This week can you ALL finish listening to Adichie's single story on TED. As I said in class, there is a transcript for those of you who want to read while listening.
For homework this week you have a choice :-)
Either send a comment to my post about the Mapping Stereotypes project, answering some of the questions that I posed at the end of the post.
OR
Write your own 'single story' you have or had about a place or people, or that you have experienced from other people towards you. Where did this single story originate?
The risk of having a single story : Southern people.
RispondiEliminaA friend of mine had a single story about people from South Italy. He was born and raised in Vicenza, and he had never been southern than Rome. Since he was a child, he was told that southern people were lazy, rude and ignorant. His family and his friends were really close to 'Lega Nord', a national party that wants Northern Italian regions to be divided from the Southern ones. When we met for the first time he didn't know I was from Reggio Calabria ; I don't have a Southern accent because I was newborn when I moved in Vicenza. One day, we were talking about politics ad he told me he completely shared the 'Leghista' political view, and that Southern people were a problem for our country's economic improvement. I was disappointed, and I readily revealed him my Southern origins. For a minute, he was shocked. Then he justified our friendship saying that I was an exception, because even if I was born in the South, I had always lived in the North. I got offended, because he was insulting my family, and I tried to convince him that what he was saying was rubbish and senseless. Unfortunately, I didn't managed to make him change his point of view, but something amazing happened few time later : his school decided to replace the typical annual trip with an exchange program between students from North and South Italy. My friend was shocked, he didn't want to participate, but in the end he decided to try. His class was coupled with a class from a village that was located in the hinterland of Calabria. He lived with a Southern family for ten days and discovered the amazing landscapes of my region and, above all, our delicious traditional dishes. When he came back, he was completely changed. He had find many good friends there, and he admitted that his beliefs about Southern people were completely wrong. This happened in 2009, but still now, when he has the possibility, he spends his holidays with his 'Southern Brothers' in Calabria.
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RispondiEliminaMy single story is about convicts.
RispondiEliminaTalking with friends about convicts and trying to explain that they are human beings just like us and they deserve to live a decent life in jail it’s a real challenge. In some sort of way, I can understand their point of view, because I was like them a few years ago. Watching television and reading papers people are forced to believe that if someone is in jail it’s only because he, or she, deserved it, violating the law.
The main consequence of this believes is that convicts have to be punished and they have no rights.
Another cause of this vision is the stereotype of the life inside jails and of prisoner’s attitude that many films and TV-series spread.
Only two years ago, listening a speech of Marco Pannella, the leader of a small but historical party named Partito Radicale, in which he was describing the dramatic situation of jails in Italy; I started to read more about this topic, and to delve into it.
What appeared to me was a totally different world, made of misery, rights violation and torture.
Italian jails are overcrowded and convicts live in cells where they can’t move because they are too many inside of it. Only a minimum part of them can work during the sentence, the other ones have to live 22 hours inside their cells. Italy is condemned almost every month by the European Court of Human Rights for the jails’ conditions. Last year, 186 people died in jail, 66 where suicides, and 5 of them were Penitentiary Policemen.
There are 68.00 convicts, the 40% of them is waiting for judgments, and the real capacity of Italian jails is of 45.000 spots.
People who live in prison can’t be identified only with the murderer who killed the family, the cheater who has stolen money from families or a great boss of Mafia, because all these examples are only an extremely small part of the prison population made of desperate people, immigrants, drugs addicted, and small drugs dealers. These people are not dangerous individuals and they have to be rehabilitated not punished.
Talking with them, I see only desperation and sufferance because they are treated like animals and almost nobody cares about them.
“The Southerners in the eyes of northern”
RispondiEliminaThe stereotype that story is that I am a "victim". I am a Sardinian girl that for about four weeks, she moved to Padua to study. The idea that most of the people of the north have made those in the south is distorted. They think that people in the south did not want to work and that is the cause of the failure.
