Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local
Taji Selasi (Taiye Selasi): Ne pitajte me odakle sam, pitajte me gde pripadam
In her writings, Taiye Selasi explores our relationship to our multiple identities. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
predstavljala svoju knjigu.
alas, with a lie:
from Ghana and Nigeria,"
from England and the States."
i Sjedinjenih Država."
and grew up in the United States.
i odrasla u Sjedinjenim Državama.
and raised in Nigeria,
odrasla je u Nigeriji,
a British colony,
britanskoj koloniji,
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
u Kraljevini Saudijskoj Arabiji.
also called me "multinational."
nazivali multinacionalnom.
mislila sam,
usred turneje,
with the writer Colum McCann.
sa piscem Kolumom Makenom.
of locality in writing,
igra okruženje u pisanju
for going on two decades.
već dvadeset godina.
naturally occurring things,
prirodnim tvorevinama,
was an absolute,
had disappeared -- Czechoslovakia;
kao Čehoslovačka,
failed -- Somalia.
propale, kao Somalija.
that didn't exist when they were born.
koje nisu postojale kad su se oni rodili.
be born, die, expand, contract --
proširi, smanji -
for understanding a human being.
za razumevanje čoveka.
to discover the sovereign state.
otkriti suverenu državu.
of sovereign statehood,
suverene državnosti,
only 400 years ago.
pre samo 400 godina.
masters degree in international relations,
master studije međunarodnih odnosa,
to re- or un-define myself,
da redefinišem sebe,
"What is an Afropolitan,"
"Šta je Afropolitan",
that privileged culture over country.
kulturu iznad države.
could relate to my experience,
vezali za moje iskustvo,
didn't buy my sense of self.
osećali kao ja.
one such critic asked,
da potiče iz Gane, kada nije iskusila
on a Ghanian passport?"
pitao se jedan kritičar.
who was born and raised in Ghana.
koja se rodila i odrasla u Gani.
Ghanians of Lebanese descent.
Ganijaca libanskog porekla.
knows Accra like the back of her hand,
poznaje Akru kao svoj džep,
I thought, "She's not from Ghana."
pomislila sam: "Ona nije iz Gane."
that all her formative experience
da se celokupno njeno iskustvo
where all Ghanaians had brown skin
pasoš Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva.
from countries sets --
the singular country,
jedinstvene države -
iznad čovekovog iskustva.
the penny finally dropped.
tog dana, konačno sam shvatila sve.
- rekao je.
I proclaimed onstage.
da nisam nacionalna.
from the United States," isn't the truth.
nije istina.
with the United States,
the town where I grew up;
gradom gde sam odrasla;
where I spend Thanksgiving.
Dan zahvalnosti.
is not my passport or accent,
ili naglaska,
and my love of Ghanaian food,
with the Republic of Ghana, writ large.
sa Republikom Gana.
where my mother lives,
gde živi moja mama,
where my father and I talk for hours.
gde tata i ja pričamo satima.
that shape my experience.
moje iskustvo.
of "Where are you from?" --
"Odakle si?"- pitali
about who and how similar we are.
i o tome koliko smo slični.
and I see what, a set of clichés?
gomilu klišea?
the myth of the nation of France?
mit o Francuskoj naciji?
a set of experiences.
mnoštvo doživljaja.
rituals, relationships, restrictions.
rituali, veze, ograničenja.
whatever they may be:
šta god da su:
saying your prayers.
do shopkeepers know your face?
vas poznaju trgovci?
suburban rituals in Boston,
predgrađa Bostona,
my mother brought from London and Lagos.
iz Londona i Lagosa.
polite with our elders,
pikantnu hranu.
ours were rituals of the global South.
naši rituali su bili sa Juga.
or to southern parts of Italy,
ili na jugu Italije,
osećala sam se kao kod kuće.
of the people who shape your days.
sa kojima ste svakodnevno.
your Facebook friends.
your weekly emotional experience.
emotivni doživljaj.
my twin sister in Boston,
moja sestra bliznakinja u Bostonu,
our rituals and relationships,
svoje rituale i održavamo veze,
where are you able to live?
gde ste u stanju da živite.
from feeling fully at home where you live?
sputava, na primer, rasizam
economic inflation,
ekonomska inflacija,
where you had your rituals as a child?
izvodili rituale kao dete.
