Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local
Taiye Selasi: Ne pitajte me gdje odakle sam, nego gdje sam lokalka
In her writings, Taiye Selasi explores our relationship to our multiple identities. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
prvu promociju svoje knjige.
alas, with a lie:
na žalost, uz laž:
from Ghana and Nigeria,"
from England and the States."
iz Engleske i SAD-a."
and grew up in the United States.
i odrasla sam u SAD-u.
and raised in Nigeria,
i odgajana u Nigeriji,
a British colony,
britanskoj koloniji,
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Kraljevini Saudijskoj Arabiji.
also called me "multinational."
također nazivali "multinacionalnom."
with the writer Colum McCann.
Columom McCannom.
of locality in writing,
ulogu ima lokalitet u pisanju,
proizlaziti iz koncepta?
for going on two decades.
tijekom dva desetljeća.
naturally occurring things,
koje nastaju prirodnim putem,
was an absolute,
had disappeared -- Czechoslovakia;
nestajale -- Čehoslovačka;
failed -- Somalia.
ili su u raspadu -- Somalija.
that didn't exist when they were born.
nisu ni postojale kada su se rodili.
be born, die, expand, contract --
roditi, nestati, povećati se ili smanjiti,
for understanding a human being.
razumijevanje ljudskog bića.
to discover the sovereign state.
došlo otkriće suverene države.
of sovereign statehood,
only 400 years ago.
prije tek 400 godina.
masters degree in international relations,
diplomskog studija međunarodnih odnosa,
kulture su bile stvarne,
to re- or un-define myself,
sam re- i od-definirati sebe,
"What is an Afropolitan,"
"Što je Afropolit,"
that privileged culture over country.
fokusirao na kulturu nego zemlju.
could relate to my experience,
ljudi moglo poistovjetiti sa mnom,
didn't buy my sense of self.
razumjelo moje shvaćanje sebe.
one such critic asked,
iz Gane," pitao je jedan kritičar,
on a Ghanian passport?"
s ganskom putovnicom?"
who was born and raised in Ghana.
rođena i odrasla u Gani.
Ghanians of Lebanese descent.
stanovnika Gane libanonskog porijekla.
knows Accra like the back of her hand,
savršeno poznaje Accru,
I thought, "She's not from Ghana."
pomislila sam kako nije iz Gane.
that all her formative experience
sva njena formativna iskustva
where all Ghanaians had brown skin
njeni građani imaju smeđu kožu
from countries sets --
the singular country,
jedinstvene zemlje,
the penny finally dropped.
toga dana, napokon mi je postalo jasno.
pomislila sam.
I proclaimed onstage.
izjavila sam na pozornici.
from the United States," isn't the truth.
iz SAD-a" nije istinita.
with the United States,
the town where I grew up;
gradom gdje sam odrasla;
where I spend Thanksgiving.
provodim Dan zahvalnosti.
is not my passport or accent,
nije moja putovnica ili naglasak,
and my love of Ghanaian food,
with the Republic of Ghana, writ large.
vezu s Republikom Ganom.
where my mother lives,
gdje živi moja majka,
where my father and I talk for hours.
gdje satima razgovaram s ocem.
that shape my experience.
of "Where are you from?" --
about who and how similar we are.
tko smo i koliko smo slični.
and I see what, a set of clichés?
a ja vidim niz klišeja?
the myth of the nation of France?
mit o francuskoj naciji?
a set of experiences.
a ja vidim skup iskustava.
rituals, relationships, restrictions.
whatever they may be:
ritualima, kakvi god da jesu:
saying your prayers.
vaše molitve.
do shopkeepers know your face?
prepoznaju vlasnici dućana?
suburban rituals in Boston,
rituale iz predgrađa u Bostonu,
my mother brought from London and Lagos.
moja majka donijela iz Londona i Lagosa.
polite with our elders,
ljubazni prema starijima,
koja se sporo kuha.
ours were rituals of the global South.
pripadali su globalnom Jugu.
or to southern parts of Italy,
New Delhiju ili jugu Italije,
kao da sam kod kuće.
of the people who shape your days.
ljudima koji su prisutni u vašem životu.
your Facebook friends.
prijateljima na Facebooku.
your weekly emotional experience.
tjedne emocionalne doživljaje.
my twin sister in Boston,
moja sestra blizanka u Bostonu,
our rituals and relationships,
održavati svoje rituale i veze,
doživljavamo svoj lokalitet
where are you able to live?
imate mogućnost živjeti?
from feeling fully at home where you live?
potpunosti osjećate udomaćeni gdje živite?
economic inflation,
ekonomska inflacija,
where you had your rituals as a child?
kao dijete obavljali svoje rituale?
