TEDGlobal 2009
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story
Čimamanda Adići: Opasnost pojedinačne priče
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Readability: 4.1
21,248,547 views
Naši životi, naša kultura, stvoreni su od mnogo priča koje se prepliću. Književnica Čimamanda Adići govori o tome kako je našla svoj autentični kulturološki glas i upozorava da ukoliko čujemo samo jednu priču o dugoj osobi ili zemlji, rizikujemo kritično nerazumevanje.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Novelist
Inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature. Full bio
Inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I'm a storyteller.
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Ja sam pripovedač.
00:14
And I would like to tell you a few personal stories
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I želela bih da vam ispričam nekoliko ličnih priča
00:17
about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."
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o nečemu što volim da zovem "opasnost pojedinačne priče".
00:22
I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
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Odrasla sam u univerzitetskom kampusu u istočnoj Nigeriji.
00:26
My mother says that I started reading at the age of two,
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Moja majka tvrdi da sam počela da čitam sa dve godine,
00:29
although I think four is probably close to the truth.
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iako ja mislim da je to verovatnije bilo sa 4.
00:34
So I was an early reader, and what I read
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Dakle, rano sam počela da čitam. A čitala sam
00:36
were British and American children's books.
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britanske i američke knjige za decu.
00:39
I was also an early writer,
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Isto tako, počela sam rano i da pišem.
00:42
and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,
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A kad sam počela da pišem, negde oko sedme godine,
00:46
stories in pencil with crayon illustrations
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priče pisane olovkom i ilustrovane bojicama,
00:48
that my poor mother was obligated to read,
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koje je moja jadna majka imala obavezu da čita,
00:51
I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:
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pisala sam upravo onakve priče kakve sam i čitala.
00:55
All my characters were white and blue-eyed,
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Svi moji likovi su bili beli i plavooki.
01:00
they played in the snow,
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Igrali su se u snegu.
01:02
they ate apples,
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Jeli su jabuke.
01:04
and they talked a lot about the weather,
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(smeh)
01:06
how lovely it was
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I mnogo su razgovarali o vremenu,
01:08
that the sun had come out.
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kako je bilo lepo što je izašlo sunce.
01:10
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
01:12
Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria.
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Sad, ovo je uprkos činjenici da sam živela u Nigeriji.
01:15
I had never been outside Nigeria.
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Nikada nisam bila izvan Nigerije.
01:19
We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,
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Nismo imali sneg. Jeli smo mango.
01:22
and we never talked about the weather,
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I nikada nismo govorili o vremenu,
01:24
because there was no need to.
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jer nije bio potrebe za tim.
01:26
My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer
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Moji likovi su takođe pili mnogo piva od đumbira,
01:29
because the characters in the British books I read
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jer su likovi u britanskim knjigama koje sam čitala
01:31
drank ginger beer.
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pili pivo od đumbira.
01:33
Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.
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Nije bilo važno što nisam imala pojma šta je pivo od đumbira.
01:36
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
01:37
And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire
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I mnogo godina nakon toga, ja sam imala očajničku želju
01:40
to taste ginger beer.
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da probam pivo od đumbira.
01:42
But that is another story.
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Ali to je druga priča.
01:44
What this demonstrates, I think,
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Mislim da ovo pokazuje
01:46
is how impressionable and vulnerable we are
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kako smo ranjivi i impresionirani
01:49
in the face of a story,
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pred nekom pričom
01:51
particularly as children.
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naročito kao deca.
01:53
Because all I had read were books
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Jer jedino što sam čitala bile su knjige
01:55
in which characters were foreign,
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gde su likovi bili stranci.
01:57
I had become convinced that books
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Postala sam ubeđena da knjige,
01:59
by their very nature had to have foreigners in them
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po svojoj prirodi, moraju da imaju strance u sebi,
02:02
and had to be about things with which
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i da moraju su da budu o stvarima sa kojima
02:04
I could not personally identify.
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lično nisam mogla da se identifikujem.
02:07
Things changed when I discovered African books.
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E sad, stvari su se promenile kad sam otkrila afričke knjige.
02:11
There weren't many of them available, and they weren't
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Nije bilo mnogo dostupnih. I nisu bile
02:13
quite as easy to find as the foreign books.
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tako lake za pronaći, poput stranih knjiga.
02:15
But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye
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Ali zbog pisaca poput Ćinua Aćibe i Kamara Laje
02:19
I went through a mental shift in my perception
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prošla sam kroz mentalni pomak u mojoj percepciji
02:21
of literature.
