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Saki Mafundikwa: Ingenuity and elegance in ancient African alphabets
Saki Mafundikwa: Opfindsomhed og elegance i gamle afrikanske alfabeter
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Fra simple alfabeter til hemmelige symbolske sprog hylder den grafiske designer, Saki Mafundikwa, de mange former for skreven kommunikation på det afrikanske kontinent. Han understreger historien og arven som er gemt i skrevne ord og symboler, og han opfordrer afrikanske designere til at trække på disse grafiske former for frisk inspiration. Det opsummeres af hans Ghanesiske yndlingssymbol, Sankofa, som betyder "vend tilbage og forstå det" -- eller "lær af fortiden".
Saki Mafundikwa - Graphic designer
Saki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe. Full bio
Saki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I moved back home 15 years ago
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Jeg flyttede hjem igen for 15 år siden
00:16
after a 20-year stay in the United States,
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efter at have boet i USA i 20 år
00:19
and Africa called me back.
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og Afrika kaldte på mig.
00:21
And I founded my country's first
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Og jeg grundlage mit lands første
00:25
graphic design and new media college.
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universitet for grafisk design og nye medier.
00:27
And I called it the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts.
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Og jeg kaldte det Zimbabwes Institut for Vigital Kunst.
00:32
The idea, the dream, was really for a sort of Bauhaus
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Idéen, drømmen, var en skole som Bauhaus
00:36
sort of school where new ideas were interrogated
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hvor idéer kunne blive diskuteret
00:41
and investigated,
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og undersøgt,
00:44
the creation of a new visual language
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skabelsen af et nyt visuelt sprog
00:47
based on the African creative heritage.
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baseret på Afrikas kreative tradition.
00:52
We offer a two-year diploma
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Vi tilbyder et to-årigt diplom
00:55
to talented students who have successfully completed
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til talentfulde studenter, som har bestået
00:59
their high school education.
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deres studentereksamen.
01:01
And typography's a very important part of the curriculum
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Og typografi er en meget vigtig del af pensummet
01:04
and we encourage our students to look inward for influence.
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og vi opfordrer vores studerende til at se indad efter inspiration.
01:09
Here's a poster designed by one of the students
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Her er en plakat designet af en af eleverne
01:11
under the theme "Education is a right."
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med temaet "Uddannelse er en ret".
01:16
Some logos designed by my students.
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Nogle logoer designet af mine elever.
01:20
Africa has had a long tradition of writing,
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Afrika har haft en lang skriftlig tradition,
01:24
but this is not such a well-known fact,
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men det er der ikke mange der ved,
01:26
and I wrote the book "Afrikan Alphabets" to address that.
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derfor skrev jeg "African Alphabets", en bog om afrikanske alfabeter.
01:30
The different types of writing in Africa,
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De forskellige afrikanske skriftsystemer:
01:34
first was proto-writing,
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Først proto-skrift
01:36
as illustrated by Nsibidi,
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som eksemplificeret af Nsibidi,
01:38
which is the writing system of a secret society
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som er et skriftsystem for et hemmelig selskab
01:41
of the Ejagham people in southern Nigeria.
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af Ejagham-folket i det sydlige Nigeria.
01:45
So it's a special-interest writing system.
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Så det er et skriftsystem for de indviede.
01:49
The Akan of people of Ghana and [Cote d'Ivoire]
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Akan folket fra Ghana og [Elfenbenskysten]
01:52
developed Adinkra symbols some 400 years ago,
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udviklede Adinkra symbolerne for omkring 400 år siden,
01:56
and these are proverbs, historical sayings,
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og det her er ordsprog, historiske vendinger,
02:00
objects, animals, plants,
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ting, dyr, planter,
02:03
and my favorite Adinkra system
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og min favorit i Adinkra-systemet
02:05
is the first one at the top on the left.
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er den første øverst til venstre.
02:07
It's called Sankofa.
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Det hedder sankofa.
02:08
It means, "Return and get it." Learn from the past.
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Det betyder "Vend tilbage og forstå det". Lær af fortiden.
02:14
This pictograph by the Jokwe people of Angola
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Det her piktogram af Jokwe-folket fra Angola
02:17
tells the story of the creation of the world.
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fortæller historien om verdens skabelse.
02:21
At the top is God, at the bottom is man, mankind,
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Øverst er Gud; nederst er mennesket, menneskeheden;
02:26
and on the left is the sun, on the right is the moon.
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og til venstre er solen; til højre er månen.
02:31
All the paths lead to and from God.
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Alle veje fører til og fra Gud.
