Elif Shafak: The revolutionary power of diverse thought
ایلف شفک: د بیلا بیلو فکرونو انقلابي قوت
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
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that caught me by surprise.
at a literary festival,
خبرې کولې،
experience an overlap in their senses
تجربه کوي
by this subject, myself included.
کړي هم دي.
and said, "Yeah, I know all of that.
راته يې وویل، هو زه په دې پوهیږم
We learned it at school.
مونږ په ښوونځي کې لوستي ول.
of food and ingredients
get hungry when you write?
maybe you could taste words.
کیدای شي ته لغاتونه وڅکې.
has a different color,
is quite pungent, almost perfumed,
all of this to the teenager,
انجلۍ ته وویل،
what I was trying to convey
غوښتل
allowed me to say.
ښکاریدل.
in similar situations:
and I stopped talking.
the truth was complicated,
حقیقت مغلقه دی
remain silent for fear of complexity.
غلی پاتې شي.
خبری وکړم
to give on that day.
مې ورنکړل شو.
a different flavor than sad words.
توپیر هم لري.
the word "creativity" taste like,
ولري؟
this last word that troubles me.
ما ځوروي
there's more and more people
the culture, the land, the food.
نښتې یو.
by its politics and politicians,
زړه توري یو.
of despair or hurt or anger.
our emotional intelligence.
pays very little attention to emotions.
په ډيره ټیټه سترګه ګوري.
are so busy with data and metrics
او متریک کې دومره بوخت شي
those things in life
دي
under statistical models.
اندازه کول هم ناشونی وي
for two main reasons.
دوه سببونه لري:
I think we all are like that.
زما په فکر همداسی یو.
a new stage in world history
guide and misguide politics
او یا يې بې لارې کوي
and social networking,
around the world quite fast.
مزل کوي.
about economic factors,
زیاتې څيړنې شوي،
about emotional factors.
څیړنې ترسره شوي.
feelings and perceptions?
سترګه ګورو؟
of our biggest intellectual challenges,
چیلینج وي
are replete with emotions.
ډک شوی
exploiting these emotions.
and among the intelligentsia,
on economic inequality worldwide,
باندې هم تمرکز وکړو
to emotional and cognitive gaps worldwide
پاملرنه وکړو
living in Istanbul,
women writers in the Middle East
په ښځينه لیکوالو کار کوو
in our exchange, she said,
(ښځې حقوقو دفاع کونکې)
why you're not a feminist,
into two imaginary camps,
بدله کړه.
پاتې شوه
were liquid countries.
not yet settled.
خو لا تراوسه ځای په ځای شوی نه وي
namely the West,
that needed feminism
unfortunate enough
for these most essential values.
مبارزه وکړي
would someday catch up.
in the progress of history
اخلي
of other people elsewhere,
سره ملاتړکوي
did not have to struggle
was shattered to pieces.
this dualistic pattern
does not necessarily move forward.
پر مخ نه ځي
can make the same mistakes
versus liquid countries.
in liquid times,
ژوند کوو
definition for our age.
to be walking on moving sands.
کوو
پاملرنه وکړو.
slide backwards into authoritarianism,
to be a vital moment,
for global sisterhood as well.
before I go any further.
یوه بله خبره هم اعتراف کوم
an international conference or festival,
یا فیستیوال کې برخه اخستې
of the more depressed speakers.
and how our dreams of coexistence
with a bewildering speed,
quite demoralized.
some other gloomy writers,
لیکوالان ول
such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan,
پاکستان، بنګله دیش
China, Venezuela, Russia.
at each other in sympathy,
Writers International Club.
club(د لیکوالونړیوال کلب)
joined first, came on board.
او شاعرانو یوځای شول
راغلل
from Austria, the Netherlands, France,
اتریش، نیدرلینډ او فرانسې څخه همراغلل
where I live and where I call my home,
او چیرته چې اوسیږم
the fate of our nations
in our own motherlands.
very depressed for a long time,
they were so not used to feeling this way
from Bangladesh or Turkey or Egypt
لیکوالان لیدلي وي
څرګنده کړئ
or from post-election USA.
of unprecedented challenges,
څخه ډکه ده
enters into the picture.
ته دننه کیږي
how collective sentiments work
احساسات کار کوي
can benefit from them.
belong in our tribes,
اړه لرو
if we are surrounded by sameness.
دي په هغه صورت کې چې مونږ یو شان یو
and in all shapes.
of a marginal political party
پارټۍ نه راځي
preaching dogma and hatred,
Nazi-admiring orator somewhere else.
ښه نوم یادوي
they seem disconnected.
ښکاریږي
and how they inspire movements,
کوي او څنګه خلک متاثره کوي
unmistakable quality in common:
of an authoritarian personality."
of the age we're living in?
نښه وي؟
I see nuances withering away.
رنګ تښټي
one anti-something speaker
if they shout at each other.
is supposed to be nourished,
چې باید زمونږ ذهن تغذیه شي
competing with a firmly theist scholar,
عالم سره څنګه مقابله کوي
between two certainties.
to be complex.
terror attack after another.
بریدونه وشول.
and when you react against the cruelty,
غږ پورته کړې
for civilians in Yemen
who write such messages
رالیږي
and stand in solidarity with
in the Middle East, in Europe,
که اروپا کې وي
that we don't have to pick one pain
یو درد نه ژاړو
tribalism does to us.
رازده کړي
to the suffering of other people.
یو چې د خلکو کړیدل هم یو طرفه کوو
we weren't always like this.
داسې نه وو
I did lots of events.
کې ګډون کړی وو
younger kids in Turkey.
ماشومان وارزوم
how much empathy, imagination
خواخوږي، تخیلات
to become global citizens
اوسیدونکي شي
when you ask them,
to be poets and writers,
لیکوالان شي یا شاعران
to erase their individuality.
یوسي
and within ourselves.
I do know that the loss of diversity
مونږ بیلا بیلتیا بایلو
the world's biggest jailer
over there in Turkey
was an illusion,
a multiplicity of voices inside.
every ingredient necessary
is to mix those ingredients."
as a global soul, as a world citizen,
just like all of us do.
mean multiple stories.
chase stories, of course,
interested in silences,
about and written extensively
او لیکنې مې هم کړي
to say in a public space
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,
the need for global solidarity.
زده کوو
the beauty of cosmopolitanism
with one word, or one taste.
means "motherland."
because it makes me think
زه فکر کوم چې
to be rooted in one place.
سرچینه واخلي
وړونکی وي
فکر کوم چې
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