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književnosti.
02:23
I realized that people like me,
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Shvatila sam da ljudi poput mene,
02:25
girls with skin the color of chocolate,
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devojke sa kožom boje čokolade,
02:27
whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,
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čija kovrdžava kosa nije mogla da se veže u konjski rep,
02:30
could also exist in literature.
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takođe mogu da postoje u književnosti.
02:32
I started to write about things I recognized.
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Počela sam da pišem o stvarima koje sam mogla da prepoznam.
02:36
Now, I loved those American and British books I read.
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Volela sam te američke i britanske knjige koje sam pročitala.
02:40
They stirred my imagination. They opened up new worlds for me.
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One su pokrenule moju maštu. Otvorile su nove svetove za mene.
02:44
But the unintended consequence
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Ali nenamerna posledica
02:46
was that I did not know that people like me
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je da nisam znala da ljudi poput mene
02:48
could exist in literature.
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mogu da postoje u literaturi.
02:50
So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this:
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Tako da je otkriće afričkih pisaca učinilo sledeće za mene:
02:54
It saved me from having a single story
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spasilo me je od imanja samo jedne priče
02:57
of what books are.
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o tome šta su knjige.
02:59
I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.
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Potičem iz konvencionalne nigerijske porodice, srednje klase.
03:02
My father was a professor.
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Moj otac je bio profesor.
03:04
My mother was an administrator.
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Moja majka administrativni radnik.
03:07
And so we had, as was the norm,
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Tako da smo imali, jer tako su norme nalagale,
03:10
live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.
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osoblje, koje je živelo sa nama u kući, a dolazilo je iz susednih ruralnih sela.
03:15
So the year I turned eight we got a new house boy.
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Te godine kada sam napunila osam, stigao nam je novi dečak na ispomoć.
03:19
His name was Fide.
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Njegovo ime je bilo Fide.
03:21
The only thing my mother told us about him
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Jedina stvar koju nam je majka o njemu rekla
03:24
was that his family was very poor.
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jeste da je njegova porodica veoma siromašna.
03:27
My mother sent yams and rice,
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Moja majka je poslala povrće i pirinač,
03:29
and our old clothes, to his family.
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i našu staru odeću njegovoj porodici.
03:32
And when I didn't finish my dinner my mother would say,
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I kada ne bih završila svoju večeru, majka bi rekla,
03:34
"Finish your food! Don't you know? People like Fide's family have nothing."
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"Pojedi svoju večeru! Zar ne znaš? Ljudi poput Fideove porodice nemaju ništa."
03:39
So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.
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Tako da sam užasno sažaljevala Fideovu porodicu.
03:43
Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit,
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Onda, jedne subote, otišli smo do njegovog sela u posetu.
03:46
and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket
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I njegova majka mi je pokazala divno išaranu korpu
03:50
made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.
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napravljenu od obojene palme, koju je njegov brat napravio.
03:53
I was startled.
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Trgla sam se.
03:55
It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family
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Nije mi palo na pamet da bi bilo ko u njegovoj porodici
03:58
could actually make something.
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mogao nešto da napravi.
04:01
All I had heard about them was how poor they were,
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Sve što sam čula o njima, jeste koliko su oni siromašni,
04:04
so that it had become impossible for me to see them
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tako da je postalo nemoguće za mene da ih vidim
04:06
as anything else but poor.
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drugačije nego siromašne.
04:09
Their poverty was my single story of them.
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Ovo siromaštvo je bila moja pojedinačna priča o njima.
04:13
Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria
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Godinama kasnije kada sam napustila Nigeriju, da bih studirala u Americi,
04:15
to go to university in the United States.
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razmišljala sam o tome.
04:18
I was 19.
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Imala sam 19 godina.
04:20
My American roommate was shocked by me.
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Moja američka cimerka je bila šokirana mnome.
04:24
She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,
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Pitala me je gde sam naučila engleski tako dobro,
04:27
and was confused when I said that Nigeria
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i bila je zbunjena kada sam joj rekla da Nigerija
04:29
happened to have English as its official language.
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slučajno ima engleski kao zvanični jezik.
04:34
She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music,"
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Pitala me je da li može da čuje moju "plemensku muziku" - kako ju je nazvala
04:38
and was consequently very disappointed
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i bila je posledično veoma razočarana
04:40
when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.
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kada sam joj pustila moju Maraja Keri kasetu.
