important using stats and facts; it speaks to the heart by using storytelling examples.

Listening to the talk, Chimamanda uses around ten different smaller stories to share the core message itself. All of them fit beautifully together, combing her personal experience as a Nigerian in America as well as her Nigerian experience with its own limitations in literature and so on. If you want to make your presentation compelling, use storytelling to show your audience what you mean, don’t just tell them what they should do or know.

The purpose of this talk is to encourage us to broaden the scope of stories we consume about other people and cultures. But this isn’t a high level talk that spells out why this is important using stats and facts; it speaks to the heart by using storytelling examples.

Listening to the talk, Chimamanda uses around ten different smaller stories to share the core message itself. All of them fit beautifully together, combing her personal experience as a Nigerian in America as well as her Nigerian experience with its own limitations in literature and so on. If you want to make your presentation compelling, use storytelling to show your audience what you mean, don’t just tell them what they should do or know.

The quote above is from the final lines of Chimamanda’s talk. Because it encourages us to seek out alternative stories, it’s a call to action that both beautifully summarizes her message as well as motivates the audience to perhaps read some of the writers she had mentioned like Chinua Achebe or Camara Laye. It’s also open ended enough to be interpreted in different ways; maybe the audience has a book lying around in their bedroom they just haven’t been motivated to read yet. Or maybe the audience could be interested in reading something by the speaker herself.

A call to action like this is not as specifically actionable as “read this one thing,” but it marries perfectly with her message. There isn’t just one right way to become a global reader; the purpose is simply to open yourself up to stories from all places.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” isn’t just a culturally relevant and moving talk, it also perfectly illustrates the power of storytelling within a presentation itself. What would her talk have been like without the examples stories pulled from her own life? For speakers who wish to capture this compelling style, personal storytelling must and should come first.