02:35
These secret societies of the Yoruba, Kongo
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Disse hemmelige selskaber udgjort af
02:40
and Palo religions
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religionerne Yoruba, Kongo og Palo
02:42
in Nigeria, Congo and Angola respectively,
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i henholdsvis Nigeria, Congo og Angola
02:46
developed this intricate writing system
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udviklede dette detaljerede skriftsystem
02:49
which is alive and well today in the New World
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som lever i bedste velgående i dag i Amerika
02:53
in Cuba, Brazil and Trinidad and Haiti.
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i Cuba, Brasilien, Trinidad og Haiti.
02:59
In the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
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I den Demokratiske Republik Congos regnskove
03:03
in the Ituri society,
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i Ituri-kulturen
03:06
the men pound out a cloth out of a special tree,
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banker mændene et klæde ud af et specielt træ,
03:09
and the women, who are also the praise singers,
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og kvinderne, som også synger lovprisninger,
03:12
paint interweaving patterns
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maler sammenvævede mønstre,
03:15
that are the same in structure
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som har samme struktur
03:18
as the polyphonic structures that they use in their singing --
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som de polyfoniske strukturer, de bruger i deres sang --
03:23
a sort of a musical score, if you may.
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en slags nodebillede, om I vil.
03:27
In South Africa, Ndebele women
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I Sydafrika bruger Ndebele-kvinderne
03:29
use these symbols and other geometric patterns
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disse symboler og andre geometriske mønstre
03:33
to paint their homes in bright colors,
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til at male deres hjem i klare farver,
03:36
and the Zulu women use the symbols
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og Zulu-kvinderne bruger symbolerne
03:39
in the beads that they weave
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i perlerne, som de fletter
03:41
into bracelets and necklaces.
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ind i armbånd og halskæder.
03:44
Ethiopia has had the longest tradition of writing,
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Etiopien har haft den længste tradition for at skrive,
03:48
with the Ethiopic script that was developed
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med det Ethiopiske skriftsystem, som blev udviklet
03:50
in the fourth century A.D.
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i det fjerde århundrede
03:52
and is used to write Amharic,
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og bliver brugt til at skrive Amharisk,
03:55
which is spoken by over 24 million people.
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som tales af over 24 millioner mennesker.
03:58
King Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum Kingdom of Cameroon
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Kong Ibrahim Njoya af Kongeriget Bamum i Cameroun
04:03
developed Shü-mom at the age of 25.
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udviklede Shü-mom i en alder af 25.
04:06
Shü-mom is a writing system.
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Shü-mom er et skriftsystem.
04:08
It's a syllabary. It's not exactly an alphabet.
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Det er stavelsesbaseret; det er ikke rigtig et alfabet.
04:11
And here we see three stages of development
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Og her ser vi tre stadier i udviklingen,
04:15
that it went through in 30 years.
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som det gennemgik på 30 år.
04:19
The Vai people of Liberia had a long tradition of literacy
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Vai-folket fra Liberia havde en lang tradition for læsning
04:25
before their first contact with Europeans in the 1800s.
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allerede inden deres første kontakt med europæere i 1800-tallet.
04:29
It's a syllabary and reads from left to right.
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Skriftsystemet er stavelsesbaseret og læses fra venstre mod højre.
04:33
Next door, in Sierra Leone, the Mende
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Hos naboen i Sierra Leone har Mende-folket
04:37
also developed a syllabary,
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også udviklet et skriftsystem,
04:39
but theirs reads from right to left.
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men deres læses fra højre mod venstre.
04:43
Africa has had a long tradition of design,
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Afrika har en lang tradition for design,
04:46
a well-defined design sensibility,
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en veldefineret sans for design,
04:50
but the problem in Africa has been that,
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men problemet i Afrika har været,
04:52
especially today, designers in Africa
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at designere i Afrika især i dag
04:55
struggle with all forms of design
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kæmper med alle former for design
04:57
because they are more apt to look outward
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fordi de er mere vant til at se udad
05:02
for influence and inspiration.
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efter indflydelse og inspiration.
05:04
The creative spirit in Africa, the creative tradition,
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Afrikas kreative ånd, den kreative tradition,
05:08
is as potent as it has always been,
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er så potent som den altid har været,
05:11
if only designers could look within.
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hvis bare designere kunne se indad.
05:15
This Ethiopic cross illustrates
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Dette etiopiske kors illustrerer
05:18
what Dr. Ron Eglash has established:
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hvad Dr. Ron Eglash har bevidnet:
05:21
that Africa has a lot to contribute to computing
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at Afrika har en masse at tilføje til programmering
05:25
and mathematics through their intuitive grasp of fractals.
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og matematik gennem deres intuitive forståelse af fraktaler.
05:30
Africans of antiquity created civilization,
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Afrikanere i antikken skabte civilisationen,
05:34
and their monuments, which still stand today,
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og deres monumenter, som stadig står der den dag i dag,
05:38
are a true testimony of their greatness.
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er et sandt bevis på deres storhed.