04:42
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
04:45
She assumed that I did not know how
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Pretpostavila je da ne znam
04:47
to use a stove.
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da koristim štednjak.
04:50
What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me
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Ono što me pogodilo je sledeće: Sažaljevala me je
04:52
even before she saw me.
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i pre nego što me je upoznala.
04:54
Her default position toward me, as an African,
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Njen podrazumevani stav prema meni, kao Afrikanki,
04:58
was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.
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bio je starateljski, dobronamerni i sažaljevajući.
05:02
My roommate had a single story of Africa:
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Moja cimerka je imala pojedinačnu priču o Africi.
05:05
a single story of catastrophe.
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Pojedinačnu priču katastrofe.
05:08
In this single story there was no possibility
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U ovoj pojedinačnoj priči nije bilo šanse
05:10
of Africans being similar to her in any way,
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da afrikanci liče na nju, na bilo koji način.
05:14
no possibility of feelings more complex than pity,
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Nema mogućnosti za osećanja složenija od sažaljenja.
05:17
no possibility of a connection as human equals.
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Nema mogućnosti za povezivanje kao ravnopravnih pojedinaca.
05:21
I must say that before I went to the U.S. I didn't
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Moram da kažem da se pre odlaska u SAD nisam
05:23
consciously identify as African.
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svesno identifikovala kao Afrikanka.
05:26
But in the U.S. whenever Africa came up people turned to me.
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Ali u Sjedinjenim Državama, kad god se spomenula Afrika, ljudi su se okretali meni.
05:29
Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.
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Nema veze što ništa nisam znala o mestima poput Namibije.
05:33
But I did come to embrace this new identity,
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Ali sam došla do toga da prihvatim ovaj identitet.
05:35
and in many ways I think of myself now as African.
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I na mnogo načina sada mislim o sebi kao o Afrikanki.
05:38
Although I still get quite irritable when
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Mada se još uvek prilično uznemirim kada
05:40
Africa is referred to as a country,
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Afriku pominju kao zemlju.
05:42
the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight
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Najnoviji primer je moj inače divan let
05:46
from Lagos two days ago, in which
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iz Lagosa pre dva dana, gde je
05:48
there was an announcement on the Virgin flight
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na Virdžin letu najavljen
05:50
about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."
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humanitarni rad u "Indiji, Africi i drugim zemljama."
05:55
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
05:56
So after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African,
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Nakon što sam provela nekoliko godina u Sjedinjenim Državama kao Afrikanka,
06:00
I began to understand my roommate's response to me.
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počela sam da razumevam kako me je cimerka doživela.
06:04
If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa
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Da nisam odrasla u Nigeriji i da sve što znam o Africi
06:07
were from popular images,
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dolazi od popularnih slika,
06:09
I too would think that Africa was a place of
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i ja bih mislila o Africi kao o mestu
06:12
beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals,
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prelepih panorama, prelepih životinja,
06:16
and incomprehensible people,
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i neshvatljivih ljudi,
06:18
fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS,
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koji vode besmislene ratove, umiru od siromaštva i SIDE,
06:21
unable to speak for themselves
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nisu u stanju da govore u svoje ime,
06:24
and waiting to be saved
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i čekaju da ih spase
06:26
by a kind, white foreigner.
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dobri, beli stranac.
06:29
I would see Africans in the same way that I,
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Videla bih afrički narod na isti način na koji sam ja,
06:31
as a child, had seen Fide's family.
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kao dete, videla Fideovu porodicu.
06:35
This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.
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Ova priča dolazi, bar mislim, iz Zapadne literature.
06:39
Now, here is a quote from
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Ovo je citat iz
06:41
the writing of a London merchant called John Locke,
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pisanja londonskog trgovca, Džona Loka,
06:44
who sailed to west Africa in 1561
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koji je plovio prema zapadnoj Africi 1561.
06:47
and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.
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i vodio fascinantan dnevnik svog putovanja.
06:52
After referring to the black Africans
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Nakon što govori o crnim Afrikancima
06:54
as "beasts who have no houses,"
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kao o "zverima koje nemaju kuću",
06:56
he writes, "They are also people without heads,
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on piše, "Oni su takođe ljudi bez glava,
07:00
having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."
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sa ustima i očima na grudima."
07:05
Now, I've laughed every time I've read this.
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E sad, smejala sam se svaki put kad bih ovo pročitala.
07:07
And one must admire the imagination of John Locke.
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I moramo se diviti mašti Džona Loka.
