Adichie certainly packs a lot into a short speech, but her warnings about the danger of a single story seem particularly important to conversations about justice. When we allow a single story to define another person or culture, we are limiting what we are able to see and expect. As a result, people, countries and entire continents get written into a corner by the stories told about them by the powerful.

When watched in succession with Black Gold, it's interesting to see how a single story of trade relationships has defined developing nations. Instead of coffee farmers being seen as partners in a trading relationship, they are seen as merely another cost factor to be driven down to the lowest price. And then they are seen as obstinate when they try to represent their interests at global trade meetings.