05:41
Most probably, one of humanity's greatest achievements
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En af menneskehedens måske største bedrifter
05:45
is the invention of the alphabet,
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er opfindelsen af alfabetet,
05:48
and that has been attributed to Mesopotamia
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og den er blevet tilskrevet Mesopotamien
05:51
with their invention of cuneiform in 1600 BC,
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med opfindelsen af kileskrift i 1600 f.v.t.
05:57
followed by hieroglyphics in Egypt,
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efterfulgt af hieroglyfferne i Ægypten,
06:01
and that story has been cast in stone as historical fact.
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og den historie er blevet indgraveret i sten som historisk faktum.
06:06
That is, until 1998,
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Lige indtil 1998,
06:09
when one Yale professor John Coleman Darnell
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hvor en Yale professor ved navn John Coleman Darnell
06:14
discovered these inscriptions in the Thebes desert
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opdagede disse inskriptioner i ørkenen Thebes
06:17
on the limestone cliffs in western Egypt,
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i kalkstensklipperne i det vestlige Ægypten,
06:21
and these have been dated at between 1800 and 1900 B.C.,
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og de er blevet dateret til mellem 1800 og 1900 f.v.t.,
06:27
centuries before Mesopotamia.
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århundreder før Mesopotamien.
06:30
Called Wadi el-Hol
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De blev kaldt Wadi el-Hol
06:33
because of the place that they were discovered,
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efter det sted, hvor de blev opdaget.
06:36
these inscriptions -- research is still going on,
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Disse inskriptioner -- der forskes stadig i dem,
06:39
a few of them have been deciphered,
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nogle få af dem er bleved decifreret,
06:42
but there is consensus among scholars
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men der er enighed blandt forskere om,
06:45
that this is really humanity's first alphabet.
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at det her virkelig er menneskehedens første alfabet.
06:50
Over here, you see a paleographic chart
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Herovre kan I se et palæografisk skema,
06:53
that shows what has been deciphered so far,
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som viser, hvad der er blevet decifreret indtil nu,
06:56
starting with the letter A, "ālep," at the top,
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begyndende med bogstavet A, "ālep", øverst
06:59
and "bêt," in the middle, and so forth.
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og "bêt" i midten og så videre.
07:03
It is time that students of design in Africa
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Det er på tide at designstuderende i Afrika
07:07
read the works of titans like Cheikh Anta Diop,
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læser titanernes værker såsom Cheikh Anta Diop,
07:11
Senegal's Cheikh Anta Diop,
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Senegals Cheikh Anta Diop,
07:13
whose seminal work on Egypt is vindicated
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hvis formative værk om Ægypten bliver frigjort
07:16
by this discovery.
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af denne opdagelse.
07:19
The last word goes to the great Jamaican leader
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Det sidste ord er til den store Jamaicanske leder
07:22
Marcus Mosiah Garvey
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Marcus Mosiah Garvey
07:24
and the Akan people of Ghana
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og Akan-folket fra Ghana
07:28
with their Adinkra symbol Sankofa,
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med deres Adinkra symbol Sankofa,
07:30
which encourages us to go to the past
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som opfordrer os til at se tilbage i tiden
07:32
so as to inform our present
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for at informere vores nutid
07:34
and build on a future for us and our children.
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og bygge på en fremtid for os og vores børn.
07:39
It is also time that designers in Africa
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Det er også på tide at designere i Afrika
07:43
stop looking outside.
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holder op med at se udadtil.
07:46
They've been looking outward for a long time,
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De har kigget udad i lang tid,
07:48
yet what they were looking for
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selvom det de ledte efter
07:51
has been right there within grasp, right within them.
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har været lige indenfor rækkevidde, lige inden i dem.
07:55
Thank you very much.
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Mange tak.
07:57
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Saki Mafundikwa - Graphic designerSaki Mafundikwa wrote the book on Africa’s graphic design heritage -- then opened a school of graphic arts in his native Zimbabwe.
Why you should listen
In his book Afrikan Alphabets, Saki Mafundiwaka includes a Ghanaian pictograph meaning “return to the past” This is exactly what he did in 1997 when he cashed in his publishing job 401(k) and left New York to open the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) in Harare. (“Vigital” denotes visual arts taught using digital tools.)
As a kid growing up in Zimbabwe, Mafundiwaka loved to sketch letterforms he saw in books and magazines, but he didn’t know graphic design was a career option until he arrived in America. "Sometimes you have to leave home,” he says, “to discover yourself.” He opened ZIVA to pay it forward. “The dream,” he says, “is for something to come out of Africa that is of Africa."
In 2010, he made the film Shungu: The Resilience of a People, a compelling narrative of the strategies ordinary people use to survive in Zimbabwe today.
Saki Mafundikwa | Speaker | TED.com