| Response sheet 1, for class, Tuesday | |
|
1. Hansen stresses the importance of three kinds of knowledge for any American citizen. First, what is the importance of knowledge of other places in the world, on their own terms? 2. Second, what is the importance of knowledge of the history and presence of the United States in other places in the world? 3. Third, what is the importance of knowledge of one’s own culture and upbringing? 4. Adichie encountered a college roommate in the United States who, before meeting Adichie, had certain preconceptions of what she must be like. What were some of those preconceptions? Where do you think that those preconceptions could have come from? 5. Adichie confesses to two times that she herself fell into the trap of having an inappropriate “single story,” once when she was growing up in Nigeria, and once when she was living in the United States. What had she misunderstood in each case? 6. The TED talk audience appreciated the humor of Adichie’s mention of a well-known 1991 American novel, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Why did she mention this novel, for a laugh? How did her mention fit her theme of a “single story,”? |