I wanted to briefly post these two talks, which I absolutely absolutely loved recently.
1. Shashi Tharoor, on India’s “soft power”
Click here to watch it (unfortunately TED won’t let me embed it for some strange reason).
Shashi Tharoor was elected to India’s parliament in May 2009, representing Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala as minister for external affairs. You can follow him on Twitter @shashitharoor – exciting if you’re a social media/politics nerd like me. In the past, Tharoor has worked with the UN as High Commissioner for Refugees, and on peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia (he came in a close 2nd behind Ban Ki-Moon in nominations for Secretary General!). I think it’s immmensely exciting that people like him are entering the Indian political arena, and I’m looking forward to seeing how his career pans out.
This TED talk is funny yet eloquent and it really puts a new “face” to India: the country’s soft power. Indian culture – everything ranging from Bollywood and soap operas to it’s cuisine, yoga, tech and software genius, the magic of the “IITs” and ultimately, India’s democratic values and history of pluralism is what is defining the country around the world – not just it’s economic miracle, or it’s poverty.
2. Chimamanda Adichie, on the danger of a “single story.”
Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, and I really want to read her books at some point. To quote her profile:
In Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun has helped inspire new, cross-generational communication about the Biafran war. In this and in her other works, she seeks to instill dignity into the finest details of each character, whether poor, middle class or rich, exposing along the way the deep scars of colonialism in the African landscape.
Adichie’s newest book, The Thing Around Your Neck, is a brilliant collection of stories about Nigerians struggling to cope with a corrupted context in their home country, and about the Nigerian immigrant experience.
This talk is absolutely brilliant, talking about how assuming a “single story” of Africa – that it is a continent of poverty, war, and disease full of people needing to be “saved” by the kind White man – is so misleading. True, there is poverty and war in Africa, but this is only part of the story; stereotypes are not necessarily wrong but they are incomplete. By getting to understand all the stories behind a country, a continent, or a people, we gain a true appreciation of them and acknowledge our common humanity. One of the most brilliant talks I’ve seen and I’ve totally quoted it in fellowship applications already… 
Enjoy!
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