Going global - keeping it real! The danger of the Single Story. Geographical Association Conference workshop April 2018

Going global - keeping it real! Geographical Association workshop April 2018

Catherine Owen, Isobel George & Imogen Sahi

Representing the GA International Special Interest Group @GA_ISIG

The world is a dynamic, complex and exciting place. Sometimes our students have misconceptions or a simplistic idea of what it is like in different places.  Their perceptions may relate to how places were in the past, particular elements of their culture or how they are portrayed in the media.  This workshop at the GA conference in 2018 looked at ways danger of the single story and ways that we can we give our students the opportunity to engage with different stories.

In her TED Talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells of her roommate’s shock on meeting her.  The roommate was surprised that Adichie spoke English so well, listened to Mariah Carey and could use a stove.  Adichie suggests a reason for this:

‘Her default position toward me, as an African, was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning, pity.  My roommate had a single story of Africa.  A single story of catastrophe.  In this single story there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her, in any way.  No possibility of feelings more complex than pity.  No possibility of a connection as human equals’

Adichie explains that she is concerned about the single story, not because it creates stereotypes which are untrue, but because the stereotypes are incomplete, making one story the only story. 

She considers the use of power to tell the story of another person and ‘make it the definitive story of that person.’

Developing students’ understanding of places and people lies at the heart of what all geography teachers do, education must take the events of the wider world and distill them into relevant learning.

But in doing so we must consider the stories we present to our students; do we reinforce a single story or do we give our students the opportunity to engage with different stories? 

We also need to consider the stories our students are hearing elsewhere; we can help them critically evaluate these stories, tackling misconceptions and offering alternative stories.

‘Stories matter.  Many stories matter.  Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign.  But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize.  Stories can break the dignity of a people.  But stories can also repair broken dignity.’   C N Adichie

Examples of activities challenging the ‘single story’.

(The workshop went on to offer examples of activities to enable students to challenge the single story. Happy to share these activities with anyone who would like to see them.)