Hello everyone, I'm writing this blog on one of the most wonderful person's Ted.ed talk, and this person is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is a Nigerian writer. Through her thought-provoking TED-Ed talk, she ventures into the realms of societal perception, gender equality, and the significance of truth in our post-truth era. Amongst these powerful themes, one that resonates profoundly is her compelling argument that "We should all be feminists.We are invited to confront the multifaceted layers of our society, challenging us to consider the dangers of single stories and the necessity of truth in an increasingly complex world.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie :
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a renowned Nigerian writer and author known for her novels, essays, and public speaking on issues of gender, feminism, and identity. Some of her notable works include "Purple Hibiscus," "Half of a Yellow Sun," and "Americanah." Adichie's writing often explores themes of post-colonialism, race, and the experiences of African women. She's also famous for her TED Talk "We Should All Be Feminists" and her advocacy for gender equality and social justice.
Talks on importance of story/Literature/The danger of a single story :
She also talks about an 8-year-old boy. His name is Fide and he is very poor. He then says that the only story he has is his poverty. Years later, when she went to study at a university in the US, she pondered the subject. She was 19 years old then. Her American roommate is shocked to find her speaking good English. Chimamanda then says that English is the official language of Nigeria.
Her roommate believed that African or American people are not the same. She also talks about a quote from a London merchant. Which came to West Africa in 1961. He said of the black African, "The wild beast, who does not live in houses. There are also people who have no head and whose mouth and eyes are in the chest". She also talked about Mexico. She believes that people only know the bad story of Africa but there is also a story that is not painful. She believes that not all stories of a person or place are necessarily true without knowing the person fully.
We should all be feminists :
She started this talk with her friend, Okuloma, who died in a plane crash in December 2005. She also shared her personal incident. In which the class monitor was made a male. Although she had the highest marks in the test, she was not made a monitor as she was female. She also said that, "Male and women are different. We have different hormones, we have different sexual organs, we have different biological abilities." She said that 52% of the world's population is female but most of the positions of power are occupied by men.
Wangari Maathai ( The late Kenyan Nobel peace Laureate ) said that, "The higher you go, the fewer women there are". She also said that, "The person more likely to lead is not the physically stronger person, it is the more creative person, the more intelligent person, the more innovative person".
I like one of her sentences, "I'm just as human as the man". She said, "We say to girls, "You can have ambition but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful". She also talked about marriage. Why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same ? If we have sons, we don't mind knowing about our son's girlfriend but our daughter's boyfriend ?
We praise girls for virginity but we don't praise boys for virginity. "Culture does not make people, people make Culture". She said that, "When I looked up the word in the dictionary that day this is what it says, Feminism : "A person who believes in the social, political and Economic quality of the Sexes".
Her own definition of feminist is : A feminist is a man or a woman who says, "Yes, there is a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it , we must do better".
Importance of Truth in Post-truth era :
"Be courageous to speak the truth". (Chimamanda Ngozi)
In the beginning, she shared her personal experience of difficulty speaking her name by an English woman. She also talked about the difference between molice and a mistake. We now live in a culture of calling out a culture of outrage and you should call people out you should be outraged but always remember context and never disregard intent.
I like one of her sentences, "So, before I tell you about not lying I must first admit to lying". That is, when we advise others not to lie, we should not lie first.
She grew up in Nigeria through military dictatorship. She told that, I biggest regrets of my life of those times when I did not have the courage to embrace the truth. She also tells about her experience in a writer's conference in the US. She lies to the author at that conference and talks about how she got caught lying.
She says that , "Sometimes the hardest truths are those we have to tell ourselves". We don't need first to be perfect before we can do what is right and just. I like her one sentence, "Be courageous enough to accept that like is messy. Your life will not always perfectly match your ideology. Sometimes even your choices will not align with your ideology and don't justify and rationalize it, acknowledge it".
Be courageous enough to say, "I Don't know". Sometimes even your choices will not align with your ideology, don't justify and rationalize it, acknowledge it. Ignorant acknowledgement is an opportunity. Ignorant denied is a closed door and it takes courage to admit to the truth of what you do not know."
Truth is that the universal does not belong to any one group of people; everybody's story is potentially universal; it just needs to be told well. She gave the reference of Shonda Rhimes saying very wisely that you have to do something until you can do something else. Without both self doubt and self belief, without self doubt you become complacent, without self belief you cannot succeed, you need both.
Mary Oliver, "Whoever you are no matter how lonely the world offers itself to your imagination". There is an ebow scene Vanya G Cooney bhutesu Xia, it means "Whenever you wake up that is your morning". What matters is that you wake up. The world is calling you.
Thank you...