07:11
But what is important about his writing is that
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Ali ono što je važno u vezi sa ovim, jeste
07:13
it represents the beginning
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da to predstavlja početak
07:15
of a tradition of telling African stories in the West:
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tradicije zapadnjačkog pričanja afričkih priča.
07:18
A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives,
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Tradiciju sub-saharske Afrike kao negativnog mesta,
07:21
of difference, of darkness,
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različitog, mračnog,
07:23
of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet
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sa ljudima koji, po rečima divnog pesnika,
07:27
Rudyard Kipling,
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Radjarda Kiplinga,
07:29
are "half devil, half child."
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su "pola đavo, pola dete".
07:32
And so I began to realize that my American roommate
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Tako da sam počela da shvatam da je moja američka cimerka
07:35
must have throughout her life
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morala tokom svog života
07:37
seen and heard different versions
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videti i čuti različite verzije
07:39
of this single story,
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ove jedne priče,
07:41
as had a professor,
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poput profesora,
07:43
who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African."
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koji mi je jedanput rekao da moj roman nije bio "autentično afrički".
07:48
Now, I was quite willing to contend that there were a number of things
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Bila sam prilično voljna da tvrdim da je bilo mnogo stvari u knjizi
07:50
wrong with the novel,
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koje su bile pogrešne,
07:52
that it had failed in a number of places,
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da je podbacila na mnogo mesta.
07:56
but I had not quite imagined that it had failed
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Ali nisam mogla da zamislim da nije uspela
07:58
at achieving something called African authenticity.
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da dostigne nešto što se zove afrička autentičnost.
08:01
In fact I did not know what
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Ustvari, ja nisam znala šta je
08:03
African authenticity was.
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to afrička autentičnost.
08:06
The professor told me that my characters
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Profesor mi je rekao da moji likovi
08:08
were too much like him,
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previše podsećaju na njega,
08:10
an educated and middle-class man.
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obrazovanog čoveka iz srednje klase.
08:12
My characters drove cars.
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Moji likovi su vozili kola.
08:14
They were not starving.
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Nisu bili izgladneli.
08:17
Therefore they were not authentically African.
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Prema tome, nisu bili autentično afrički.
08:21
But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty
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Ali moram brzo da dodam da sam i ja kriva
08:24
in the question of the single story.
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kada je u pitanju jedna priča.
08:27
A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S.
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Pre nekoliko godina, otišla sam iz Amerike u posetu Meksiku.
08:31
The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense,
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Politička klima u Americi, u to vreme, je bila napeta.
08:33
and there were debates going on about immigration.
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I postojale su debate u vezi sa imigracijom.
08:37
And, as often happens in America,
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I kao što to često biva u Americi,
08:39
immigration became synonymous with Mexicans.
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imigracija je postala sinonim za Meksikance.
08:42
There were endless stories of Mexicans
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Nije bilo kraja pričama o Meksikancima
08:44
as people who were
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kao o ljudima koji
08:46
fleecing the healthcare system,
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potkradaju zdravstveni sistem,
08:48
sneaking across the border,
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koji se šunjaju preko granica,
08:50
being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.
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bivaju uhapšeni na granicama, takve stvari.
08:54
I remember walking around on my first day in Guadalajara,
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Sećam se svoje prve šetnje kroz Gvadalaharu,
08:58
watching the people going to work,
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gledala sam mlade ljude kako idu na posao,
09:00
rolling up tortillas in the marketplace,
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zavijaju tortilje na pijaci,
09:02
smoking, laughing.
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puše, smeju se.
09:05
I remember first feeling slight surprise.
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Sećam se da je prvi utisak bio malo iznenađujuć.
09:08
And then I was overwhelmed with shame.
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A onda sam bila preplavljena sramom.
09:11
I realized that I had been so immersed
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Shvatila sam da sam toliko utonula
09:14
in the media coverage of Mexicans
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u medijsku priču o Meksikancima
09:16
that they had become one thing in my mind,
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da su oni postali jedna stvar u mojim mislima,
09:18
the abject immigrant.
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bedni imigranti.
09:21
I had bought into the single story of Mexicans
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Prihvatila sam jednu priču o Meksikancima
09:23
and I could not have been more ashamed of myself.
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i mnogo sam se stidela same sebe.
09:26
So that is how to create a single story,
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Dakle tako kreirate jednu priču,
09:28
show a people as one thing,
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pokažete neki narod kao jednu stvar,
09:31
as only one thing,
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samo jednu,
09:33
over and over again,
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iznova i iznova
09:35
and that is what they become.
