Unessay #1

My unessay is an animated poster that focuses on the idea of the author’s voice, who we hear, and who we listen to. To preface my unessay, I approached it with the belief that hearing and listening are not the same thing. I define hearing as absorbing the words, written or otherwise, of any person and that is all. I defined listening as absorbing and comprehending or digesting the words, written or otherwise, of any person. I think that the key difference between the two is that listening involves reflection and a deeper understanding than simply registering the words we hear. My second belief is that the people that we often hear are confused for those we should listen to.

I decided to focus more specifically on how an author’s experiences can influence the credibility and honesty of their written voice and related it back to the Black Lives Matter Movement. My idea came from a few different pieces of class this year; Soyinka, Equiano, and the Chinua Achabe article. I initially thought about how in the Soyinka redings, Pilkings acts without knowledge of the culture he is disrupting. He makes assumptions based on his own beliefs and values and therefore thinks he is right in his actions. I made the assumption that if his character were asked to defend his actions, he would do so proudly. From here, I looked to the Equiano chapters where I thought about the voice. While Equiano begins by speaking in elevated tones with a neutral and non accusatory tone, he moves on to tell his story from his own perspective to an audience who has not faced the same struggles. Similarly, Chinua Achabe wrote in an article about the importance of African people sharing their own stories rather than letting others speak for them. Between these three examples, I established a pattern of an author’s voice and their authenticity. I think that this is vital to who we believe when we are learning, which is one of the main reasons why literature is so important.

I first looked at the dangers of a false narrative which I defined as the retelling of events from a point of view other than your own. This relates directly back to Achabe’s point of the importance of telling your own story. When a story is told from the perspective of someone who lacks the experience they are describing, it can unintentionally be “watered down” or changed. When a colonizer tells a story from their point of view for example, they may alter facts or change the connotation of certain actions to paint themselves in a more favorable light. The authenticity of an author’s voice, the next aspect I dove into, is determined by their experiences and understanding of the context. One’s voice is less authentic if they are speaking for inexperience.

The third subtopic that I examined was volume over voice. Oftentimes, people in a place of privilege have a louder voice. They are able to be heard because they face less obstacles. However, the quiet voices hold value that needs to be heard as well. When considering a new topic or researching something, it is important to question whether you are learning your information from the loudest voice you hear or from a more valuable voice that may be quieter. This leads into my final subtopic, how aloof this relates to current events. The Black Lives Matter movement has gained significant momentum in the past year and a half,and not everybody is familiar with its purpose. When learning, all three of the previous subtopics must be considered. It is vital to ask the following questions about the source:

1. Is the person who I am learning from speaking on behalf of their own culture and experience?
2. Is the author’s voice authentic? (Do they understand the context of which they are discussing)
3. Is the author or speaker knowledgeable on the topic or are they just a prominent figure? (value or volume)

1. Here is a link to a website that can exemplify a false narrative. This article depicts John Hopkins University and a false narrative being uncovered in regards to teir claim of being a research institute founded regardless of race, sex, or age

https://cgsnet.org/gradimpact-confronting-false-narratives-american-history

2. This link is to an article published by The New Yorker that focuses on the reasoning for an author’s authenticity and why it is more important now than in the past.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/literary-hoaxes-and-the-ethics-of-auth orship

3. The last link is to the Black Lives Matter homepage for more information about the movement. https://blacklivesmatter.com

Works Cited

Equiano, Olaudah. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or

Gustavus Vassa, the African Written by Himself.” The Project Gutenberg EBook of “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African”, by OLAUDAH EQUIANO.

Franklin, Ruth. “Chinua Achebe and the Great African Novel.” The New Yorker, 19 May 2008, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/05/26/after-empire.

“Gradimpact: Confronting False Narratives of American History.” Council of Graduate Schools.

“Home.” Black Lives Matter, 26 Aug. 2021, blacklivesmatter.com/.
Menand, Louis, et al. “Literary Hoaxes and the Ethics of Authorship.” The New Yorker, 3

Dec. 2018.
Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horsemen. Norton and Company Inc., 2002.