"Where are you now?"
on top of three columns,
na vrh tri stupca,
as honestly as you can.
iskrenije popuniti stupce.
of your life in local context,
u lokalnom kontekstu,
came to Germany on scholarships.
došli su u Njemačku preko stipendije.
and lived there until age 10.
gdje je živio do 10. godine.
he studied in London,
on je studirao u Londonu,
in northwest Argentina,
na sjeverozapadu Argentine,
from Germany, what is now Poland,
dijela Njemačke koji je danas Poljska,
and nine years ago came to Berlin.
a prije devet godina stigao je u Berlin.
the weather, the food, the friends --
vrijeme, hrana, prijatelji,
Udo could pass for German,
Udo izgleda kao Njemac,
so needs a visa to live in Berlin.
treba imati vizu kako bi živio u Berlinu.
has largely to do with history.
je dijelom zasluga povijesti.
of Buenos Aires and Berlin,
Buenos Airesu i Berlinu,
needs a visa to visit Nigeria.
vizu kako bi posjetio Nigeriju.
"not really Nigerian," though,
nije zaista Nigerijac,
tijekom odrastanja,
is undoubtedly one of his homes,
bez sumnje jedan od njegovih domova,
by the political conditions
most meaningful rituals
se neki njihovi najznačajniji rituali
and Udo is from Argentina
a Udo iz Argentine
zajedničkih iskustava.
and their restrictions are the same.
i njihove restrikcije su iste.
"Where are you from?"
than "Lagos and Berlin,"
nego "Lagos i Berlin",
we can always zoom in closer,
možemo zumirati bliže,
"Where are you from?"
with the language of locality asks us
jezik lokaliteta zahtijeva od nas
to where real life occurs.
gdje se odvija pravi život.
of countryhood, the World Cup,
zemlje, Svjetsko prvenstvo,
mostly of multilocal players.
većinom sazdani od multilokalnih igrača.
for human experience,
but my parents come from Nigeria."
ali moji roditelji su iz Nigerije."
belies the inflexibility of the units,
nefleksibilnost tih jedinica,
bumping up against another.
koji se sudara s drugim takvim.
suggests overlapping experiences,
navodi na preklapajuća iskustva,
that can't be denied or removed.
se ne može poreći niti ukloniti.
prati me kamo god da idem.
that we do away with countries.
da treba ukinuti zemlje.
for national history,
o nacionalnoj povijesti,
and community exists in context.
postoji unutar konteksta.
these things are important.
sjećanje - sve ovo je važno.
began with reference to nation,
su referencom o naciji,
from would tell my audience who I was.
dolazim govori mojoj publici tko sam ja.
when we ask where someone comes from?
kada pitamo odakle je netko?
when we hear an answer?
Mexico. Poland. Bangladesh. Less power.
Bangladeš. Manje moći.
we're playing a power game,
of multi-ethnic countries.
multi-etničkih zemalja.
or "Where are you really from?"
ili "Odakle si zaista?"
William Deresiewicz's writing
Deresiewicza i njegovo djelo
their environment is diverse
njihova okolina raznolika
and another from Pakistan --
a drugi iz Pakistana --
are doctors or bankers."
roditelji liječnici ili bankari."
another Pakistani,
a drugog Pakistancem,
student body diversity
da je studentsko tijelo raznoliko
are locals of the same milieu.
studenti lokalci istoga miljea.
of the economic spectrum.
kraju ekonomskog spektra.
and a Nepali housekeeper in Delhi
nepalska kućna pomonica u Delhiju
in terms of rituals and restrictions
u pogledu rituala i restrikcija
with coming from countries
s idejom da se dolazi iz zemalja
to "go back" to Ghana.
"vratiti" u Ganu.
but I can't "go back" to Ghana.
ali ne mogu se "vratiti" u Ganu.
and find it exactly where we left it.
i vidjeti da je ostalo nepromjenjeno.
will always have changed,
about is human experience,
o ljudskom iskustvu,
disorderly affair.
nesređenoj avanturi.
locality bespeaks humanity.
lokalnost nagovješćuje ljudskost.
about where a story is set,
the characters start to feel,
s njima, a ne manje.
and the vocabulary of coming from
koji nameće ideju dolaska od nekuda
into mutually exclusive categories.
u međusobno isključive kategorije.
multi-local, multi-layered.
multi-lokalni, višesložni.
with an acknowledgement of this complexity
priznajući ovu kompleksnost,
not further apart.
to zbližiti, a ne udaljiti.
like everybody here.
kao i svatko ovdje.
but a citizen of worlds.
već građanka svijetova.
Rome and Accra."
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Taiye Selasi - AuthorIn her writings, Taiye Selasi explores our relationship to our multiple identities.
Why you should listen
A writer and photographer of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent, born in London and raised in Boston, now living in Rome and Berlin, who has studied Latin and music, Taiye Selasi is herself a study in the modern meaning of identity. In 2005 she published the much-discussed (and controversial) essay "Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What Is an Afropolitan?)," offering an alternative vision of African identity for a transnational generation. Prompted by writer Toni Morrison, the following year she published the short story "The Sex Lives of African Girls" in the literary magazine Granta.
Her first novel Ghana Must Go, published in 2013, is a tale of family drama and reconciliation, following six characters and spanning generations, continents, genders and classes.
Taiye Selasi | Speaker | TED.com