Elif Shafak: The revolutionary power of diverse thought
إليف شفق: القوة الثورية للفكر المتنوع
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.
كلمة في مهرجان أدبي،
at a literary festival,
experience an overlap in their senses
تداخل في حواسهم،
by this subject, myself included.
بهذا الأمر بما فيهم أنا.
and said, "Yeah, I know all of that.
وقالت: "نعم، أنا أعلم كل هذا.
We learned it at school.
وقد درسناه بالمدرسة.
of food and ingredients
get hungry when you write?
maybe you could taste words.
has a different color,
is quite pungent, almost perfumed,
ويكاد أن يكون معطرًا،
all of this to the teenager,
what I was trying to convey
allowed me to say.
in similar situations:
and I stopped talking.
the truth was complicated,
remain silent for fear of complexity.
أن يصمت خوفًا من التعقيد.
to give on that day.
a different flavor than sad words.
مختلفة عن الكلمات الحزينة.
the word "creativity" taste like,
this last word that troubles me.
تؤرقني تلك الكلمة الأخيرة.
الكثير والكثير من الناس
there's more and more people
the culture, the land, the food.
والثقافة، والأرض، والطعام.
by its politics and politicians,
من سياساتها وسياسييها،
أو الشعور بالألم، أو الغضب.
of despair or hurt or anger.
our emotional intelligence.
تبدي اهتمامًا قليلًا جدًا للعواطف.
pays very little attention to emotions.
are so busy with data and metrics
والخبراء مشغولين بالبيانات والمقاييس،
those things in life
تحت نماذج إحصائية.
under statistical models.
for two main reasons.
I think we all are like that.
a new stage in world history
guide and misguide politics
الاجتماعي والشبكات الاجتماعية،
and social networking,
حول العالم بسرعة بالغة.
around the world quite fast.
الأبحاث حول العوامل الاقتصادية،
about economic factors,
about emotional factors.
العاطفية قليلة نسبيًا.
feelings and perceptions?
المشاعر والإدراك؟
of our biggest intellectual challenges,
التحديات الفكرية التي ستواجهنا،
are replete with emotions.
exploiting these emotions.
يستغلون تلك المشاعر.
and among the intelligentsia,
الأكاديمية وبين المثقفين،
on economic inequality worldwide,
على التفاوت الاقتصادي على الصعيد العالمي،
to emotional and cognitive gaps worldwide
الإدراكية والعاطفية حول العالم
living in Istanbul,
أعيش في إسطنبول،
women writers in the Middle East
الكاتبات النساء في الشرق الأوسط
in our exchange, she said,
why you're not a feminist,
into two imaginary camps,
لمعسكرين تخيليين،
were liquid countries.
not yet settled.
namely the West,
that needed feminism
تحتاج إلى الحركات النسوية،
unfortunate enough
for these most essential values.
would someday catch up.
لمواطني الدول المستقرة
in the progress of history
of other people elsewhere,
did not have to struggle
was shattered to pieces.
this dualistic pattern
إن كان قد اتبعه من قبل.
does not necessarily move forward.
الضروري أن يتحرك التاريخ للأمام.
can make the same mistakes
versus liquid countries.
الدول المضطربة.
in liquid times,
definition for our age.
to be walking on moving sands.
سنسير على رمال متحركة.
slide backwards into authoritarianism,
للوراء إلى الاستبداد،
to be a vital moment,
for global sisterhood as well.
قبل أن أمضي في حديثي.
before I go any further.
an international conference or festival,
في مؤتمر دولي أو مهرجان،
of the more depressed speakers.
المتحدثين الأكثر اكتئابًا.
and how our dreams of coexistence
الديمقراطية والتعايش
with a bewildering speed,
quite demoralized.
some other gloomy writers,
بعض الكتاب الكئيبين الآخرين،
such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan,
China, Venezuela, Russia.
وفنزويلا، وروسيا.
at each other in sympathy,
Writers International Club.
joined first, came on board.
اليونانيين انضموا أولًا.
from Austria, the Netherlands, France,
من النمسا، وهولندا، وفرنسا،
where I live and where I call my home,
التي أعيش فيها وأسميها وطني،
the fate of our nations
in our own motherlands.
very depressed for a long time,
يكونوا مكتئبين جدًا لفترة طويلة،
they were so not used to feeling this way
الذين لم يعتادوا الشعور هكذا
from Bangladesh or Turkey or Egypt
من بنغلاديش، أو تركيا، أو مصر،
or from post-election USA.
أو من الولايات المتحدة ما بعد الانتخابات.
of unprecedented challenges,
بالتحديات غير المسبوقة،
enters into the picture.
how collective sentiments work
تعمل المشاعر الجماعية،
can benefit from them.
أن يستفيد منها.
belong in our tribes,
if we are surrounded by sameness.
إن كنا بين من يشبهونا.
and in all shapes.
الأشكال والأحجام.
of a marginal political party
من حزب سياسي هامشي
preaching dogma and hatred,
يدعو لعقيدة الكراهية،
Nazi-admiring orator somewhere else.
للنازية يخطب في مكان ما.
they seem disconnected.
تبدو غير متصلة.
and how they inspire movements,
في الحديث وكيف يلهمون حركاتهم،
unmistakable quality in common:
of an authoritarian personality."
علامة على الشخصية الاستبدادية."
of the age we're living in?
العصر الذي نعيش فيه؟
I see nuances withering away.
one anti-something speaker
متحدث معارض لشيء ما.
if they shout at each other.
يصرخون في وجه بعضهم البعض.
is supposed to be nourished,
حيث من المفترض أن يزدهر الذكاء،
competing with a firmly theist scholar,
في مقابل باحث شديد الإيمان،
between two certainties.
to be complex.
terror attack after another.
and when you react against the cruelty,
وعندما تتفاعل ضد الوحشية،
for civilians in Yemen
على المدنيين في اليمن
who write such messages
and stand in solidarity with
in the Middle East, in Europe,
الشرق الأوسط، وأوروبا،
that we don't have to pick one pain
أن نختار حدثًا مؤلمًا واحدًا
tribalism does to us.
to the suffering of other people.
تجاه معاناة الأخرين.
we weren't always like this.
I did lots of events.
أقمت العديد من الفعاليات.
younger kids in Turkey.
الأطفال الصغار في تركيا.
how much empathy, imagination
أرى كم التعاطف، والخيال،
to become global citizens
بكثير أن يصبحوا مواطنين عالميين
when you ask them,
to be poets and writers,
يصبحوا شعراء و كتاب،
في الأماكن العامة،
to erase their individuality.
and within ourselves.
I do know that the loss of diversity
the world's biggest jailer
over there in Turkey
was an illusion,
ما هو إلا وهم،
a multiplicity of voices inside.
every ingredient necessary
كل المكونات الأساسية
is to mix those ingredients."
as a global soul, as a world citizen,
ومواطنةً عالمية،
just like all of us do.
mean multiple stories.
chase stories, of course,
interested in silences,
about and written extensively
to say in a public space
لأقول في مكان عام
ever, remain silent
يظل الشخص صامتًا
no stranger to anxieties,
about the power of emotions --
أتحدث هنا عن قوة المشاعر...
or a threshold --
have their own tipping points.
لديها النقاط الحرجة تلك.
أكثر بكثير من هذا.
Khalil Gibran used to say,
(جبران خليل جبران) أن يقول:
the need for global solidarity.
إلى التضامن العالمي.
the beauty of cosmopolitanism
with one word, or one taste.
كلمة واحدة، أو نكهة واحدة.
means "motherland."
because it makes me think
to be rooted in one place.
متأصّلة في مكان واحد.
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