Confronting the Single Story
History is often twisted, redacted and manipulated in such a way that the exactness is never really considered. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie argues, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” There is an alarming and undeniable truth to her statement. There are many factors that contributed to the singleness of a story and those factors have impacted many culture’s history and survival. Factors such as colonialism, imperialism, and oppression have ruptured historical narratives.
By extending beyond Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story,” and using both Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration and Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, my paper will seek to examine the dangers when confronting both the issues and perils of a single story regarding a culture’s history and survival. More importantly, the characters from the aforementioned literature both challenge the stereotype of a single story and confront the prevalent perception of their identity. What emerges is they’re undisclosed and often ignored perspective of a broader story. A story that’s not so linear, a story that paints a more complete visual that is of critical importance.
History, often depicted in textbooks, have unintended consequences – consequences that may impact the perception of an individual. Illustrations depicted from textbooks may lead to vulnerability because of this unilateral view. More importantly, history is often “written by the victor.” The way in which colonialism, imperialism, and oppression have affected history is by a dominant system of representation. This resulted in eradicating the practices of the aboriginals and introducing a new system; a practice of cultural power, knowledge and normalization. More importantly, knowledge is where the distortion occurs. Knowledge of one’s ancestry; knowledge of one’s history; knowledge of one’s identity – all hidden deep in the abyss. Eurocentrism is dominant in developing economies where culture and language had been implemented and enforced for centuries. As Ngugi states in Decolonising the Mind:
“Colonialism imposed its control of the social production of wealth through military conquest and subsequent political dictatorship, but its most important area of domination was the mental universe of the colonized, the control, through culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relationship to the world.” (p. 16)
As a result of this subjugation, there was a desire from the natives to reconstruct the history of their ancestry, and, a painstaking endeavor to search for a common identity; an awareness of self, the indispensable truth.
In Season of Migration, the novel is influence by the tumultuous politics occurring between 1950 – 1960. Many Africans were hoping to achieve independence with the assistance of the European occupiers. Instead, the military regime in charge of the country favored a dictatorship by the northerners. While the conflict is not explicitly addressed in Salih’s novel, the novel seemingly revolves around the subject. Salih, using the narrator, examines a number of problems that occur during this time frame. By examining identity, the core of the problem arises when two worlds confront each other. The narrator embarked on a voyage which was both historical and symbolic. A journey which consist of searching for one’s place in this universe; their roots and identity. He is taken from the center of his world – the heart of Africa – to Europe, and back. The novel begins with the narrator’s return home and he describes his surroundings:
“I listened intently to the wind: that indeed was a sound well known to me, a sound which in our village possessed a merry whispering – the sound of the wind passing through palm trees is different from when it passes through fields of corn. I heard the cooing of the turtle-dove, and looked through the window at the palm tree standing in the courtyard of our house and I knew that all was still well with life” (p. 4).
Here is an individual, an Arab and African who finds himself no longer sustained by his past and not yet incorporated into a viable future (the same can be said about all other Arab-Africans). Throughout the novel, the main characters identity is unclear. Within the reading, we learn a wealth of information about his background: education, family, etc. On the contrary, his name is never mentioned. In one instance, he is referred to as “Effendi” (p. 85). This phrase, however, is an Arabic title which is equivalent to “Sir”. It is the characters namelessness that serves to focus on this journey of searching for an identity.
In Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, Kincaid describes her critical perspective on colonial history; her animosity towards the exploitation of tourism – post-independence. Caribbean history has always been shaped by Europeans who dictated the economic, political, and cultural means. The results would have ever lasting impacts on future native descendants: no actual identity to call their own. Kincaid’s critical perspective on the colonial history; the exploitation by the British, corruption after independence, and the exploitation due to tourism serves to attack the deplorable state, both in the past and present. She also seeks to rewrite the fragmented history of the past, which has always been formulated and presented by colonizers. This is similar to Ngugi’s Decolonizing the Mind in which he states:
“Pitted against it, are the ceaseless struggles of African people to liberate their economy, politics and culture from that Euro-American-based stranglehold to usher a new era of true communal self-regulation and self-determination.” (p. 4)
There is a yearning to seize back control of their history. Imperialism continues to control the economy, politics, and cultures of both Africa and Antigua.
It is this side of the story that is of crucial importance. The stories of the colonized. Their perspectives reveal an incomplete story. A story of grievance, suppression, humiliation, distress.
Ultimately, the eradication of the aboriginal’s culture and identity has led to a profoundly unusual outcome. This notion of a shared culture; people with common experiences and shared cultural codes. It has formed a new consciousness for the people today. By rediscovering themselves, or sharing cultural values, the colonized have gained self-confidence and respect towards one another. This is an important aspect in order to foster a nourished self-conception of one another. More importantly, this analysis would enable to continue contributing to discovering one’s self. Kincaid’s fictional protagonists condemns history’s victors and aligns herself with those who were vanquished. Despite the heightened awareness about race and history, she ultimately advocates reinvention toward a simple state; quiet humanity. As stated in the final pages:
“Of course, the whole thing is, once you cease to be a master, once you throw off your masters yoke, you are no longer human rubbish, you are just a human being, and all the things that adds up to. So, too, with the slaves. Once they are no longer slaves, once they are free, they are no longer noble and exalted; they are just human beings (p. 81).
In Decolonizing the mind, Ngugi quotes Gabriel Okara on his position of representing language:
“Some may regard this way of writing English as a desecration of the language. This is of course not true. Living languages grow like living things, and English is far from a dead language. There are American, West Indian, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand versions of English. All of them ass life and vigor to the language whole reflecting their own respective cultures. Why shouldn’t there be a Nigerian or West African English which we can use to express our own ideas, thinking and philosophy in our own way.” (p. 9)
There seems to be hope for recreating and instilling a sense of dignity in creating a self-identity for the very people who have been subjugated and oppress for far too long. Hopefully, we can let from this. As George Santayana said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” May we learn from this quote to ensure that we end the malicious actions resulting from colonialism.