SR: Postcolonial Studies: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Purple Hibiscus (2003)
- Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)
- Americanah (2013)
- The Thing Around Your Neck (2009)
- We Should All Be Feminists (2014).
Talk on importance of Story / Literature :
I personally like this video because Adichie talks about many things which at first I was unaware of.
Chimamanda was a reader from childhood and she read lots of novels which talked about the weather, apples, foreign characters, ginger bears, and so on. However, she was saying that she was unaware that her surroundings were totally different from those in novels.
In the work "Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o talked about leaving the language of the colonizer. Nonetheless, writers must choose the language and the third phase of postcolonialism is "Adept" with "E" instead of "O" and master the language.
Apparently, Adichie chose the language to express her story, surroundingsneighbors, class, and so on. She understands the importance of her representation in literature. Where is she? Did girls like her exist in the world of literature or not? These questions are very basic which we normally didn't even notice.
As an interested reader, I always find myself in the work but I forget this very reality. While reading "Waiting for Godot," I feel like being Vladimir waiting for what? Don't know. And in "Jude the Obscure," the end with Jude's death and his struggle to make life better connects me. Chimamanda highlights the anecdote of her American roommate who thought that being a black woman she could not speak fluent English. The funny thing is she also expected that Adichie must have had a terrible past, which is a generalization of the African race by the Western world.
Moreover, her roommate felt sorry for her before even meeting her. Does it make sense? Well, in the case of African people maybe. If we compare it with Indian casteism, then we normally feel sorry for downtrodden castes without knowing the background. There is a possibility that they have a good educational background just like Chimamanda, having educated parents, but how we portray people that matters a lot. Here is the case with telling only one story of black people as wild, terrible, uncivilized, and so on.
Adichie pointed out that at that time she realized that she was African by birth. John Locke in 1561 portrayed African people nearly as animals without having minds or even proper bodies. However, she acknowledges his contribution that at least he started telling the story. She goes on and pointed out Rudyard Kipling who portrayed Africans as "half devil, half child."
We have in mind some sort of authenticity in our mind when the African character appears in the work. For example, in "The Tempest," Shakespeare depicts Caliban as wild, uncivilized, and nearly animal. Similarly, in "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad did the same thing, making African natives animals.
In America, when they talk about immigrants, they are mostly from the Mexican area. This generalization is also equally problematic. Chimamanda stated that stories, how?, when?, who?, how many?, times tell that matters a lot. How can one ask about the rape that happened in Africa to someone who is in America but has the identity of Africa?
"Single story is incomplete." Chinua Achebe talks about balancing the story, with that reference Adichie takes the final stance that stories are important and integral to having multiple points of view, interpretations, impressions, and many more.
In this video, Adichie talked about everyday incidents that we generally overlook. Whether it is a restaurant where a waiter can't greet you because maybe they think there is no need. Similarly, the helper of car parking took money from a woman and thanked the man with her because he thinks that the ultimate source of income is obviously a man.
Even the school in which you cannot be monitored because you are female. We accept the biological difference between the genders but how far the "socialization exaggerates the difference" of gender. Wangari Maathai said that, "the higher you go, a fewer women there are." She said that each time when they ignore me, I feel invisible. So true.
How we raise boys and girls is an age-old debate still relevant. The very idea of "the boys have to pay" is another cliché which is stereotyped by society. As Jacques Derrida said that "Don't naturalize what is not natural," whoever earns high will pay which is more appropriate.
Another pivotal argument she put forward was about the fragile ego of men. Why should women's success be a threat to men? Sacrifice is always on the shoulder of 52% of the world's population. The idea of being intimidated by men is another argument even on a small scale females face this. If we think about leaders, then males are always best. I would not deny that they can give their best but when it comes to female leading and working under a female as I said even in small groups males have problems with it.
So having a higher-paid job than a husband then you have to give up or compromise or pretend. Female, independent, and being unmarried then you are a failure whether you achieved many more things than you thought. The language of marriage is sort of complex.
Adichie requests that we should focus on the ability, creativity, adaptability, and interest of people instead of gender. "Culture does not make people, people make the culture" and therefore we have the ability to change the attitude of society for gender bias. As her book title suggests, there is no gender of being a feminist.
In this video, Adichie strongly advocated for the importance of truth. She said that, "make literature your religion." As being a student of Harvard, they have the power of changing the surroundings. Yes, it comes with expectations as well which makes them more responsible for it.
In the time where there is an ocean of lies, one has to stand with the truth at any cost. She is bold enough to say that she doesn't have an idea even about Harvard University. She said to learn to say, "I don't know." Harvard is a kind of metaphor as untouchable intellectuals. She told to break it.
Additionally, she highlighted the importance of trying out things and not giving up, not having a traditional arc. She said that two things will help a lot: "Self-doubt" and "Self-belief." These two will go hand in hand and help to be with the truth, question lies, and having a stand.
These are the idea which I found intresting. Thank You.
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