Elif Shafak: The revolutionary power of diverse thought
Elif Shafak: Revolucionarna moć raznolike misli
Elif Shafak explicitly defies definition -- her writing blends East and West, feminism and tradition, the local and the global, Sufism and rationalism, creating one of today's most unique voices in literature. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
that caught me by surprise.
at a literary festival,
na književnom festivalu,
dok sam potpisivala knjige,
sa svojom prijateljicom
experience an overlap in their senses
osjetila isprepliću
by this subject, myself included.
mnoge autore, uključujući i mene.
and said, "Yeah, I know all of that.
i rekla: "Da, znam sve to.
We learned it at school.
of food and ingredients
ima puno hrane i sastojaka
get hungry when you write?
maybe you could taste words.
kakav okus imaju riječi.
has a different color,
ima drugu boju,
is quite pungent, almost perfumed,
skoro aromatična
- vrlo pikantna riječ.
all of this to the teenager,
da ako sve to kažem tinejdžerici,
what I was trying to convey
ono što pokušavam prenijeti
allowed me to say.
dopuštaju da izgovorim.
in similar situations:
u sličnim situacijama:
and I stopped talking.
the truth was complicated,
bila komplicirana,
remain silent for fear of complexity.
zbog straha od kompleksnosti.
to give on that day.
nisam uspjela dati.
a different flavor than sad words.
drugačiji okus nego tužne.
the word "creativity" taste like,
kakvog je okusa riječ "kreativnost"
this last word that troubles me.
da sve više i više ljudi
there's more and more people
the culture, the land, the food.
kulturom, zemljom, hranom.
by its politics and politicians,
zbog njihovih politika i političara,
of despair or hurt or anger.
dovedeni do očaja, boli ili ljutnje.
our emotional intelligence.
naše emocionalne inteligencije.
pays very little attention to emotions.
ne pridaje puno pažnje emocijama.
are so busy with data and metrics
toliko zaokupljeni statistikama
those things in life
under statistical models.
u statističke modele.
for two main reasons.
iz dva glavna razloga.
I think we all are like that.
mislim da nam je to svima zajedničko.
a new stage in world history
svjetske povijesti
guide and misguide politics
kolektivnim dojmovima i zabludama
and social networking,
i društveno umrežavanje
around the world quite fast.
na temu ekonomskih faktora,
about economic factors,
about emotional factors.
onih na temu emocionalnih faktora.
feelings and perceptions?
of our biggest intellectual challenges,
od naših najvećih intelektualnih izazova
are replete with emotions.
prepuni emocija.
exploiting these emotions.
koji iskorištavaju te emocije.
and among the intelligentsia,
i među inteligencijom,
on economic inequality worldwide,
nejednakosti na globalnoj razini,
to emotional and cognitive gaps worldwide
te kognitivnom raskoraku u svijetu,
living in Istanbul,
dok sam još živjela u Istanbulu,
women writers in the Middle East
američka znanstvenica koja se bavi
in our exchange, she said,
našeg razgovora rekla je:
why you're not a feminist,
zašto vi niste feministica
into two imaginary camps,
na dva zamišljena tabora,
were liquid countries.
not yet settled.
koje se još nisu smirile.
namely the West,
to jest, Zapad,
that needed feminism
koje trebaju feminizam,
unfortunate enough
koji su dovoljno nesretni
for these most essential values.
za te osnovne vrijednosti.
would someday catch up.
jednom sustići Zapad.
in the progress of history
of other people elsewhere,
did not have to struggle
was shattered to pieces.
this dualistic pattern
naš svijet više nije preslika
ako je ikada i bila.
does not necessarily move forward.
ne znači nužno napredak.
can make the same mistakes
možemo činiti iste greške
versus liquid countries.
in liquid times,
pokojni Zygmunt Bauman.
definition for our age.
imao još jednu definiciju.
to be walking on moving sands.
u hirovitim vremenima.
slide backwards into authoritarianism,
natrag u autoritarizam,
to be a vital moment,
for global sisterhood as well.
before I go any further.
prije nego nastavim.
an international conference or festival,
međunarodnim konferencijama i festivalima,
of the more depressed speakers.
najdepresivnijih izlagača.
and how our dreams of coexistence
o demokraciji i suživotu
with a bewildering speed,
quite demoralized.
sve više demoralizirano.
some other gloomy writers,
bilo je i drugih sumornih autora
such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Egipta, Nigerije, Pakistana,
China, Venezuela, Russia.