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i oni to i postanu.
09:38
It is impossible to talk about the single story
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Nemoguće je govoriti o pojedinačnoj priči,
09:40
without talking about power.
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bez spominjanja moći.
09:43
There is a word, an Igbo word,
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Postoji reč, Igbo reč,
09:45
that I think about whenever I think about
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o kojoj mislim svaki put kada razmišljam o
09:47
the power structures of the world, and it is "nkali."
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strukturi moći u svetu, a to je "nkali."
09:50
It's a noun that loosely translates
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To je imenica koja u slobodnom prevodu
09:52
to "to be greater than another."
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znači "biti veći od onog drugog."
09:55
Like our economic and political worlds,
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Poput naših ekonomskih i političkih svetova,
09:58
stories too are defined
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i priče su definisane
10:00
by the principle of nkali:
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"nkali" principom.
10:03
How they are told, who tells them,
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Kako su ispričane, ko ih je ispričao,
10:05
when they're told, how many stories are told,
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gde su ispričane, koliko je priča ispričano,
10:08
are really dependent on power.
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ustvari zavisi od moći.
10:12
Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person,
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Moć je sposobnost ne samo da ispričate priču o drugoj osobi,
10:15
but to make it the definitive story of that person.
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već i da je načinite isključivom pričom o toj osobi.
10:19
The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes
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Palestinski pesnik Murid Bargoti piše
10:21
that if you want to dispossess a people,
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da ukoliko želite da iselite ljude,
10:24
the simplest way to do it is to tell their story
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najjednostavniji način je da ispričate njihovu priču,
10:27
and to start with, "secondly."
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i da počnete sa, "drugo".
10:30
Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans,
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Počnite priču sa strelama američkih urođenika,
10:34
and not with the arrival of the British,
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a ne sa dolaskom Britanaca,
10:37
and you have an entirely different story.
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i imate potpuno drugačiju priču.
10:40
Start the story with
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Počnite priču sa
10:42
the failure of the African state,
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neuspehom afričke države,
10:44
and not with the colonial creation of the African state,
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a ne sa kolonijalnim stvaranjem afričke države,
10:48
and you have an entirely different story.
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i imate potpuno drugu priču.
10:52
I recently spoke at a university where
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Nedavno sam govorila na univerzitetu gde
10:54
a student told me that it was
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mi je student rekao kako
10:56
such a shame
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je sramotno
10:58
that Nigerian men were physical abusers
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što su nigerijski muškarci fizički zlostavljači
11:01
like the father character in my novel.
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poput lika oca u mojoj knjizi.
11:04
I told him that I had just read a novel
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Rekla sam mu da sam upravo pročitala knjigu
11:06
called American Psycho --
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"Američki psiho" -
11:08
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
11:10
-- and that it was such a shame
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i da je prava šteta
11:12
that young Americans were serial murderers.
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to što su mladi amerikanci serijske ubice.
11:15
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
11:19
(Applause)
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(aplauz)
11:25
Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation.
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Očigledno sam nastupila iz pozicije blage iritiranosti.
11:28
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
11:30
But it would never have occurred to me to think
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Ne bi mi nikada palo na pamet da pomislim
11:32
that just because I had read a novel
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da samo zato što sam pročitala knjigu
11:34
in which a character was a serial killer
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u kojoj je lik bio serijski ubica
11:36
that he was somehow representative
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da je on nekako predstavnik
11:38
of all Americans.
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svih Amerikanaca.
11:40
This is not because I am a better person than that student,
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E sad, to nije zato što sam bolja osoba od tog studenta,
11:43
but because of America's cultural and economic power,
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već zbog američke kulturne i ekonomske moći,
11:46
I had many stories of America.
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imala sam mnogo priča o Americi.
11:48
I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.
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Pročitala sam Taljera i Apdajka i Stajnbeka i Gejtskila.
11:52
I did not have a single story of America.
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Nisam imala jednu priču o Americi.
11:55
When I learned, some years ago, that writers were expected
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Kada sam naučila, pre nekoliko godina, da se od pisaca očekuje
11:58
to have had really unhappy childhoods
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da imaju zaista nesrećno detinjstvo
12:02
to be successful,
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da bi bili uspešni,
12:04
I began to think about how I could invent
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počela sam da razmišljam kako bih mogla da izmislim
12:06
horrible things my parents had done to me.
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strašne stvari koje su mi roditelji radili.