When we speak of Southern Italy the first things that come to mind are mafia, 'Ndrangheta and Sardinian bandits. Who has had the fortune to visit these areas is expanding its idea by inserting the beauty of the sea, the goodness of the products typical of these regions and if they're lucky at full captures even those that have some cultural traits of these lands. Unfortunately it is true that the South has always been the cradle of crime and degradation, but this does not mean that all people of the south have this. We in the south have a great will to do and improve our condition of degradation, but Unfortunately because of some politicians and no, that look exclusively to their own interests, we find ourselves in the position of not being able to do anything. Removed the figure of the mafia or gangster, the other aspect that recalls in the mind of the "rest of Italy" is the dialect, especially that of my country, when someone knows they are the Sardinian first thing I say is: "beautiful I speak in Sardinia? ". Humor is done on our attachment to the land from which we come and with it all the traditions that this has given us. We to carry with us our culture is something natural, but for others it is not and for this we are ridiculed.
Another stereotype that stop talking of Sardinia is the fact that many only know the Emerald Coast, North Island, and few have had the opportunity to visit the South I believe that to be able counter these stereotypes people have to visit the regions the cultures of this land and its people who live there.
I find these maps very hilarious. I don’t think that they ought to be considered offensive. In the maps common says are exaggerating and depicting in a glaringly satiric way. I mean, stereotypes usually come from too close-minded people, who tend to have only a way to see things and who cling on historical, factious and shallow knowledge. Considering this kind of “pure” stereotype, lots of people can be in accordance with me when I say that is a bad thing.
RispondiEliminaStereotyping the world that surrounds you it’s like having a tunnel vision, the preconception it’s a hedgerow that block out your view. When it serves to prevent your neighbors’ garden privacy, well, hedgerows are welcomed, but the figurative hedgerow can brings incomprehension, hatred (not justified) and can limit your choices. Yanko Tveskov way to use stereotypes, his style, his way to empathize the “problem” it’s the best solution to make people smile and reflect at the same time. It’s a similar technique used in satire, representing in a funny way a bad reality helps to feed a constructive social criticism. The maps are meant to ridicule some points of view and while doing this they induce to reflect. I think that the maps can help to challenge and change stereotypes. People reading the map can share some stereotype and find, in the same map, other stereotypes too exaggerate, according to their mental idea of those countries. Next step is easy, after having fun reading some particular stereotypes the idea that, maybe, all the stereotypes (including the ones in which you believed) are ridiculous it comes in mind automatically. This is an effective way to scale down the importance and the truth of stereotypes, to challenge them. I’m totally in accordance with the use of quip or satire to make gradually change people prejudices and widen their perspective.
My single story is about the stereotypes of one of my Norwegian family about the Italians.
RispondiEliminaI lived one year in Norway and there I had two host families. This summer one of them came to visit my family and me.
They lived in my house for five days, they tried to live as if they where Italians, they strongly wanted to try this experience; but they came here with a single story of “the Italian family and the Italian way of live”. They thought that Italian children where spoiled and not able to think by themselves. They believed that all the Italian women were submitted by their husbands, that all the Italian men were totally dependent from their mothers also when they had left their family houses and so never ready to become good fathers or responsible mates.
I could perceive that they felt pity for my mother just because she use to cook dinner and to wash the dishes, they where abrupt with my father and they where enables to see that he helped my mom in many other ways. They were angry with my brother because in their opinion he was spoiled just because my sister and I like to play with him and to cuddle with him, he is just ten years old and we are over twenty both so for us its normal to take care of him; in Norway parents don’t have much physical contact with their children and they not use to hug or kiss them so they believed that to receive hug for my brother meant to never became a strong man.
They were surprised because I still leaved with my parents and they found in it a confirmation of their single story about me! In their view I was a little girl enable to think with my own head, not self confident and not able to become an adult! I tried to explain them that I can think with my own head, that in Italy things are not like in Norway, we don’t receive any salary because we are students or any loan from the state, I tried to tell them about how expensive is the university and to rent a room here in Padua but everything was useless. It was not important if I had always worked from when I was 18, also if doing little jobs, for them I was just spoiled as all the Italian young people.
When people have they own story about someone or something it’s difficult to make they open their mind. I think that we all have stereotypes about what we don’t know, this is normal, like it’s normal to judge the unknown world with the eyes of our culture and not with the eyes of the culture we come to know. The important thing is to never forget this and to always try to discredit our certainties.
I don’t have a beautiful relationship with them like we had before now, but I hope one day they will understand that we are just different and not wrong.
