ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Saki Mafundikwa - Graphic designer
Saki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe.

Why you should listen

In his book Afrikan Alphabets, Saki Mafundiwaka includes a Ghanaian pictograph meaning “return to the past” This is exactly what he did in 1997 when he cashed in his publishing job 401(k) and left New York to open the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) in Harare. (“Vigital” denotes visual arts taught using digital tools.)

As a kid growing up in Zimbabwe, Mafundiwaka loved to sketch letterforms he saw in books and magazines, but he didn’t know graphic design was a career option until he arrived in America. "Sometimes you have to leave home,” he says, “to discover yourself.” He opened ZIVA to pay it forward. “The dream,” he says, “is for something to come out of Africa that is of Africa."

In 2010, he made the film Shungu: The Resilience of a People, a compelling narrative of the strategies ordinary people use to survive in Zimbabwe today.

More profile about the speaker
Saki Mafundikwa | Speaker | TED.com
TED2013

Saki Mafundikwa: Ingenuity and elegance in ancient African alphabets

Saki Mafundikwa: Asmamena eta dotorezia antzinako afrikar alfabetoetan

Filmed:
775,241 views

Alfabeto sinpleetatik hasi eta ezkutuko hizkuntza sinbolikoetara, Saki Mafundikwa diseinatzaile grafikoak Afrikar kontinentean idatzizko komunikaziorako dauden ezin konta ahala modu azaltzen dizkigu. Idatzizko hitz eta sinboloetan oinarritzen diren historia eta ondarea azpimarratzen ditu eta afrikar diseinatzaileak bultzatzen ditu sinbolo horiek erabiltzera inspirazio freskoa bilatzeko. Laburpen gisa bere Ganako glifo gustokoena, Sankofa, dugu. Izan ere, "itzuli eta har ezazu" edo "ikas ezazu iraganetik" esan nahi du.
- Graphic designer
Saki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I moved back home 15 years ago
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Duela 15 urte etxera itzuli nintzen,
00:16
after a 20-year stay in the United States,
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20 urte Estatu Batuetan igaro ondoren.
00:19
and Africa called me back.
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Afrikaren deia sentitu nuen.
00:21
And I founded my country's first
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Eta orduan sortu nuen
nire herrialdeko lehen diseinu grafiko
00:25
graphic design and new media college.
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eta komunikabide berrien unibertsitatea.
00:27
And I called it the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts.
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Eta "Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts"
izena jarri nion.
00:32
The idea, the dream, was really for a sort of Bauhaus
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Nire ametsa, nire ideia,
Bauhaus antzeko zerbait zen,
00:36
sort of school where new ideas were interrogated
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eskola moduko bat,
non ideia berriak zalantzan jarri
eta aztertuko ziren.
00:41
and investigated,
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Afrikako ondare sortzailean oinarritutako
00:44
the creation of a new visual language
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00:47
based on the African creative heritage.
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hizkuntza bisual berri baten
sorrera aztertuko zuena.
00:52
We offer a two-year diploma
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Bi urteko diploma bat eskaini genien
00:55
to talented students who have successfully completed
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bigarren hezkuntza
arrakastaz amaitua zuten
00:59
their high school education.
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ikasle trebeei.
01:01
And typography's a very important part of the curriculum
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Tipografia gure curriculumaren
zati garrantzitsua denez,
01:04
and we encourage our students to look inward for influence.
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ikasleei esaten diegu
ereduak beraien barnean bilatzeko.
Hau ikasle batek sortutako posterra da,
01:09
Here's a poster designed by one of the students
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01:11
under the theme "Education is a right."
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"Hezkuntza eskubidea da" lemapean egina.
Hemen, nire ikasleek diseinatutako
logo batzuk.
01:16
Some logos designed by my students.
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01:20
Africa has had a long tradition of writing,
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Afrikak tradizio luzea izan du idazkeran,
01:24
but this is not such a well-known fact,
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baina ez da oso ezaguna,
01:26
and I wrote the book "Afrikan Alphabets" to address that.
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horregatik idatzi nuen
"Afrikar alfabetoak" liburua.
01:30
The different types of writing in Africa,
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Afrikan idazkera mota anitz egon dira,
01:34
first was proto-writing,
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lehenik proto-idazkera.
01:36
as illustrated by Nsibidi,
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Nsibidi-k azaltzen duen moduan,
01:38
which is the writing system of a secret society
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Nigeria hegoaldeko ejagham taldeko