12:08
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
12:10
But the truth is that I had a very happy childhood,
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Ali istina je da sam imala veoma srećno detinjstvo,
12:14
full of laughter and love, in a very close-knit family.
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puno smeha i ljubavi, u veoma bliskoj porodici.
12:17
But I also had grandfathers who died in refugee camps.
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Ali sam takođe imala dede koji su umrli u izbegličkim kampovima.
12:21
My cousin Polle died because he could not get adequate healthcare.
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Moj rođak Poli je umro zato što nije mogao da dobije odgovarajuću negu.
12:25
One of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a plane crash
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Jedna od mojih najbližih prijateljica, Okoloma, umrla je u avionskoj nesreći
12:28
because our fire trucks did not have water.
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zato što naša vatrogasna kola nisu imala vodu.
12:31
I grew up under repressive military governments
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Odrasla sam pod represivnim vojnim vladama
12:34
that devalued education,
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koje su obezvredile obrazovanje,
12:36
so that sometimes my parents were not paid their salaries.
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tako da moji roditelji nekad nisu dobijali svoje plate.
12:39
And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table,
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Tako da sam, kao dete, videla kako džem nestaje sa stola za ručavanje,
12:43
then margarine disappeared,
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onda kako margarin nestaje,
12:45
then bread became too expensive,
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kako hleb postaje previše skup,
12:48
then milk became rationed.
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kako mleko počinje da se deli u porcijama.
12:51
And most of all, a kind of normalized political fear
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Ali najviše od svega, neka vrsta normalizovanog političkog straha
12:54
invaded our lives.
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izvršila je invaziju na naše živote.
12:58
All of these stories make me who I am.
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Sve ove priče me čine onim što sam.
13:00
But to insist on only these negative stories
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Ali insistirati samo na ovim negativnim pričama
13:04
is to flatten my experience
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značilo bi izravnati moje iskustvo,
13:07
and to overlook the many other stories
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i preći preko mnogih drugih priča
13:09
that formed me.
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koje su me oblikovale.
13:11
The single story creates stereotypes,
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Jedna priča stvara stereotipe.
13:14
and the problem with stereotypes
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A problem sa stereotipima
13:17
is not that they are untrue,
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nije to što su neistiniti,
13:19
but that they are incomplete.
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nego što su nepotpuni.
13:21
They make one story become the only story.
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Oni čine da jedna priča postane jedina priča.
13:25
Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes:
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Naravno, Afrika je kontinent prepun katastrofa.
13:27
There are immense ones, such as the horrific rapes in Congo
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Postoje one ogromne, poput strašnih silovanja u Kongu.
13:31
and depressing ones, such as the fact that
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I depresivne, poput činjenice da
13:33
5,000 people apply for one job vacancy in Nigeria.
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5 000 ljudi konkuriše za jedan posao u Nigeriji.
13:38
But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe,
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Ali postoje druge priče koje nemaju veze sa katastrofom.
13:41
and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them.
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I veoma je važno, jednako je važno, da govorimo o njima.
13:45
I've always felt that it is impossible
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Uvek sam osećala da je nemoguće
13:47
to engage properly with a place or a person
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povezati se na pravi način sa mestom ili osobom
13:50
without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.
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bez povezivanja svih priča tog mesta i te osobe.
13:54
The consequence of the single story
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Posledica pojedinačne priče
13:57
is this: It robs people of dignity.
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je sledeća: oduzima ljudima dostojanstvo.
14:00
It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.
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Otežava priznavanje jednakog čovečanstva.
14:04
It emphasizes how we are different
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Ističe kako smo različiti
14:07
rather than how we are similar.
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pre nego koliko smo slični.
14:09
So what if before my Mexican trip
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Šta da sam pre mog puta za Meksiko
14:11
I had followed the immigration debate from both sides,
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pratila debate o imigrantima sa obe strane,
14:15
the U.S. and the Mexican?
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SAD-a i Meksika?
14:17
What if my mother had told us that Fide's family was poor
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Šta da nam je moja majka rekla da je Fideova porodica siromašna
14:21
and hardworking?
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i vredna?
14:23
What if we had an African television network
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Šta da smo imali afričku televizijsku mrežu
14:25
that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world?
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koja je emitovala različite afričke priče širom sveta?
14:29
What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls
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Ono što nigerijski pisac Činua Ačebe naziva
14:31
"a balance of stories."
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"ravnoteža pirča".
