THE DANGERS OF A SINGLE STORY

“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity”. 

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Over the years, Democratic Republic of Congo has been reduced to what Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “the danger of the single story”.* In this single story, there is only room for the Congo of rape and war and sectarian violence. In this single story, we hear only of the Congo of the kadogos, the child soldiers, and the tshegues, the street kids left to fend for themselves, with some resorting to selling their bodies in exchange for their next meal. 

In this single story, we hear of the Congo of poor governance and systemic corruption; the Congo of Heart of Darkness, colonisation and failing decrepit infrastructure. And in such a Congo, the women, if we hear about them at all, are almost always victims. 

While this story of the Congo is a true story, it is also an incomplete one. It fails to convey the multi-faceted nature of this wonderfully chaotic but colourful country. It leaves no room for the Congo that might inspire joy or admiration, no room for the Congo with its gloriously rich and creative arts scene, nor for the strong women who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer and refuse to be browbeaten, just as there is no room for the many educated, talented women flying high in their respective fields. There is nothing in this Congo that might provide a sense of shared humanity and certainly nothing for someone, who has never experienced such hardships, to relate to.

As Adichie puts it: “The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasises how we are different rather than how we are similar.” 

In this “single story of catastrophe", she adds, only a “kind, white foreigner” can save Congo from itself, without conveying any sense of the role that some white foreigners have had in its continued stagnation.

In this vein, Mama Congo aspires, among other things, to disseminate a variety of stories and images from Congo.

Throughout our work, we have been mindful that these tales should be told by the very girls and women whose portraits are featured in the project. While their testimonies have been condensed, the words remain entirely their own. 

Among the stories of hardship and suffering, there are also tales of hope and ingenuity, of love and aspiration. While some stories may move you to tears, we hope others will stir you to joy.  If just one of these stories can inspire hope and make you think differently of Congo and its people, then we will have done our job.

* Adichie began with the specific example of Nigeria, as well as the African continent in general, but she was making the wider point about the dangers of reducing entire countries and people to one single story. Her thought-provoking 2009 Ted Talk is a must-watch lecture, which you can watch below.