Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk on the danger of a single story is perhaps my favorite TED talk. She speaks of the numerous biases that exist in society that had only shown her certain popular perspectives and narratives, rather than the whole picture. She speaks through a lens of intersectionality – both in terms of the biases that exist against her as an African woman, and the biases that she had learnt growing up as in a middle-class Nigerian family. She uses these experiences to connect to the broader narratives surrounding Africa and the West’s perception of it. Her overarching message throughout her numerous personal anecdotes and examples is that our tendency to focus on the negative parts of any society leads us to create negative stereotypes of the people within those societies. Adichie implores us to hear the whole stories of people, expressing our similarities and differences alike. I personally enjoyed the dry humor she uses throughout the speech, since it makes it far more memorable.
One potential idea for an evolving ideas essay could be the topic of feminism. With the different waves of feminism as well as different subsets (radical feminism, intersectional, etc.), it could make for a very good paper.
I think that this was a nice read, it was short, simple, and straight to the point. I am interested in hearing your opinions on the different waves of feminism, particularly radical feminism.
A paper on different subsets of feminism is definitely an excellent idea. I think we all, as a society, need to be a bit more conscience of the different stereotypes we have of different people, their identity, their race etc. It might just be the first step to ending discrimination in all its forms.
I think you have a great topic in feminism because it has undeniably changed in major ways in recent years. I believe feminism grew to prominence relatively recently, and that is further testament to its rapid change. I think such rapid change signifies that there are abundant examples you could select as evidence for essay sections about various catalysts of change.
I like how the TED talk you posted also correlates with your topic on feminism. I’m curious to see how you formulate your speech and how feminism as a whole evolved to become something bigger. Nicely done!