14:34
What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher,
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala o mom nigerijskom izdavaču
14:37
Mukta Bakaray,
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Mukti Bakaraju,
14:39
a remarkable man who left his job in a bank
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izuzetnom čoveku koji je napustio svoj posao u banci
14:41
to follow his dream and start a publishing house?
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kako bi pratio svoj san i otvorio izdavačku kuću?
14:44
Now, the conventional wisdom was that Nigerians don't read literature.
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Sada, konvencionalno shvatanje je bilo da Nigerijci ne čitaju literaturu.
14:48
He disagreed. He felt
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On se nije slagao. Osetio je
14:50
that people who could read, would read,
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da ljudi koji mogu da čitaju, bi čitali,
14:52
if you made literature affordable and available to them.
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ukoliko učinite da im literatura bude dostupna i da mogu da je priušte.
14:56
Shortly after he published my first novel
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Ubrzo nakon što je izdao moj prvi roman
14:59
I went to a TV station in Lagos to do an interview,
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otišla sam u TV stanicu u Lagosu da uradim intervju.
15:02
and a woman who worked there as a messenger came up to me and said,
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I žena koja je radila tamo kako kurir došla je do mene i rekla,
15:05
"I really liked your novel. I didn't like the ending.
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"Zaista mi se dopao vaš roman. Nije mi se dopao kraj.
15:08
Now you must write a sequel, and this is what will happen ..."
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Sada morate da napišete nastavak i evo šta će se dogoditi..."
15:11
(Laughter)
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(smeh)
15:14
And she went on to tell me what to write in the sequel.
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I nastavila je da mi govori šta da napišem u nastavku.
15:17
I was not only charmed, I was very moved.
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Nisam bila samo očarana, već i pogođena.
15:20
Here was a woman, part of the ordinary masses of Nigerians,
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Ovde je bila žena, deo obične nigerijske mase,
15:23
who were not supposed to be readers.
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koja nije trebala da bude čitalačka.
15:26
She had not only read the book, but she had taken ownership of it
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Ona ne samo da je pročitala knjigu, već ju je prisvojila
15:28
and felt justified in telling me
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i osećala je pravo da mi kaže
15:31
what to write in the sequel.
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šta da napišem u nastavku.
15:33
Now, what if my roommate knew about my friend Fumi Onda,
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E sad, šta da je moja cimerka znala za moju prijateljicu Fumi Onda,
15:37
a fearless woman who hosts a TV show in Lagos,
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neustrašivu ženu koja je domaćin TV emisije u Lagosu,
15:40
and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?
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i odlučna je da ispriča priče koje mi volimo da zaboravljamo?
15:43
What if my roommate knew about the heart procedure
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala za operaciju srca
15:47
that was performed in the Lagos hospital last week?
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koja je izvedena u bonici u Lagosu prošle nedelje?
15:50
What if my roommate knew about contemporary Nigerian music,
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala za savremenu nigerijsku muziku?
15:54
talented people singing in English and Pidgin,
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Talentovani ljudi koji pevaju na engleskom i pidžinu
15:57
and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo,
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i na lgbou i jorubanskom i Ijou,
15:59
mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela
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mešajući uticaje od Džej Zija do Fela
16:03
to Bob Marley to their grandfathers.
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do Bob Marlija do njihovih deda.
16:06
What if my roommate knew about the female lawyer
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala za ženu advokata
16:08
who recently went to court in Nigeria
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koja se nedavno pojavila na sudu u Nigeriji
16:10
to challenge a ridiculous law
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kako bi raspravljala o smešnom zakonu
16:12
that required women to get their husband's consent
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prema kojem žene moraju da dobiju saglasnot muža
16:15
before renewing their passports?
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pre obnove pasoša?
16:18
What if my roommate knew about Nollywood,
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala za Nolivud,
16:21
full of innovative people making films despite great technical odds,
343
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prepun inovativnih ljudi koji prave filmove uprkos velikim tehničkim teškoćama?
16:25
films so popular
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Filmove koji su toliko popularni
16:27
that they really are the best example
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da su zaista najbolji primer
16:29
of Nigerians consuming what they produce?
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da nigerijci konzumiraju ono što proizvedu.
16:32
What if my roommate knew about my wonderfully ambitious hair braider,
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Šta da je moja cimerka znala za moju divno ambicioznu frizerku
16:35
who has just started her own business selling hair extensions?
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koja je upravo počela sopstveni biznis prodavanja umetaka za kosu?
