And I would like to tell you a few personal stories

今天想向各位分享我的幾個故事

about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."

以及一個我稱做是「單一故事的危險性」。

I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.

我在奈及利亞東部的一個大學校園長大

My mother says that I started reading at the age of two,

我媽媽說我兩歲就會看書，

although I think four is probably close to the truth.

但我想四歲比較接近事實。

So I was an early reader, and what I read

我很小就愛看書，而我當時讀的是

were British and American children's books.

英美的童書。

I was also an early writer,

我也很小就開始寫作。

and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,

大約七歲就開始寫故事，

stories in pencil with crayon illustrations

用鉛筆寫故事加上蠟筆畫的插圖，

that my poor mother was obligated to read,

成了我媽媽必須要看的東西。

I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:

而我寫的，正是我所讀的那些故事。

All my characters were white and blue-eyed,

我的角色都是白皮膚、藍眼睛

they played in the snow,

他們在雪中玩耍

they ate apples,

他們吃蘋果

and they talked a lot about the weather,

(笑)

how lovely it was

還有，他們常常聊到天氣，

that the sun had come out.

晴天是多麼的令人愉悅

(Laughter)

(笑)

Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria.

但這實在有點奇怪，因為

I had never been outside Nigeria.

我住在奈及利亞，也沒出國過

We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,

我們那裡不下雪、吃的是芒果

and we never talked about the weather,

也從來不討論天氣

because there was no need to.

因為實在沒什麼好說的。

My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer

我筆下的角色很常喝薑汁汽水

because the characters in the British books I read

因為那些英美童書中的角色

drank ginger beer.

就是喝薑汁汽水

Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.

更別說我當時根本不知道薑汁汽水是什麼了

(Laughter)

(笑)

And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire

而在那之後的幾年，我就非常想試試

to taste ginger beer.

薑汁汽水的滋味

But that is another story.

但那是另一個故事了。

What this demonstrates, I think,

從我個人的經驗，我想

is how impressionable and vulnerable we are

這證明了我們對事物的印象是多麼容易

in the face of a story,

受故事的影響，

particularly as children.

尤其是小孩子。

Because all I had read were books

因為我小時候所有的讀物

in which characters were foreign,

書中的角色全是外國人，

I had become convinced that books

我自然就相信

by their very nature had to have foreigners in them

我寫的故事裡面就該有外國人

and had to be about things with which

也要有一些在我生活中

I could not personally identify.

無法親身體會的事物。

Things changed when I discovered African books.

後來，我發現了非洲作家的作品

There weren't many of them available, and they weren't

當時這樣的作品並不多

quite as easy to find as the foreign books.

也不像那些外國書容易取得。

But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye

但因為有Chinua Achebe和Camara Laye這些非洲作家

I went through a mental shift in my perception

我對文學作品的看法

of literature.

有很大的轉變。

I realized that people like me,

我了解到，像我這樣的人：

girls with skin the color of chocolate,

巧克力膚色的女孩，

whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,

頂著爆炸頭而不是綁著馬尾，

could also exist in literature.

也能出現在文學作品中。

I started to write about things I recognized.

我開始寫作我熟悉的事物。

Now, I loved those American and British books I read.

我也喜愛我讀的那些英美童書

They stirred my imagination. They opened up new worlds for me.

它們激發了我的想像力、為我開啟新的世界。

But the unintended consequence

但這種結果是

was that I did not know that people like me

我認為像我這樣的人

could exist in literature.

無法出現在文學裡

So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this:

所以發現這些非洲作家的作品，

It saved me from having a single story

讓我對於文學

of what books are.

不再有單一故事

I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.

我們家是普通的中產階級

My father was a professor.

我的父親是教授

My mother was an administrator.

母親是行政人員

And so we had, as was the norm,

也因此家境還不錯，

live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.

家裡也有能力請傭人來幫忙

So the year I turned eight we got a new house boy.

我八歲那年，來家裡幫忙的是個男孩

His name was Fide.

叫做 Fide。

The only thing my mother told us about him

媽媽唯一告訴我們的

was that his family was very poor.

是他們家非常窮

My mother sent yams and rice,

我媽媽會送蕃薯、米

and our old clothes, to his family.

和一些舊衣服給他們家。

And when I didn't finish my dinner my mother would say,

如果我晚餐沒吃完，我媽會說

"Finish your food! Don't you know? People like Fide's family have nothing."

「把飯吃完！妳不知道Fide他們家的人都沒東西吃嗎。」

So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.

所以我非常可憐 Fide。

Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit,

一個星期六，我們拜訪他們的村落。

and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket

他媽媽給我們看了一個編織精美的籃子，

made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.

是他哥哥用染色的棕櫚樹葉編成的

I was startled.

我嚇傻了。

It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family

我從沒想過他們家的人

could actually make something.

有能力作出那樣的東西

All I had heard about them was how poor they were,

我所聽到的只有他們多窮

so that it had become impossible for me to see them

所以我眼中的他們，除了窮之外

as anything else but poor.