01:41
of the Ejagham people in southern Nigeria.
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ezkutuko gizartearen idazkera-sistema zen.
01:45
So it's a special-interest writing system.
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Beraz, idazkera-sistema hori
bereziki interesgarria da.
01:49
The Akan of people of Ghana and [Cote d'Ivoire]
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Ghanako eta Boli Kostako akan herriak
01:52
developed Adinkra symbols some 400 years ago,
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adinkra sinboloak garatu zituen
duela 400 urte edo,
01:56
and these are proverbs, historical sayings,
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eta horiek atsotitzak, esaera historikoak,
02:00
objects, animals, plants,
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objektuak, animaliak eta landareak dira.
02:03
and my favorite Adinkra system
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Adinkra sistemako nire sinbolo gustukoena
02:05
is the first one at the top on the left.
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goialdean ezkerretik hasita lehena da.
02:07
It's called Sankofa.
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Sankofa du izena
02:08
It means, "Return and get it." Learn from the past.
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eta "bueltatu eta har ezazu"
esan nahi du. Ikasi iraganetik.
02:14
This pictograph by the Jokwe people of Angola
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Angolako jokwe herriaren piktogramek
02:17
tells the story of the creation of the world.
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munduaren sorreraren istorioa
kontatzen digute.
02:21
At the top is God, at the bottom is man, mankind,
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Goi-goian Jainkoa dago,
eta behe-behean gizakia.
02:26
and on the left is the sun, on the right is the moon.
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Ezkerrean eguzkia dago,
eta eskuinean ilargia.
02:31
All the paths lead to and from God.
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Bide guztiak jainkoarengana doaz
edo harengandik datoz.
02:35
These secret societies of the Yoruba, Kongo
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Nigeriako, Kongoko eta Angolako
02:40
and Palo religions
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yoruba, kongo eta palo erlijioetako
02:42
in Nigeria, Congo and Angola respectively,
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gizarte sekretuek garatu zuten
02:46
developed this intricate writing system
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idazteko sistema konplexu hori.
02:49
which is alive and well today in the New World
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Gaur egun bizirik eta ongi mantentzen da
02:53
in Cuba, Brazil and Trinidad and Haiti.
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Kuban, Brasilen, Trinidaden eta Haitin.
02:59
In the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
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Kongoko Errepublika Demokratikoko
oihan tropikaletan,
03:03
in the Ituri society,
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ituri gizartean,
03:06
the men pound out a cloth out of a special tree,
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gizonek zuhaitz berezi batetik
ateratzen dute oihala
03:09
and the women, who are also the praise singers,
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eta emakumeek,
talentudun kantariak direnez,
03:12
paint interweaving patterns
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beraien kantuetako egitura polifonikoen
03:15
that are the same in structure
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itxura bera duten
03:18
as the polyphonic structures that they use in their singing --
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estanpatu ehunduak marrazten dituzte.
03:23
a sort of a musical score, if you may.
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Esan daiteke partitura antzeko
zerbait direla.
03:27
In South Africa, Ndebele women
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Hego Afrikako ndebele emakumeek ere
03:29
use these symbols and other geometric patterns
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sinbolo horiekin eta bestelako
estanpatu geometrikoekin
03:33
to paint their homes in bright colors,
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kolore biziz margotzen dituzte
beraien etxeak,
03:36
and the Zulu women use the symbols
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eta zulu emakumeek ere sinbolo horiekin
ehuntzen dituzte
eskumuturreko eta lepokoak
03:39
in the beads that they weave
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03:41
into bracelets and necklaces.
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egiteko erabiltzen duten materiala.
03:44
Ethiopia has had the longest tradition of writing,
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Etiopiak izan du
idatzizko tradiziorik luzeena,
03:48
with the Ethiopic script that was developed
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K.a. IV. mendean garatutako
03:50
in the fourth century A.D.
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etiopiar idazkerari esker.
03:52
and is used to write Amharic,
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Idazkera hori 24 milioi
hiztunetik gora dituen
03:55
which is spoken by over 24 million people.
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amharera hizkuntza