16:39
Or about the millions of other Nigerians
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Ili za milione drugih Nigerijaca
16:41
who start businesses and sometimes fail,
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koji započnu biznis i ponekad ne uspeju,
16:43
but continue to nurse ambition?
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ali nastave da neguju svoju ambiciju?
16:47
Every time I am home I am confronted with
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Svaki put kad sam kod kuće suočavam se sa
16:49
the usual sources of irritation for most Nigerians:
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uobičajenim izvorom iritacije za većinu Nigerijaca:
16:52
our failed infrastructure, our failed government,
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našom propalom infrastrukturom, našom propalom vladom.
16:55
but also by the incredible resilience of people who
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Ali i neverovatnom otpornošću ljudi koji
16:58
thrive despite the government,
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su napredovali uprkos vladi,
17:01
rather than because of it.
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a ne zbog nje.
17:03
I teach writing workshops in Lagos every summer,
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Svakog leta u Lagosu, dajem časove pisanja.
17:06
and it is amazing to me how many people apply,
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I zapanjujuće je koliko ljudi se prijavljuje,
17:09
how many people are eager to write,
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koliko ljudi je zainteresovano da piše,
17:12
to tell stories.
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da ispriča priče.
17:14
My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit
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Moj nigerijski izdavač i ja pokrenuli smo neprofitnu organizaciju
17:17
called Farafina Trust,
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zvanu "Farafina Trust".
17:19
and we have big dreams of building libraries
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I imamo velike snove o gradnji biblioteka
17:22
and refurbishing libraries that already exist
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o renoviranju postojećih,
17:24
and providing books for state schools
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i obezbeđivanju knjiga za državne škole
17:27
that don't have anything in their libraries,
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koje nemaju ništa u svojim bibliotekama,
17:29
and also of organizing lots and lots of workshops,
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i takođe o oragnizovanju mnogo radionica
17:31
in reading and writing,
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pisanja i čitanja,
17:33
for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.
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za sve one ljude koji su zainteresovani da ispričaju naše mnogobrojne priče.
17:36
Stories matter.
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Priče su važne.
17:38
Many stories matter.
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Mnoge priče su važne.
17:40
Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign,
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Priče su bile korišćene da oteraju ljude i da ih otruju.
17:44
but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.
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Ali priče mogu da se iskoriste da ojačaju i da humanizuju.
17:48
Stories can break the dignity of a people,
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Priče mogu slomiti dostojanstvo ljudi.
17:51
but stories can also repair that broken dignity.
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Ali priče takođe mogu da poprave to slomljeno dostojanstvo.
17:56
The American writer Alice Walker wrote this
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Američka spisateljica Elis Voker napisala je ovo
17:58
about her Southern relatives
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o svojim rođacima južnjacima
18:00
who had moved to the North.
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koji su se preselili na sever.
18:02
She introduced them to a book about
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Predstavila im je knjigu o
18:04
the Southern life that they had left behind:
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južnjačkom životu koji su ostavili iza sebe.
18:07
"They sat around, reading the book themselves,
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"Sedeli su i sami čitali knjigu,
18:11
listening to me read the book, and a kind of paradise was regained."
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slušali su mene kako čitam knjigu i nekakav raj je ponovo dostignut."
18:17
I would like to end with this thought:
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Volela bih da završim sa sledećom misli:
18:20
That when we reject the single story,
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Kada odbacimo jednu priču,
18:23
when we realize that there is never a single story
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kada shvatimo da nikada ne postoji samo jedna priča
18:26
about any place,
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o bilo kojem mestu,
18:28
we regain a kind of paradise.
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mi ponovo stižemo do raja.
18:30
Thank you.
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(Hvala vam)
18:32
(Applause)
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(aplauz)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - NovelistInspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature.
Why you should listen
In Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Half of a Yellow Sun has helped inspire new, cross-generational communication about the Biafran war. In this and in her other works, she seeks to instill dignity into the finest details of each character, whether poor, middle class or rich, exposing along the way the deep scars of colonialism in the African landscape.
Adichie's newest book, The Thing Around Your Neck, is a brilliant collection of stories about Nigerians struggling to cope with a corrupted context in their home country, and about the Nigerian immigrant experience.
Adichie builds on the literary tradition of Igbo literary giant Chinua Achebe—and when she found out that Achebe liked Half of a Yellow Sun, she says she cried for a whole day. What he said about her rings true: “We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.”
(Photo: Wani Olatunde)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Speaker | TED.com