If All of the School...
Our Fall 2024 Selection
The Danger of a Single Story - a Ted Talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
The Fall 2024 selection is available to view here.
About the program
The purpose of the "If All of the School..." program is to generate critical inquiry and discourse about complex contemporary social issues and to encourage creative and innovative thinking among social work students, faculty, and staff. Through the shared experience of reading, viewing, or listening to the same content, the program challenges us to think differently about ourselves, our country, the world community, and the contributions of our profession.
We ask that students view the selected video prior to attending Orientation in order to prepare for small group discussion.
Why Watch?
“Before I came to school for my own graduate education, I had an image of the exciting dialogues that faculty and students could have together about ideas. While graduate school certainly includes such dialogues, it still rarely provides such opportunities outside the structure of a specific class. So this is an opportunity for us to talk together about some important ideas -- both at orientation and perhaps in the months to come. The staff and part-time faculty, some alumni and all the other students in the School will also be invited to read the book with the hope that this will spawn a series of dialogues.”
- Nancy J. Smyth, PhD, LCSW
What Will We Discuss?
At a minimum, we'll be interested in hearing people's overall reactions; however, we will also have some specific discussion questions to facilitate a deeper discussion -- you may suggest a question if you wish.
Where Can I Obtain this Year's Selection?
The Fall 2024 selection is available to view here.