Rwanda The African Botanic Three-Needled Pine Tree (Pinus kesiya)
The Harm of a Single Story
Alaina McKee and Rachel Jacobson
The American dream is a glamorous perspective that comes to mind with the very word, America. But is it really all that glamorous? Hearing a single story about one person will always paint one culture to be superior to another; the single story that many Americans hold about African cultures works to maintain this superiority. The benefit of hearing multiple stories challenges us to look beyond the dangers of essentialism and toward nuance and complexity. Teacher, writer, editor, and movement representative, P told us her story about immigrating from Rwanda to America.
P shared with us her vulnerable experiences; not with an intention of pitting one culture against another, but rather sharing her story in a world full of single stories. She expressed the need for a change in perspective about Africa and the harm negative biases bring to others. The importance of taking in varying perspectives is emphasized by the United State’s current political landscape. Legislation that seeks to limit information people have access to has been passed in states like Florida, with plenty of bills proposed in Idaho seeking to follow suit. There’s a high chance children who will grow into adults may not have access to materials encouraging them to critically think. The only thing they will be able to operate from is the limited information they are given. They may have no other option presented to them that challenges the narrative they’ve been given. Recognizing the problem of a single story and the importance of difference becomes more important as we try to limit the harm misinformation and missing information can bring.
Green Card Lottery Process
One possible misconception in the United States is a misunderstanding of the difficulties applying for a green card accompanies. A green card allows someone to live and work in the United States permanently, allowing someone from another country to have access to some of the same benefits as a citizen; however, not all of them. Unlike temporary visas, a green card allows someone to have proof of legal residency.
Although the green card may hold many benefits, it’s a process in itself to obtain one. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issues 50,000 immigrant visas annually. The person must be eligible based on their birth country. Visas go to people of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. The list of countries eligible will typically change every year, but there’s more to it than just the country in which one was born. Potential visa-holders need to have a high school education or have two years of work experience within the past five years in a qualifying occupation (Probasco, 2019).
Biases About Africa
People often have implicit biases about cultures in which they are unfamiliar. Implicit biases can be dangerous when forming opinions not only about certain cultures, but also about people. P explained that people in America have a negative view of Africa. An image that’s not dangerous —a bad life and no school. P gave an example of this issue:
Say there is a conference. When you go there and you are African, teachers are very surprised and ask themselves, “Oh how did you know there is a conference? Do you speak English?” So, and I wonder why? Why do you think I don’t speak English? But I know, I can't say it’s their fault. It seems like it’s the story they tell about Africa. Everything, everyone, lots of history. It's negative, negative, negative. And I also remember, there was someone who spoke to me. I told him, “Oh, I went to school, I finished college, I worked here.” And he said to me, “Oh, really, this is the first time I’ve heard of anyone African who studied and who is not English.” So that’s why it’s very difficult for many people who come from Africa to integrate.
False narratives about African countries result in many people from those countries feeling like they need to settle for less. P said that, “It creates a barrier for other people from Africa. It’s hard to convince the people in Boise that you’re capable and can do this.” These implicit biases create unequal opportunities and treatment of people based on race and ethnicity. One can always choose to be aware of the implicit biases they hold and combat them through listening to multiple stories, educating oneself on a topic, and taking action for a cause.
The Danger of a Single Story, TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains this issue further. She explains the risk of critical misunderstanding if we hear a single story about a person or country. In the talk, she explains a specific example of a single story:
This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature. Now, here is a quote from the writing of a London merchant called John Lok, who sailed to west Africa in 1561 and kept a fascinating account of his voyage. After referring to the black Africans as “beasts who have no houses,” he writes. “They are also people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts.”
A single story is a dangerous phenomenon that affects our beliefs and opinions as we grow up and continue learning more about the world. It’s important to break through single stories and learn about various people and cultures. In our interview with P, we heard the dangers of a single story she faced when it came to moving to a new country, finding a place to work, finding friends, and even finding a place for her daughter to fit in.
The Why Behind the Single-Story Phenomenon
Discussing the “why” behind an occurrence is always a good first step in trying to prevent it in the future. There’s a concept in psychology and sociology known as “social categorization” where a person defines themselves as part of a group, identifies others to be in that group, and excludes those who don’t share the same identifying traits (Ashcraft & Treadwell, 2008). Out-groups “are viewed more negatively, and receive inferior treatment in comparison to that of in-group members,” (2008, p 11). A job interviewer will always prefer the candidate who went to the same college, but that doesn’t mean they’ll turn down everyone who didn’t. The negative view mentioned in the quote doesn't have to be blatant discrimination, it also includes looking down on another culture, as if one can be better than another.
Individualistic vs Community Based Culture
P, having made the transition from a collectivist culture to an individualistic one, was able to observe the benefits and drawbacks of the two. Someone in a collectivist culture might “see themselves as connected to others, define themselves in terms of relationships with others, and see their characteristics as more likely to change across different contexts,” (Hopper, 2015). Some of the descriptions of Rwanda in our interview with P align with this way of thinking. P described Africans as “by nature, very welcoming [...] they're very happy to see you.” Even without knowing the person, there’s an immediate happiness upon recognizing them as part of your community. P also described being able to depend on her community, like having her family watch her child while she worked. There’s a lot more community support available. At the same time, defining oneself around the community makes it difficult to see oneself as capable.
Comparatively, American culture is much more focused on the individual. An individualistic culture comes with views such as viewing “themselves as separate from others, defining themselves based on their personal traits, and seeing their characteristics as relatively stable and unchanging” (Hopper, 2015). Some of the comparisons P made between America and Rwanda highlighted this idea, like how she described the ability in America to “do whatever you want with your life. You can have your own business, your own organization.” Even in just the way this is described, P repeats ‘you,’ emphasizing the individual element of this cultural mindset. While P appreciated the job opportunities present in this country, there were some struggles mentioned that might have to do with living in an individualistic based culture. P notes in her interview, describing how people “are not welcoming, so even when you go to approach someone to maybe be friends, they are very closed and do not want to be open. There’s a lot less trust in American culture. ‘What do you want from me?’ is certainly an unspoken reaction I have when approached by a stranger.”
In her interview, P didn’t seem that excited about having won the Green Card Lottery; she misses her friends and family. Despite struggles to find a job in Rwanda, P had in fact found one, but since she happened to beat the odds and win the green card lottery, she had to go. After all, people talk “about the United States and you think it's this imaginary country, that it’s paradise. So even if it's a good life in your country, you say ‘No, I have to go to the United States.’” The single-story narrative present in the U.S. finds its way to another culture and builds it up as if it is a perfect place. But everyone stands corrected in the face of reality.
Works Cited
Adichie, C. N. (2009, October 6). The Danger of a Single Story. Ted.com; TED Talks.
Ashcraft, D. & Treadwell, T. (2008). The Social Psychology of Online Collaborative Learning: The Good, the Bad, and the Awkward. The Social Psychology of Online Collaborative Learning (11). West Chester University.
Hopper, E. (2015, January 30). Individualist or Collectivist? How Culture Influences Behavior. healthypsych.
Probasco, J. (2019). How the Green Card Lottery Really Works (R. C. Kelly & S. Kvilhaug, Eds.). Retrieved from Investopedia website
S., G. (2021, May 8). My Immigrant Story: Winning The Green Card Lottery. linkedin.com.