idazteko erabiltzen da.
03:58
King Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum Kingdom of Cameroon
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Kamerungo Bamum erresumako
Ibrahim Njoya erregeak
04:03
developed Shü-mom at the age of 25.
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shü-mon idazkera asmatu zuen
25 urte zituela.
04:06
Shü-mom is a writing system.
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Shü-mon idazkera-sistema bat da.
04:08
It's a syllabary. It's not exactly an alphabet.
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Silabikoa da, ez da zehazki alfabeto bat.
04:11
And here we see three stages of development
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Eta hemen ikus ditzakegu
bere garapenaren hiru etapak,
04:15
that it went through in 30 years.
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30 urtean zehar burutu zirenak.
04:19
The Vai people of Liberia had a long tradition of literacy
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Liberiako vai jendeak aspalditik du
alfabetatzeko tradizioa,
04:25
before their first contact with Europeans in the 1800s.
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XIX. mendean europarrekin
kontaktuan jarri aurretik ere bai.
04:29
It's a syllabary and reads from left to right.
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Silabikoa da eta ezkerretik eskuinera
irakurtzen da.
04:33
Next door, in Sierra Leone, the Mende
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Han ondoan, Sierra Leonan,
mende herriak ere
04:37
also developed a syllabary,
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sistema silabiko bat sortu zuen,
04:39
but theirs reads from right to left.
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baina eskuinetik ezkerrera irakurtzen da.
04:43
Africa has had a long tradition of design,
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Afrikak tradizio luzea du
diseinuaren arloan,
04:46
a well-defined design sensibility,
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diseinurako sentsibilitatea
ongi definituta dago.
Baina Afrikan dagoen arazoa da,
batez ere gaur egun,
04:50
but the problem in Africa has been that,
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04:52
especially today, designers in Africa
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diseinatzaileek era guztietako diseinuak
04:55
struggle with all forms of design
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lantzen dituztela,
04:57
because they are more apt to look outward
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eragina eta inspirazioa bilatzeko
05:02
for influence and inspiration.
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kanpora begiratzen baitute.
05:04
The creative spirit in Africa, the creative tradition,
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Afrikako izpiritu sortzailea,
sormenerako tradizioa,
05:08
is as potent as it has always been,
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lehen bezain indartsu dago.
05:11
if only designers could look within.
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Baina diseinatzaileak konturatu
egin behar dira horretaz.
05:15
This Ethiopic cross illustrates
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Gurutze etiopiar honek adierazten du
05:18
what Dr. Ron Eglash has established:
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Ron Eglash jaunak esandakoa: Afrikak
05:21
that Africa has a lot to contribute to computing
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informatikari eta matematikei
asko lagun diezaiekeela,
05:25
and mathematics through their intuitive grasp of fractals.
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fraktalak ulertzeko duten
intuizioari esker.
05:30
Africans of antiquity created civilization,
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Antzinako afrikarrek
zibilizazioa sortu zuten,
05:34
and their monuments, which still stand today,
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eta bikaintasun horren testigantza dira
05:38
are a true testimony of their greatness.
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oraindik zutik dirauten monumentuak.
05:41
Most probably, one of humanity's greatest achievements
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Ziur aski gizateriaren
lorpen handienetakoa
05:45
is the invention of the alphabet,
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alfabetoaren sorrera izango da.
05:48
and that has been attributed to Mesopotamia
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Eta asmakizun hori
Mesopotamiari egozten zaio:
05:51
with their invention of cuneiform in 1600 BC,
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K.a. 1600 urtean
idazkera kuneiformea sortu zuten,
05:57
followed by hieroglyphics in Egypt,
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eta jarraian Egipton hieroglifikoak.
06:01
and that story has been cast in stone as historical fact.
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Hori guztia harrian zizelkatu zen
gertaera historiko gisa.
06:06
That is, until 1998,
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Eta horrela mantendu da,
1998an Yale unibertsitateko
06:09
when one Yale professor John Coleman Darnell
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John Coleman Darnell maisuak
Egipto mendebaldean,
06:14
discovered these inscriptions in the Thebes desert
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Tebas desertuko kareharrizko amildegietan
