I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies TED talk "The danger of a single story", som har været brugt til en digital skriftlig eksamen i Engelsk A på STX fra 21. august 2015. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde idéer til diskussion og perspektivering.
Eksamensspørgsmål
Write an analytical essay (800-1200 words) in which you analyse Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk “The danger of a single story” and discuss the issue of cultural ignorance.
Part of your essay must focus on how Adichie engages the audience and on her use of the term ‘a single story’.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “The danger of a single story” (2009)
Afsender: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: TED talk
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (b. 1977) er en nigeriansk forfatter. Hun er en kendt feminist, som har gjort et stort arbejde i forhold til formidling af afrikansk litteratur. Hendes værker afspejler hendes interesse i afrikansk kultur, især i forhold til kvindernes position i samfundet. Hun er internationalt anerkendt og har modtaget adskillige litterære priser for sit arbejde.
Adichies TED talk "The danger of a single story" blev holdt på en officiel TED konference i juli 2009.
Du kan lytte til talen her.
Mere hjælp
Har du brug for yderligere hjælp, kan du læse Studienets vejledning til at skrive analytical essays:
Vejledning til analytical essay
Få hjælp til at skrive et analytical essay i Engelsk med Studienets trin-for-trin vejledning. Vejledningen kan både bruges til opgaver inden for fiction og non-fiction.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du se et kort uddrag fra vores study guide til teksten:
Title
The title of the TED talk “The danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reflects on the fact that stories can be used to mislead and dehumanise people. In her speech, Adichie states that “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar” (ll. 81-83). Stories change the way in which people think and feel about certain topics or events.
In the case of African culture, single-narrative stories (usually created by non-Africans) lead foreigners to develop a false image of Africa as a single country with beautiful flora and fauna but burdened by poverty and civil unrest. These stories also present African people as primitive and uneducated. Other single stories may leave out relevant historical facts, such as the negative effects of colonisation: “Start the story with the failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story” (ll. 73-75). African countries are often represented as poor and lacking a strong culture. However, these stories leave out the fact that, during colonial rule, many African countries were exploited for their resources, and Western culture and Christianity were forcibly imposed onto the native population, diminishing the local customs and beliefs.
