Know the Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Know the Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a well known Nigerian author. She has written best known novels and short story collection. 

Novels:

Purple Hibiscus

Half of a Yellow Sun

Americanah

For love Biafra

We Should All Be Feminists

The most important matter about her is that,

The Times of Literary Supplement described her as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors who is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African Literature".

1) The Danger of a Single Story

She is a well known author and also known as good story teller. In this ted talk she calls herself as a story teller. In a very intresting way she is giving some glimpses of poovrty of her own family and some chilhood experiences. In this she talks about critical misunderstanding. If we hear only a particular story about any country or culture in a particular way then it risks our critical thinking. She speaks about her mental shift in literature after reading African writers like Chinua Achebe and many others. Before reading them her earlier characters are entirely different. She portrayed them as having a white skin and blue eyes while in reality it was diffrent. In reality they have chicalate skin or kinky hair. She talks about many short stories and says that stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but they can also be used to empower and to humanize. From her works it seems that she is quite realistic writers like many other African writers like Chinia Achebe and Ngugi Wa Thiongo. In the end of video she very frimly says that,

"When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise".

What I understand is that she talks on being universal not to stick on particular stereotype.

2) We Should all be Feminist

In this second ted talk, she speaks about her own experiences on this gender biasis. The term Feminist has very different perspectives nowadays. But Chimamanda is not talks about that typical feminist. She gives a very uneasy defination of feminist, 

"Feminist are women who felt unhappy because they couldn't find their husband".

She talks about her personal experince of childhood. She wanted to be class monitor in the class. For that it is necessary for her to stood first in the class. She worked hard for it and got first rank. But she did not able to be a monitor because she is a girl. She added that gender matters everwhere in the world. She talks about her experience with waiter who ignored her because she is woman. This shows the gender sterotype which is taught from very early age. She also talks about mariiage. Marriage is more about ownership rather than of partnership. We believe that we human beings act according to culture but actually we create our culture.

3) Talk on importance of Truth in Post - Truth Era

In this video she talks about value of truth by speaking it courageously. She interprets her own name "Chimamanda" which means personal spirit that can never be broken. She talks on the pronounciation of her name. Whenever she went in any event aenchor mispronounced her name. Problme is not with mispronounciation but the problmes is with changing concept of meaning of her name. She speaks about common lies, she used to speak about her height and struck in traffich when someone ask her for arriving late. She talks on her personal experience where she lies because she did not know the name of the writer. In short she tries to make us to be true.