English Discussion Board 4   

For this Discussion Board, each student will need to create ONE NEW THREAD in the Discussion. To create a thread, click on the “Create Thread” button in the bar above, then type your responses to the questions inside the text box that will appear (or you can cut and paste from a Word document).  When you are finished, click “Submit” so that your responses will be saved. In order to encourage original responses, you will not be able to see others’ responses until you post yours.

Once you have posted your own, original response, you must respond to the post of at least one of your fellow classmates.  To do so, click on the subject of their posting and add your response.  These replies must have substance; for example, your response should not simply be, “I agree with your ideas.” or “You are so right!” Please remember that everything you post in a discussion board is public, and all students enrolled in the course will be able to view it.

Pro Tip: Since Discussion Boards disappear once the due date has passed, cut and paste any information you’d like to keep into a Word document or Notes file.

For this post, first watch the following video:

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

Once you have viewed the video, please answer the following questions in a brief paragraph or two:

• What does Adichie mean by a “single story”? What examples does she give? Why does she believe “single stories” are dangerous?
• Later in Adichie’s story, we learn how other people view her. How do those views differ from how she describes herself? Is there a single story that others often use to define you? Can you think of other examples of “single stories” that may be part of your own worldview? Where do those “single stories” come from? How can we find a “balance of stories”?
• Adichie herself admits to sometimes defining others with a single story. Why is it that people sometimes make the same mistakes that they so easily see others making?
• What single story have you believed? What have you done to consider alternative views?
• Why is it important to challenge single stories?
• How does this topic relate to the concept of comparison/contrast? (Or to put it another way, why do you think I had you watch the video as part of this particular module?)