Storytelling #9
https://www.ted.com/talks/gus_casely_hayford_the_powerful_stories_that_shaped_africa
(This was funny, my bad)
Anyway,Gus Hayford created a ted talk about how story telling shaped Africa. His argument was that story telling was essential to African culture because due to the enslavement and oppression that Africa experienced. Throughout the ted talk he shares different narratives that are all tied into Africa culture such as the discovery of architecture in Great Zimbabwe, the British attack on Ashanti and stories of the Mali empire. The speaker was able to get his point across because of the variety of stories used in the talk. All stories had a common theme and that was about the discovery or harm towards African culture.
Hayford used ethos and logos more than the use of pathos. The narratives he decided to include were all well researched and detailed as well as being easy to follow. Occasionally he would link back to his main argument by say something along the lines of "History matters" or "Narrative matters". The speaker also used logos in his argument because he provided narratives that represent one of the very many things African was been broken down by such as war. Pathos worked really well based on the audience. If it were to be someone like me (brown person) then the effect emotionally would be much different because I can understand and agree on the oppression and racism that the speaker talks about. Even though most of his audience didn't appear to be brown people. *shrugs* I believe that the speaker may have some bias because he started off talking about all the bad things that have been said about Africa and what Africa was experienced.
From the jump he had it set out to disprove the claims against Africa and that was also his purpose in the talk. The speaker pointed the audience in a direction as to why Africa has experienced what it has while providing more positive things about Africa. I do have a very personal connection to this talk. With me being Senegalese and Leonean, I was aware that story telling was a huge part of my ancestral culture. Africa is very rich in culture and its sad to see the way Africa is talked down on after being stolen from for hundreds of years. Overall it was a great talk. One of the better ones that I've seen and I'm glad to see the revival and appreciation of African culture.
(This was funny, my bad)Anyway,Gus Hayford created a ted talk about how story telling shaped Africa. His argument was that story telling was essential to African culture because due to the enslavement and oppression that Africa experienced. Throughout the ted talk he shares different narratives that are all tied into Africa culture such as the discovery of architecture in Great Zimbabwe, the British attack on Ashanti and stories of the Mali empire. The speaker was able to get his point across because of the variety of stories used in the talk. All stories had a common theme and that was about the discovery or harm towards African culture.
Hayford used ethos and logos more than the use of pathos. The narratives he decided to include were all well researched and detailed as well as being easy to follow. Occasionally he would link back to his main argument by say something along the lines of "History matters" or "Narrative matters". The speaker also used logos in his argument because he provided narratives that represent one of the very many things African was been broken down by such as war. Pathos worked really well based on the audience. If it were to be someone like me (brown person) then the effect emotionally would be much different because I can understand and agree on the oppression and racism that the speaker talks about. Even though most of his audience didn't appear to be brown people. *shrugs* I believe that the speaker may have some bias because he started off talking about all the bad things that have been said about Africa and what Africa was experienced.
From the jump he had it set out to disprove the claims against Africa and that was also his purpose in the talk. The speaker pointed the audience in a direction as to why Africa has experienced what it has while providing more positive things about Africa. I do have a very personal connection to this talk. With me being Senegalese and Leonean, I was aware that story telling was a huge part of my ancestral culture. Africa is very rich in culture and its sad to see the way Africa is talked down on after being stolen from for hundreds of years. Overall it was a great talk. One of the better ones that I've seen and I'm glad to see the revival and appreciation of African culture.
I commented her because you are the first one I saw to do this TED Talk. I definitely agree with the purpose of this TED Talk and also how the speaker introduced the Talk. Storytelling was absolutely vital for these enslaved Africans to also make sure they did not lose their roots. The use of examples the speaker used was excellent as well. Thanks for linking the talk, about to go watch it right now.
ReplyDeleteThis a super interesting blog and as soon as I'm done I'm gonna go watch your TED talk because it sounds awesome! I think this is really interesting because this focused more on the historical side of storytelling so it utilized more logos and focused on narrative, while mine utilized pathos and focused on the power of verse and lyrical storytelling. I feel like that shows the diversity of storytelling and why both kinds are so important. Your post also reminded me of the TED talk about the danger of the single story, especially about Africans and African culture, which also supports the idea that narrative and well-rounded storytelling matter.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed understanding your take on how the person used storytelling and how its affected the perception people have on Africa. Its interesting to see how vital storytelling is in shaping a person, let alone an entire continent. But it seems like this is more of a value than a limitation to African culture and society. It is something even my family stays close to and grounded on to maintain our traditions and values. He used the stories as evidence for his points on the history of Africa. It is cool to see how history as a whole subject is just a bunch of storytelling. We are essentially telling the story of events that have occured in the past and the structure of these "stories" or historical events shapes are understanding of that place today.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this. It reminded me of a book I read that said something like, there is a proverb that says until the lion learns how to speak, the hunter will always tell the story and that has always stuck with me. I def agree that story telling is important to African Culture all across Africa. Because Africa is comprised of multiple countries, states and villages it is important for each individual to tell his or her story to avoid this generalization that Africa is all the same or that it is a country.
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