Consider this: With her self-proclaimed nature to “swamp [herself] with work,” Akinbode-James took on the challenge of presenting a TEDx Talk during her demanding senior year of high school.
‘Africa, Country or Continent: The Broken Perception’ began with Akinbode-James describing an encounter she had with her American friend and her family at dinner. The friend’s mother asked how far of Akinbode-James had to walk from her “village” to school.
“I was so thrown aback by it because here I am at dinner, thinking we’re just having a good time, and she just pulls that out,” said Akinbode-James, who did not dwell in a village and rode a bus to school. “As much as it is shocking and I’ve gone along and had these experiences, I’ve just realized instead of getting mad about it or angry about it, it’s easier to just try to educate people on it. The more people know the better.”
In her talk, she also says a “single-story notion” concept of African countries produces a distorted view of a homogenous continent instead of one with 54 different countries encompassing more than 1.2 billion people speaking 2,000 languages. The media have reinforced that story by focusing on only a few things in African nations, including poverty and disease.
While she understands that her lifestyle is not newsworthy, Akinbode-James believes it is “not non-existent.”
“It is imperative that we do not rely on just narratives but rather on the complete story to make an informed judgment,” she said.