Kine, Venezuele, Rusije.
at each other in sympathy,
Writers International Club.
i depresivnih autora.
joined first, came on board.
koji su se prvi pridružili.
from Austria, the Netherlands, France,
Austrije, Nizozemske, Francuske,
where I live and where I call my home,
i mjesto koje zovem domom,
the fate of our nations
in our own motherlands.
very depressed for a long time,
dugo bili jako depresivni,
they were so not used to feeling this way
bili još depresivniji
from Bangladesh or Turkey or Egypt
Bangladeša, Turske ili Egipta
or from post-election USA.
ili postizbornog SAD-a.
of unprecedented challenges,
dosad neviđenih izazova,
enters into the picture.
how collective sentiments work
kolektivni dojmovi
can benefit from them.
može od njih profitirati.
belong in our tribes,
svi pripadamo svojim plemenima,
if we are surrounded by sameness.
ako smo okruženi jednolikošću.
and in all shapes.
u svim veličinama i oblicima.
of a marginal political party
marginalne političke stranke
preaching dogma and hatred,
koji propovijeda dogmu i mržnju,
Nazi-admiring orator somewhere else.
superiornosti bijele rase negdje drugdje.
they seem disconnected.
ne čine se povezanima.
and how they inspire movements,
i kako nadahnjuju pokrete,
unmistakable quality in common:
jasno zajedničko obilježje:
of an authoritarian personality."
znak je autoritarne osobnosti".
of the age we're living in?
vremena u kojem živimo?
I see nuances withering away.
vidim kako nijanse blijede.
one anti-something speaker
protivnike nečega,
if they shout at each other.
is supposed to be nourished,
gdje bismo trebali njegovati intelekt,
competing with a firmly theist scholar,
suprotstavljene teističkim znanstvenicima,
between two certainties.
to be complex.
terror attack after another.
jednog za drugim.
and when you react against the cruelty,
kad reagirate protiv okrutnosti,
for civilians in Yemen
who write such messages
and stand in solidarity with
i da možemo suosjećati
in the Middle East, in Europe,
na Srednjem istoku, u Europi,
that we don't have to pick one pain
da ne moramo favorizirati jednu bol
tribalism does to us.
upravo to čini.
to the suffering of other people.
we weren't always like this.
da nismo oduvijek ovakvi.
I did lots of events.
na mnogo događanja.
younger kids in Turkey.
mlađu djecu u Turskoj.
how much empathy, imagination
koliko empatije, mašte
to become global citizens
postati kozmopoliti
when you ask them,
to be poets and writers,
pjesnici i pisci,
samopouzdane kao i dječaci,
to erase their individuality.
sve što ih čini posebnima.
and within ourselves.
tako i u nama samima.
I do know that the loss of diversity
znam da je gubitak raznolikosti
the world's biggest jailer
vodeća zemlja po broju
over there in Turkey
što se dogodilo u Turskoj,
was an illusion,
čvrste zemlje iluzija,
također je iluzija,
a multiplicity of voices inside.
every ingredient necessary
svaki potreban sastojak
is to mix those ingredients."
je pomiješati te sastojke."
i građankom Londona.
as a global soul, as a world citizen,
globalnom dušom, kozmopolitom,
just like all of us do.
baš kao i svi mi.
mean multiple stories.
chase stories, of course,
interested in silences,
zainteresirani i za šutnju,
about and written extensively
to say in a public space
u javnosti reći
ever, remain silent
no stranger to anxieties,
about the power of emotions --
or a threshold --
have their own tipping points.
Khalil Gibran used to say,
Kahlil Gibran govorio je:
za naša vremena.
možemo naučiti
the need for global solidarity.
potrebu za globalnom solidarnošću.
the beauty of cosmopolitanism
ljepotama kozmopolitizma
with one word, or one taste.
s jednom riječju, jednim okusom.
means "motherland."
because it makes me think
jer me potiče na razmišljanje,
to be rooted in one place.
samo na jednom mjestu.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Elif Shafak - NovelistElif Shafak explicitly defies definition -- her writing blends East and West, feminism and tradition, the local and the global, Sufism and rationalism, creating one of today's most unique voices in literature.
Why you should listen
Elif Shafak is an award-winning novelist and the most widely read female writer in Turkey. She is also a political commentator and an inspirational public speaker.
She writes in both Turkish and English and has published 15 books, 10 of which are novels, including the bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love and her most recent, Three Daughters of Eve. Her books have been published in 48 languages. She is published by Penguin in the UK and represented by Curtis Brown globally.
Shafak is a TEDGlobal speaker, a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy in Davos and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). She has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2010 by the French government.
She has been featured in and contributes to major newspapers and periodicals around the world, including the Financial Times, The Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel and La Repubblica.
Shafak has an academic background and has taught at various universities in Turkey, UK and USA. She holds a degree in International Relations, a masters degree in gender and women's studies and a PhD in political science. She is known as a women's rights, minority rights and LGBT rights advocate.
Shafak has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, MAN Asian Prize, the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize. She sat on the judging panel for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (2013); Sunday Times Short Story Award (2014, 2015), 10th Women of the Future Awards (2015); FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Awards (2015, 2016); Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (2016) and Man Booker International Prize (2017).
As a public speaker, Shafak is represented by The London Speaker Bureau and Chartwell Speakers and Penguin Speakers Bureau. She lives in London.
Elif Shafak | Speaker | TED.com