Description
Response to TWO classmates due Friday by 11:59pm.
Watch the TED Talk. After you have watched the TED Talk, answer the following questions in reply to each TED talk. We are watching a TED Talk this week from another Nigerian author Chris Abani. While viewing this talk, think back to what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has to say about the danger of a single story and how stereotypes work.
As you watch the TED Talk, you may want to follow along to the Transcript (or text) of the speech or refer to the transcript when you are answer the questions for this talk.
Notice there are a few new questions added to the list this week.
Click Here to read/download Abani's speech.
Questions:
- What is the speaker's main argument? Or what is his thesis?
- Name at least 3 specific examples/pieces of evidence he uses to support his argument?
- What was the biggest takeaway that you had from this video? What interested you the most?
- What kind of stories is Aboni telling his audience in the speech?
- How does Abani organize his speech? In connection with Question 4, when do those stories show up in his speech? When does he tell those stories? Is there any pattern you can discern or figure out from where he places those stories (specific evidence)?
- What is Abani's purpose? What does he want from his audience?
- What is Abani's tone? Is his tone successful in connecting with his audience?
- If we view Abani's TED Talk through the lens of Adichie's concept of a Single Story, how is Abani subverting the concept of the single story? How is Abani's speech also about stereotypes and the pitfalls of believing in them?
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
1
Telling Stories from Africa
Student’s Name
Course Code
Professor
8th April 2019
2
Telling Stories from Africa
Telling Stories from Africa
The speaker’s main argument is that we are taught to be who we are by the stories that we
hear. This includes what is reported in the media and it therefore shapes our thinking and
eventually how we become who we think we are meant to be. The main argument here is that the
stories that we hear are powerful enough to influence how we view and think about ourselves
and our capabilities. The author gives his experience as a child with his father as an example to
support this argument. Abani’s father would warn him against eating in Yoruba people’s houses
because they would poison him. As a child, he therefore grew up being ethnically against Yoruba
people. Another example that the speaker uses is the news about the poverty and bad state of
politics and economic tribulations in Africa that are shown in the news. This has made many
Europeans and other people in other continents to view Africa as a pace of poverty. He also uses
the Bible translation to Igbo as an example of how language can distort messages and give
people the wrong impression about others. The line that “God is in heaven with his angels” is
translated to “God is in heaven surrounded by bicycles” in Igbo language.
My biggest takeaway from this video is that language sometimes complicates things. As a
result, it is important to learn a few tricks in different languages in order to avoid ...
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