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3 So – what ARE you?

Stories matter. Stories are used to empower and humanise – or to dispossess and harm.

A colourful image with the words ‘Stronger together’.
Figure 3 Shared stories from the community

If you think about a label someone has used against you – what narrative or story did that label say about you? Did you agree with the narrative imposed on you?

Like labels, these stories are deliberately simplified. Single labels, single stories. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a TED Talk entitled ‘The Danger of a Single Story’. ‘History is written by the victors’ is said on many occasions. This means that someone’s or a peoples’ story is written for them and not by them. A single story collapses and negates all the complexities of identity and historical experience. Repeatedly telling these simple stories is a way to erase people from history.

◄Contents►Next: 3.1 I am not just one thing

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