Intro to Multicultural Literature

Hey everyone! My name is Mikayla Cooper and I’m a Sport Management major, but I’m also interested in minoring in Outdoor Recreation. I’m from Oyster Bay, Long Island and went to Oyster Bay High School. I really enjoy sports, traveling, and being outdoors. Some of my interests include the TV show Friends, watching football, and listening to chill music.

I’d love to get to know all of you and I’m looking forward to this semester!

Hi everyone! I’m a senior majoring in early ed. with a concentration in English. This is my second semester at Cortland. I went to Homer High School and grew up in the area (full townie status). Before I came to SUNY Cortland I went to UC (Utica College) for two years, then transferred to TC3 for a semester, and now I’ve circled back to Cortland. That’s about all I can think of to say other than, I hope we all have a great semester.

Most of my friends call me Boogie. I’m a Sophomore transfer majoring in Athletic Training. I’m from Nassau County in Long Island. I love Basketball, My favorite team is Golden State and Steph Curry is one of my favorite players. I’m also pretty funny if you decide to get to know me. Really looking forward to a fun semester!

Hello! My name is Siobhan. I am from Seaford, Long Island. This is my second year at Cortland and I am an English major with a minor in communications. My passion for reading and writing helped to me chose my current major. My favorite things to do at home include going to the beach and spending time with my friends and family. I look forward to spending to rest of the semester getting to know all of you and learning more about multicultural literature!

Hello everyone! I am a transfer student and I am a junior. My major is adolescent education in English. I just got back from a month of travel which landed me in Toronto, Morocco, Spain, Montréal, and then Nashville ( I landed at home a few hours before our first class!) I am happy to be home and to start the semester with you all. I read a lot of great books while I was away.

Hi! My name is Meg. I just transferred here as a junior and I am majoring in Sociology. I am excited to meet everyone and to get this semester started!

Hi! My name is Morgan and I’m a Speech major here at SUNY Cortland.  I transferred here last year and I’m going into my senior year now. I’m from Dutchess County, New York and looking forward to a great semester!

Hey there, I’m Ryan and I’m a Business Economics major from Long Island.  I’m a sophomore who transferred from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  I’m an avid football fan (Go Saints!) and I used to play football at FDU.  I’m also a big fan of music, especially rap.  Looking forward to a great semester with all of you!

Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s “The Danger of a Single Story” provides real life examples of how humans identify others by their stereotypes rather than as individuals. Though most stereotypes were once based on some type of truth, no one person can fit into a single stereotype. Therefore, it is unfair to assume anything about a person before you know for a fact that it’s true. In Adiche’s story, she recounts to her audience the house boy her family had hired when she was a child, Fide. Adiche was only told one story about Fide’s family, that they were in poverty. Because she was only told this one story about Fide’s family, it was easy for her to draw conclusions about them. It was easy for her to assume that they were lazy or unskillful. When Adiche visited Fide’s family, his mother showed her a beautiful basket that his brother had made. She said “It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor.” Because Adiche configured her opinion about Fide based on a stereotype of impoverished people, she was surprised to learn about the complexities of Fide and his family as individuals. We identify people or groups of people by simple definitions, because stereotyping makes it easier for us to make sense of the world in a simple way. By focusing on the simple rather than the complex, we miss half the story. Stereotyping others based on a single story is comparable to sharing what a book is about after reading only the title. What would most people assume about you based on their single story of you? And what would they not assume about you?

Adiche also recounts her college roommate’s impression of her as an african. She says “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.” Her roommate was confused after learning that Adiche, an African, was not as different as she would’ve thought based on her stereotype of an average African person. A main point illustrated in Adiche’s story is similar to the message of Maya Angelou’s poem “Human Family.” We are more alike than we are unalike. Though we differ in our cultures, religions, and traditions, we are all born similar, because we are all human. Angelou says “in minor ways we differ, in major ways we’re the same.” In what obvious ways do you think humans are all similar?

We identify others by stereotypes rather than as individuals in a lot of different situations even when we don’t notice we’re doing it. One major topic where we as Americans find it hard to look past stereotypes is in politics. In politics we use single stories not only to simplify, but to criminalize the other side instead of considering their complex opinions. While it’s obvious that only looking at a single story is unintelligible, we often use the single story to support our own case. In what specific American political issues have we used the single story to support one side of an issue rather than addressing the single issue’s complexity?

We identify people or groups of people by simple definitions, because stereotyping makes it easier for us to make sense of the world in a simple way. Though we are all complex individuals with surprising backstories, we are evidently all alike in a major way.

Questions:

What would most people assume about you based on their single story of you? And what would they not assume based on what you look like?

 

In what obvious ways do you think humans are all similar?

 

In what specific American political issues have we used the single story to support one side of an issue rather than addressing the single issue’s complexity?

 

Hi! I am an incoming sophomore that just transferred from Binghamton University, so this will be my first semester at Cortland. I’m currently majoring in English Adolescent Education, and looking to add a minor in Political Science.  I’ve lived in a small town outside of Owego, NY my entire life and have elected to live at home this semester, which means I have a delightful fifty minute commute to look forward to every morning.  This past summer I was lucky enough to road trip around New York state, giving me the possibility to once again visit Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks, and the Thousand Islands.  I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming semester with you all.