The video is about achieving literacy by taking Knoblauch’s steps of literacy. At the age of 7 she began writing stories, which she would have white, blue eye characters and would play in sunshine and drink ginger beer. She talks about her characters where from books she would read as a child growing up. Also her writing was from the point of view of the books she was reading she must write books like that because she was influenced by those authors. Her own belief was that books by its very nature had to be about them. She grew up in middle class by Her country’s standards of living. Her father was a professor and her mother was administer. She didn’t know much about social classes growing up or what was poor and what was rich. She sleeked a friend by her parents standards was a poor kid. After leaving to go to college in the United States. Her roommate would ask simple questions she felt was awkward by the very nature to ask, such as “do you know English? Is that from Africa? Does Africa have this or that”. Though the questions where a stereotype by its own idea that the roommate didn’t know much about Africa by what she has heard or seen on TV. She describes she wasn’t mad at the roommate for asking because she can see herself asking the same questions if she was in her shoes, instead she showed empathy and sympathy towards the roommate.
She began to get a change towards her writing by understanding when writing stories about other people. She began to write about Africa as a professor asked her to do so. She was also asked by this very influence professor that had a huge impact on her life to achieve another step in Knoblauch’s literacy. To write about driving cars and about her middle class rather then a point of view from a board spectrum. Also she would learn that Economical political war would attack writers to write about specific stories rather then a story to create a critical literacy writer to have influence about asking questions to question the government. She started to understand that American stories and American culture is about America but not the rest of the world. She also went on saying that stereotypes or negative stories about others isn’t a definition but rather a unfinished proven written whole story in general. She stops short saying it doesn’t exist but rather its undefined. She also wanted and asked how come more people didn’t know about African literature or about African authors. What if her roommate knew of some for example about the war and how woman in Nigeria are working to provide equality and strength in Nigeria. So at the crucial point of this self imposed question she was achieving a critical literacy role from Knoblauch’s definitions of literacy. She wanted to teach, start reading writing workshops and help build library’s and organize reading events. She began to understand that stories matter and it can empower and humanize others and impact people at a early and even old age. She wanted to create a story of any place to gain a kind wonderful equal paradise.
Knoblauch can compare his key points of literacy by looking at the steps of literacy she achieved while growing up. At a early age she had a already functional and cultural literacy. From years of growing up and becoming a self writer she began to take on a new approach to literacy by becoming into the personal growth part of literacy. She couldn’t achieve a higher success of literacy without being challenged to reach the next step of literacy. She finally achieved that step in literacy by a professor who would ask her ” try to write a story from a different point of view such as being the Indian that shoots the arrow rather then the sailor landing on shore you can have entirely different story. By achieving this aspect of literacy she began to ask the write questions and achieve them by trying to influence others through story and bringing things to help others back home who didn’t have the same success as she had when growing up.
Scribner talks about how literacy is how we have raised in are social classes and the schools we attended to how we are achieving literacy through networks of are learning enjoinments. She grew up in a middle class enjoinment at a young age and when doing so she was able to have a heads up then most people growing up in Africa by already being a role to have better success then most. Also be able to attend college and be giving opportunity to achieve a higher statue of a social class be becoming more educated to get out of the current social class which she would reside and grow up. Its obvious by the way she wants to impact others back home and help build library’s for children and young to old adults she needs to achieve a higher social class to afford all the works to help a nation, a country with so many issues of poverty and tough government laws to find success. Though the road is tough for her she knows by gaining a positive world view stereotype of her self she can find success in long term.
In conclusion I must say looking at her growth into Knoblauch literacy and Scribner’s classes of literacy. She began to understand that stereotyping others by the books they read to the stories they write have a dangerous way to label people. When growing up she would believe all people in other country’s must have a better life then she had. When going to college and seeing and hearing her roommate speak began to open her eyes to start believing in the idea of stereotyping. She once was guilty herself of stereotyping others and even a victim of being stereotyped. Rather then feeling as if she was guilty of being born in the wrong family or the wrong skin, she began to see that stereotypes aren’t born but rather created by reading stories or watching TV to hearing what others are being told. So her idea to explain herself about stories being dangerous she had to bring up a key point as stories don’t always define one person or a group of people, but as everyone as one equal identity with different cultures so she wanted to write about her culture more as to teach reader when reading to learn more about her culture as also allow them to think for themselves and relate to her stories. Stories are always a great way to be heard and not been seen. We can always visual from far about ones self but listing to audio can have a different point of view, so its best to use both then using one over another to have a clear understanding of what the story is about.
Chimamanda Adichie mean when she says there is a “danger to having just a single story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
References
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watchv=D9Ihs241zeg
Knoblauch, C. H. (1990). Literacy and the politics of education. The right to literacy, 74-80.
Scribner, S. (1984). Literacy in three metaphors. American Journal of Education, 93(1), 6-21.
Michael Delano 