Photo courtesy of Megan Bove from Skidmore Conferences and Events.
When I was in tenth grade and in my first week of Advanced Placement U.S. History, my class watched a 2009 TED Talk entitled “The Danger of a Single Story.” The lecturer, a Nigerian writer by the name of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, spoke about how dominant historical and cultural narratives irreparably warp not only the way we see the world, but ourselves. My teacher used Adichie’s ideas to challenge notions of when Western history began, a concept that while certainly not new to the world, to ninth graders in New Jersey, could have been.
Of course, Adichie is not famous for one TED Talk, though a significant audience may have been introduced to her through the video. Adichie’s first novel, Purple Hibiscus, had already been published six years prior and had a fast and profound impact. Her quick success as a novelist has propelled her to become one of this decade’s foremost writers.
On Monday, October 3, Skidmore awarded Adichie an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and invited her to give the annual Steloff Lecture, which has brought the Skidmore community together to celebrate the world’s best literary and artistic talent since 1967. Past Steloff speakers include Nobel-winning authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Seamus Heaney, and Chinua Achibe.
Thirty minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, Gannett Auditorium was already halfway full, with a decent crowd gathered outside. After two years of College-wide events being held on Zoom, the in-person crowd was remarkable, and the room vibrated with eager anticipation. The audience that night was filled with not just students, but faculty and community members, many of whom brought friends or family.
The crowd came to an immediate round of applause when Adichie entered the room, accompanied by President Conner and English Professor Robert Boyers, all three in full regalia. President Conner, after giving introductory remarks about the history of the Steloff Lecture, handed it off to Professor Boyers of the English department to present Dr. Adichie to the audience. Professor Boyers, who has been a part of the Steloff Lecture selection since 1988, spoke elegantly about Adichie’s career as a writer, positioning her as “someone who goes out into the wider world and becomes a person on whom nothing, absolutely nothing, is lost.” It was a grand introduction to Adichie, who approached the podium to a rousing reaction from everyone.
Adichie titled her address “The Writer in the World,” detailing some of the pivotal moments and memories in her journey as a writer. Raised by professor parents on campus of the University of Nigeria, Adichie recalled that her childhood in the university environment presented the “last gasp of a sparkling age” of an institution “whose decline would come.” She grew up enamored with books and writing, taking advantage of the privileges granted by growing up on a university campus. Excitedly, Adichie revealed that she once lived in a house previously occupied by Chinua Achebe, who was a professor at the University alongside her father.
Adichie noted the contradicting lens through which she viewed stories, in one way as “wonderful and fascinating,” since she grew up in a post-colonial society in which anything and everything was magical. The other side of that early literary exposure, though, was that a predominance of British children’s literature reinforced a belief that while stories could be magical, her stories were not worth being shared.
The rest of Adichie’s remarks were warm, inspiring, and overflowing with timeless truths. One could feel a resounding relatability when she shared that in her youth, teachers were often uncomfortable by her unyielding curiosity. Such engagement earned Adichie a reputation of having a “lack of respect” for teachers. Of course, she later learned that her participation was indeed not out of a lack of respect but originated in a need to know and understand everything.
Adichie’s entire speech, ripe with lessons, held such importance and captivated the audience. While providing insight into her literary journey, Adichie’s address was also laden with humor, and the audience frequently laughed along with her. As we transitioned into the question and answer portion of the evening, Adichie became even more intimate with the audience.
In each answer she gave, Adichie continually insisted that we restore our good faith in humanity, suggesting, “At some point we have to have conversations where we start not assuming someone is out to offend us.” She added, “The world is more full of good people than it is of assholes” and “if we can’t find a way to have conversations, we’ll see the decline of this country.” One way she suggested that we embrace this perspective is to expose ourselves to ideas that make us uncomfortable and that we may disagree with, so we understand why we disagree with them. She also advocated for reading across time and space, which recalls her narrative of “the danger of a single story.”
Understanding that discomfort is a part of learning and growing is an idea worth cherishing. And, considering Adichie’s past comments on social issues, they provide insight into the significance of her visit to campus. Though Adichie is most renowned as a novelist, her 2014 publication We Should All Be Feminists broke her into the world of social commentary and feminist literature, writing as an advocate of free speech and against cancel culture.
This stance, however, has caused Adichie to be looped into larger, and potentially more severe conversations. Since 2017, there have been several online disputes in which Adichie has been accused of making transphobic comments in interviews, with other writers, and in the midst of conversations about cancel culture. In one notable event, she was recorded in The Guardian defending author J.K. Rowling’s toxic transphobic essay, calling it “perfectly reasonable.” This defense aligns with Adichie’s view of “social media” censorship as “cruel and sad.” She embraced Rowling as a “progressive woman” who “believes in diversity,” and argued that it is instead the problem of online culture, largely an American phenomenon, that professes “self-censorship” and produces “fundamentally uninteresting” ideas.
Nevertheless, Adichie’s visit brought out a vibrant energy that Skidmore’s campus had not seen in a while. The whole week, the student body buzzed with talk about how special it was to have such an acclaimed writer visit. Adichie’s presence on campus was especially significant for Skidmore’s LGBTQ+ community in light of the aforementioned comments.
For Hayes Botnick, ’23, Adichie’s past controversies shaped the perspective he came to the event with, and what he took away from it. He says, “I as a white trans man am not very qualified to speak for the community of trans women potentially affected by her comments… [but] she has made problematic comments against the censoring of transphobic rhetoric.” Yet, he adds, the lecture proved that “she is a woman of an open mind, one unafraid of new and conflicting dialogues.”
Botnick interpreted Adichie’s messages as being willing to “put herself in a position to educate and become a better ally.” In regards to the significance of the visit and what the College could take away, Botnick comments that “the presence of a Black feminist in a largely White institution provided for a fresh scope and mindset to bring to the Skidmore community.” Conversely, he continues, “I think there are also some things she could – and perhaps did – take from us. For instance, our openness, compassion, and love for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Professor Boyers of the English department agreed about the success and significance of the event, commenting, “The many students I spoke to on the long line for the book signing were thrilled by the event itself and electrified by the intensity generated by a crowded auditorium. That sentiment was shared by Chimamanda Adichie.”
Thank you to Amanda Denney, ‘26, for providing a transcript of the Steloff Lecture for the purpose of accurate quotations.