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RispondiElimina“A wrong family portrait”
EliminaInitially I didn’t want to talk about this ‘single story’. But in this moment I can’t think of anything else. This is the ‘single story’ that children have often about their family.
When I was a child I thought that my family was perfect. I lived in a big house with my mother, my father and my twin sister. We celebrated Christmas and Easter, and holidays in general, all together. Every year I made a party for my birthday and I received a lots of gifts. I lived as if I were in the world of fairy tales. I thought that my father was a prince. Everyone said that I was very lucky and I believed in it.
Apparently there were no problems and we were happy such as in children books or in Disney films, or also in television spots (such as spots of Mulino Bianco).
I could do everything because my parents had given me a lot of freedom. My life seemed to be wonderful.
But this was my view of reality. It was the only one side of the coin I could see.
This is the stereotype of family that we have when we are children. A “happy family” is composed by a father, a mother, sometimes a dog or a cat, a big house, gifts and apparently love.
When I was 18 years old everything changed. I understood that my family wasn’t perfect as I believed.
Problems have always been there but I couldn’t see them because my parents has always hidden them.
I have seen for years only what they have decided to make me see.
One week before my high school exam my world collapsed. I have to study with candles because the electricity was cut off. Firstly I thoughts it was only a bad period, but everything went worse.
There was no much money for my future studies or those of my sister. Everything seemed to be a bad nightmare. “they lived happily ever after” was only a false story to make sleeping children.
The love between my parents was only a big fat liar. My father wasn’t a prince.
I know this is a particular ‘single story’ but it still affects my life, especially in this period.
Reality is more complex than it seems to be. If we base our way to see the world on just what others teach us we will fall into error.
“Family” isn't what I thought when I was young, but it is a concept of happiness. We can find it everywhere with everyone (not necessarily a father and/or a mother).
But there must be love and pure feelings. No lies. Who really loves me is my family (my mother, my sister and my close friends, all of them are my family). My idea of "family" is different from the past and I'm aware that it may change in any time
What about Turkish?
RispondiEliminaBooks are considered to be the best source of all knowledge, but all that one learns through a book is only a theoretical nature in the form of ideas and concept. It is essential to utilize them in a real environment and experience the knowledge that is learned from books.
An experience that had an important amount of changing perspective on life was the very first vacation I had elsewhere my country and it was in Turkey. It happened when I was about to turn 15 years old and my parents made me this wonderful surprise: a trip to Antalya and Istambul. I was extremely excited. Not that it was my first time in a different country but it was a trip to a different culture - an oriental one- and that included different people, values, traditions, gastronomy, habitudes, religion and the list can continue. The only things I knew at that time about Turkey included: the “baklava”, a Turkish sweet specialty, carpets which are known by its high quality and long life period (they give 500 years warranty), Turkish delight, bazaars(seen only in Tv) and story of Aladdin and Princess Scheherazade – books have always been an inevitable part of my life as they have the ability to made me aware of the diverse things happening in our world.
I knew that Turks are Muslims, therefore, because of the things I saw on Tv and because what I heard and read, I expected to see women dressed only in burka, poverty and disorder; we had been warned to pay attention when shopping because Turkish traders tend to foulish the tourists.Therefore I cannot say I had a very good opinion about people.
My journey led me to clarify my views on Turkish culture. There are bad things that I've changed for the better and vice versa. For example, it isn’t true that the merchants steal you, on the contrary when you go to buy something you have to negociate to get a better price – Istambul is known for its famous bazaars where everything is negotiable- they all will invite you to drink traditional tea. Turks are largest consumers of tea, because of the climate characterized by high temperatures. You will be surprised at how westernized are people, men and women alike, most dress like Europeans and occasionally you can still see people dressed as religion requires, men drive fancy and expensive cars – I noticed that they have a real passion for old American cars, especially Cadillac. I was surprise to find out that in a major city in Turkey, Antalya, people have no drinking water and no gas supply, something very common in our countries. I was unpleasantly surprised when I saw how little respect the Turkish men women, I was very offended when a man didn’t allowed mum to get out the door first, even more, like he did on purpose to get out first as if he wanted to prove something.