"Where are you now?"
"Gde se sada nalaziš"
on top of three columns,
as honestly as you can.
of your life in local context,
u lokalnom kontekstu,
came to Germany on scholarships.
došli su u Nemačku kao stipendisti.
and lived there until age 10.
do svoje desete godine.
he studied in London,
on je studirao u Londonu,
in northwest Argentina,
na severozapadu Argentine,
from Germany, what is now Poland,
iz Nemačke, sad je to Poljska,
and nine years ago came to Berlin.
i došao u Berlin pre deset godina.
the weather, the food, the friends --
zbog klime, hrane, prijatelja,
Udo could pass for German,
kao Nemac,
so needs a visa to live in Berlin.
i treba mu viza za boravak u Berlinu.
has largely to do with history.
ima veze sa istorijom.
of Buenos Aires and Berlin,
Buenos Ajresu i Berlinu,
needs a visa to visit Nigeria.
mora da ima vizu da bi posetio Nigeriju.
"not really Nigerian," though,
doživljajima u Lagosu,
dok je odrastao,
i prijateljima.
is undoubtedly one of his homes,
jedan od njegovih zavičaja,
by the political conditions
političkim uslovima
most meaningful rituals
najznačajniji rituali
and Udo is from Argentina
a Udo iz Argentine,
and their restrictions are the same.
su isti.
"Where are you from?"
than "Lagos and Berlin,"
nego Lagos i Berlin,
we can always zoom in closer,
možemo se približiti
"Where are you from?"
"Odakle si?"
with the language of locality asks us
umesto na državljanstvo
to where real life occurs.
na realan život.
of countryhood, the World Cup,
blistavom izražavanju pripadnosti naciji,
mostly of multilocal players.
od igrača iz raznih država.
for human experience,
but my parents come from Nigeria."
ali moji roditelji potiču iz Nigerije."
belies the inflexibility of the units,
u jedinicama,
bumping up against another.
i jedan fiktivni entitet.
suggests overlapping experiences,
navodi na prošireno iskustvo,
that can't be denied or removed.
i ne mogu se poreći ili odstraniti.
ono što sam iskusila.
that we do away with countries.
for national history,
o nacionalnoj istoriji,
and community exists in context.
a zajednica u okruženju.
these things are important.
i kolektivno sećanje.
šta je primarno.
began with reference to nation,
upućivali su na naciju,
from would tell my audience who I was.
govorila publici nešto o meni.
when we ask where someone comes from?
kada nekog pitamo odakle je?
when we hear an answer?
Mexico. Poland. Bangladesh. Less power.
Bangladeš. Manja moć.
we're playing a power game,
igramo igru moći,
of multi-ethnic countries.
or "Where are you really from?"
ili "Odakle si, stvarno?",
William Deresiewicz's writing
Vilijama Deresevica
their environment is diverse
okruženje raznoliko
and another from Pakistan --
a neko iz Pakistana,
are doctors or bankers."
doktori ili bankari."
another Pakistani,
drugog Pakistancem,
student body diversity
da postoji raznolikost studenata,
are locals of the same milieu.
pripadaju istom miljeu.
of the economic spectrum.
ekonomskog spektra.
and a Nepali housekeeper in Delhi
i nepalski domaćin u Delhiju
in terms of rituals and restrictions
rituala i ograničenja
ukazuje nacionalnost.
with coming from countries
u vezi porekla
to "go back" to Ghana.
da se "vratim" u Ganu.
but I can't "go back" to Ghana.
ali ne mogu da se "vratim" u Ganu.
and find it exactly where we left it.
i da je nađemo tamo, gde smo je ostavili.
will always have changed,
about is human experience,
disorderly affair.
neuređenoj stvari.
locality bespeaks humanity.
pripadanje mestu je znak humanosti.
about where a story is set,
gde je priča smeštena,
the characters start to feel,
and the vocabulary of coming from
into mutually exclusive categories.
u međusobno isključive kategorije.
multi-local, multi-layered.
with an acknowledgement of this complexity
ove složenosti,
not further apart.
a ne do podele.
like everybody here.
kao i svi ovde.
but a citizen of worlds.
već građanin svetova.
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