看不到別的。

Their poverty was my single story of them.

他們的貧窮是我對他們的單一故事

Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria

幾年後，我到美國唸大學

to go to university in the United States.

我又想起這件事

I was 19.

當時19歲

My American roommate was shocked by me.

我的美籍室友被我嚇到了。

She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,

她問我去哪學這麼標準的英文

and was confused when I said that Nigeria

聽到我回答，奈及利亞的官方語言

happened to have English as its official language.

剛好是英文時，她還一臉疑惑。

She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music,"

她請我放放我的「部落音樂」

and was consequently very disappointed

結果看到我拿出瑪麗亞凱莉的時候

when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.

整個大感失望。

(Laughter)

(笑)

She assumed that I did not know how

她想當然地認為

to use a stove.

我不會用爐子

What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me

我突然意識到，她還沒見過我

even before she saw me.

就已經可憐我了。

Her default position toward me, as an African,

她對我這個非洲人的預設立場

was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.

是可憐、好意的憐憫

My roommate had a single story of Africa:

我室友對非洲有個單一故事

a single story of catastrophe.

就是它充滿災難。

In this single story there was no possibility

在這單一故事裡，容不下

of Africans being similar to her in any way,

非洲與她有任何相似之處

no possibility of feelings more complex than pity,

容不下除了憐憫之外的態度

no possibility of a connection as human equals.

容不下同是人類則生而平等。

I must say that before I went to the U.S. I didn't

我承認我到美國之前

consciously identify as African.

沒有完全意識到自己是非洲人。

But in the U.S. whenever Africa came up people turned to me.

但在美國，只要提到「非洲」，大家就會轉向我

Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.

也不管我對像納米比亞的地方一點都不了解。

But I did come to embrace this new identity,

但我雙手擁抱這個新身分

and in many ways I think of myself now as African.

在很多面向我認為自己是非洲人。

Although I still get quite irritable when

但聽到大家把非洲當成一個國家時

Africa is referred to as a country,

我還是會有點生氣。

the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight

最近一次，就是在兩天前拉哥斯起飛的班機上

from Lagos two days ago, in which

這趟旅行近乎完美

there was an announcement on the Virgin flight

就差在維京航空的機上廣播

about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."

關於「印度、非洲、和其他國家」的慈善工作

(Laughter)

(笑)

So after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African,

在美國當了幾年的非洲人之後

I began to understand my roommate's response to me.

我漸漸了解我室友的反應。

If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa

如果我不是在奈及利亞長大，我所認識的非洲

were from popular images,

就會是普遍的形象，

I too would think that Africa was a place of

我也會認為非洲充滿了

beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals,

漂亮的風景、美麗的動物

and incomprehensible people,

和野蠻人

fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS,

打著沒意義的仗、死於貧窮與愛滋

unable to speak for themselves

沒有思想

and waiting to be saved

等待好心的白人

by a kind, white foreigner.

來拯救我們

I would see Africans in the same way that I,

我看待非洲就會像小時候

as a child, had seen Fide's family.

看待 Fide 家那樣

This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.

這種對於非洲的單一故事，我想是從西方文學開始的。

Now, here is a quote from

下面是一位英國商人

the writing of a London merchant called John Locke,

約翰洛克所寫的，

who sailed to west Africa in 1561

他在1561年航行到西非

and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.

並且詳細的記下他的航程。

After referring to the black Africans

在形容非洲人為

as "beasts who have no houses,"

「沒有房子的野獸」之後

he writes, "They are also people without heads,

他寫道: 「他們沒有頭」

having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."

「嘴巴和眼睛長在胸部」

Now, I've laughed every time I've read this.

我每次讀完每次笑。

And one must admire the imagination of John Locke.

大家也一定很欽佩約翰洛克的想像力。

But what is important about his writing is that

但最重要的是，他寫的東西

it represents the beginning

開始了

of a tradition of telling African stories in the West:

西方人眼中傳統的非洲印象

A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives,

一種次撒哈拉非洲的負面印象

of difference, of darkness,

是和他們不同且黑暗的印象，

of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet

住著一群，我引用詩人羅德雅．吉百齡

Rudyard Kipling,

所寫的

are "half devil, half child."

「半是惡魔，半是人」

And so I began to realize that my American roommate

我漸漸了解我美國室友的想法

must have throughout her life

她的一生

seen and heard different versions

一定聽過各種版本的

of this single story,

單一故事，

as had a professor,

就如有位教授

who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African."

曾告訴我，我的小說描寫的不是「真正的非洲」。

Now, I was quite willing to contend that there were a number of things

我願意承認小說裡

wrong with the novel,

有些錯誤的地方，

that it had failed in a number of places,

不夠好的部份，

but I had not quite imagined that it had failed

但我很難想像我的小說

at achieving something called African authenticity.

沒有傳達「真正的非洲」。

In fact I did not know what

而事實上我不曉得

African authenticity was.

什麼叫「真正的非洲」。

The professor told me that my characters

那位教授說，我書中的角色