I experienced beautiful and less beautiful things, things were different but pleasant and things that were contrary to Europeans values but what changed my outlook on life was that we must learn to be tolerant, even more than that, learn to accept other cultures because not what we always learn is universally valid and if you really see that something is wrong in a certain place, you must act on changing that through peaceful means. Try not to pay attention to stereotypes, get over the prejudices. Try to know the other through your own experience and not by what you hear from another sources.
Looking mapping these stereotypes, I found it so funny and hilarious, made every part of the world can understand the différemment.selon mink everyone.
RispondiEliminaAll these MAPPS summarizes the different perspective of many people in the world. At first, I was not surprised by American thought, because they are already considered a selfish people. But most of the theory on the Continent is anything but real, not knowing the truth of African reality, completing it in the history and culture of Europe and Asiatic. When it is so easy for them simplify these realities. They always think that all Muslims are dangerous people and terrorists. This view is really so far from reality encountered on site, because, as in any part of the world or a country, there are people who are right and others are not. They must change their view of the world.
In the second case about Berlusconi is not a secret, he really likes women and others in his speech from the Rubygate he has no respect for themselves. This view of Berlusconi why many Italian newspapers presents him as a pervert
Finally, in my own experience, I went to Naples. Arriving there, suddently, I found that exist many differences between Naples and the north of Italy. They are culturally diffferent. It is so hard to believe that you are always in the same country, because they are so poor. With that poverty, most of Italian believe it's not the same country
It’s almost impossible avoid a general thought about a group of people with particular features, for example: Religion – food – culture etc … We actually don’t know who created such prejudices or why people created these concepts. My personal opinion is that they exist, and to be honest sometimes there is a real truth in these stereotypes. My single story is: ARE GERMANS AS WE THINK? We all know that Germans are:
RispondiElimina1. MEN ARE FAT WITH BLONDE HAIR AND BLUE EYES/ THEY LOVE “SAUERKRAUT – KARTOFFELN –BRATWURST” AND THEY ARE HEAVY BEER DRINKERS.
2- THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN LATE FOR ANYTHING IN THEIR LIVES
3- THEY DON’T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD “JOKE”INDEED THEY ARE A SERIOUS AND A COLD FOLK
4- THEY ARE STRICT AND RUDE
5- THEY HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOUR
Well, let’s see how true it is!
I was excited to go abroad as Erasmus student for a year, because in this way I would have could interact with a different culture, lifestyle and people. This was surely one of the best experience of my life. It was something incredible, amazing and unforgettable. I can remember emotionally the whole period, and being a long period, I think I could “kill” some German Stereotypes after living there.
About their weight: I think that obesity is really a big problem in Germany therefore part of this stereotype is true. I could say YES and NO, but mostly not about their blonde hair and blue eyes: Some Germans have blonde hair and blue eyes but no more than in many Northern European countries. If we talk about beer and food: A recent study of 35,000 German people showed that German adults drink 120litres of beer per year, that means 16 litres more than the British, also this stereotype is right. Then, there's no denying that Germans love a nice big sausage with their pickled cabbage, but you can also find millions of restaurants from every country in most German cities. Some people talk about the German punctuality and about their “ terrifying efficiency”: Public Transport is almost always on time in Germany, and if you agree to meet some friends at eight o'clock, they will be annoyed if you ‘ll arrive late. They won’t wait for you! This happened to me once! But I have to say, that when I was in Berlin I have seen two different transport strikes, which really shocked me because I would never have imagined it in Germany.
Germans are not the warmest people in Europe I've met, but they are very organized, admirably well-ordered and disciplined people. I found curious that Berliners almost always wait at red traffic lights before walking across the road, even when there were no cars for miles. Again, one thing that may influence the idea of them being rude is that they say what they think, indeed I find Germans very honest and maybe some Germans tend to be very frank about the truth and this will probably hurt your feelings if you are too sensitive. To conclude, about their humor: Humor is a phenomenon which is influenced by culture. It can be difficult to determine what aspects define a certain sense of humor. How funny somebody finds a certain episode depends on many factors including age, personal experience, level of education and geographical location. I find quite stupid judging another country’s humor based on your own.
These are more or less the stereotypes based on my personal experience and they are plenty of exceptions. After discovering all the interesting cultural differences, what I can say is that we should leave clichés and start interacting with other cultures. Every culture has something to teach us, but this is only possible if we walk around with our minds and eyes open. The world would be boring if we were all the same!