06:17
on the limestone cliffs in western Egypt,
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inskripzioak aurkitu zituen arte.
06:21
and these have been dated at between 1800 and 1900 B.C.,
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Inskripzio horiek
K.a. 1800 eta 1900 artekoak dira,
06:27
centuries before Mesopotamia.
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Mesopotamia baino lehenagoko mendeetakoak.
06:30
Called Wadi el-Hol
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Wadi el-Hol izena jarri zitzaien,
06:33
because of the place that they were discovered,
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horrela deitzen baita
aurkitu zituzten lekua.
06:36
these inscriptions -- research is still going on,
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Oraindik aztertzen ari badira ere,
inskripzioetako batzuk
06:39
a few of them have been deciphered,
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dezifratzea lortu dute jada,
06:42
but there is consensus among scholars
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eta adituen artean ados daude
06:45
that this is really humanity's first alphabet.
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gizateriaren lehen alfabetoa dela esatean.
06:50
Over here, you see a paleographic chart
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Taula paleografiko bat
ikus dezakezue hemen,
06:53
that shows what has been deciphered so far,
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eta bertan ikusten da
orain arte zer dezifratu den.
06:56
starting with the letter A, "ālep," at the top,
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A letraren hasita, "ālep", goialdean,
06:59
and "bêt," in the middle, and so forth.
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"bêt" dator ondoren, erdialdean,
eta abar eta abar.
07:03
It is time that students of design in Africa
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Bada garaia Afrikako diseinu-ikasleek
07:07
read the works of titans like Cheikh Anta Diop,
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Cheikh Anta Diop bezalako
titanen lanak irakur ditzaten.
Izan ere, senegaldar horrek
Egiptori buruz egindako
07:11
Senegal's Cheikh Anta Diop,
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07:13
whose seminal work on Egypt is vindicated
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lan garrantzitsuak
inskripzioen aurkikuntzari esker
07:16
by this discovery.
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baieztatu ahal izan ziren.
07:19
The last word goes to the great Jamaican leader
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Azken aipamena jamaikar agintari
handiari egin nahi diot,
07:22
Marcus Mosiah Garvey
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Marcus Mosiah Garveyri,
07:24
and the Akan people of Ghana
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baita Ghanako akan herriari ere,
07:28
with their Adinkra symbol Sankofa,
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euren adinkra sistemako sankofa sinboloak
07:30
which encourages us to go to the past
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iraganera itzultzera bultzatzen baikaitu,
07:32
so as to inform our present
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orainari informazioa eman eta
07:34
and build on a future for us and our children.
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gure etorkizuna eta gure haurrena
eraiki dezagun.
07:39
It is also time that designers in Africa
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Gainera, bada garaia
Afrikako diseinatzaileek
07:43
stop looking outside.
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kanpora begiratzeari utz diezaioten.
07:46
They've been looking outward for a long time,
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Luzaroan egon dira kanpora begira,
07:48
yet what they were looking for
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bilatzen ari zirena
beraien esku egon arren,
07:51
has been right there within grasp, right within them.
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beraien baitan egon arren.
07:55
Thank you very much.
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Eskerrik asko.
07:57
(Applause)
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(Txaloak)
Translated by Ainhoa Eguren Bengoa
Reviewed by Begoña Laka

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Saki Mafundikwa - Graphic designer
Saki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe.

Why you should listen

In his book Afrikan Alphabets, Saki Mafundiwaka includes a Ghanaian pictograph meaning “return to the past” This is exactly what he did in 1997 when he cashed in his publishing job 401(k) and left New York to open the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) in Harare. (“Vigital” denotes visual arts taught using digital tools.)

As a kid growing up in Zimbabwe, Mafundiwaka loved to sketch letterforms he saw in books and magazines, but he didn’t know graphic design was a career option until he arrived in America. "Sometimes you have to leave home,” he says, “to discover yourself.” He opened ZIVA to pay it forward. “The dream,” he says, “is for something to come out of Africa that is of Africa."

In 2010, he made the film Shungu: The Resilience of a People, a compelling narrative of the strategies ordinary people use to survive in Zimbabwe today.

More profile about the speaker
Saki Mafundikwa | Speaker | TED.com
THE ORIGINAL VIDEO ON TED.COM