Elif Shafak: The revolutionary power of diverse thought
Elif Shafak: El poder revolucionario de la diversidad de pensamientos
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.
en un festival literario
at a literary festival,
una superposición sensorial,
experience an overlap in their senses
por el tema, yo incluida.
by this subject, myself included.
impaciencia y dijo: "Sí, eso lo sé.
and said, "Yeah, I know all of that.
Lo aprendimos en la escuela.
We learned it at school.
of food and ingredients
no le entra hambre cuando escribe?
get hungry when you write?
maybe you could taste words.
podía saborear las palabras.
tiene un color diferente,
has a different color,
es bastante acre, casi perfumado,
is quite pungent, almost perfumed,
que asocio con el morado
all of this to the teenager,
si le decía todo esto a la chica,
estaba esperando en la cola,
como si lo que intentaba transmitir
what I was trying to convey
me permitían decir.
allowed me to say.
in similar situations:
en situaciones como esta:
y dejé de hablar.
and I stopped talking.
la verdad era complicada,
the truth was complicated,
por miedo a las complicaciones.
remain silent for fear of complexity.
no fui capaz de dar aquel día.
to give on that day.
tienen sabores diferentes.
a different flavor than sad words.
la palabra "creatividad"
the word "creativity" taste like,
en particular es esta última.
this last word that troubles me.
there's more and more people
la cultura, la tierra, la comida.
the culture, the land, the food.
por su política y sus políticos,
by its politics and politicians,
de desesperación o dolor o rabia.
of despair or hurt or anger.
nuestra inteligencia emocional.
our emotional intelligence.
preste tan poca atención a las emociones.
pays very little attention to emotions.
están tan ocupados con datos y métricas
are so busy with data and metrics
de las cosas en la vida
those things in life
en modelos estadísticos.
under statistical models.
por dos motivos principales.
for two main reasons.
somos seres emocionales.
creo que todos somos así.
I think we all are like that.
de la historia mundial
a new stage in world history
orientan y desorientan la política
guide and misguide politics
y las redes sociales,
and social networking,
y polarizan aún más,
around the world quite fast.
bastante rápido.
de ansiedad, de ira,
de los factores económicos,
about economic factors,
de los factores emocionales.
about emotional factors.
los sentimientos y las percepciones?
feelings and perceptions?
mayores retos intelectuales,
of our biggest intellectual challenges,
están repletos de emociones.
are replete with emotions.
han explotado estas emociones.
exploiting these emotions.
y a los intelectuales
and among the intelligentsia,
las emociones en serio.
la desigualdad económica global,
on economic inequality worldwide,
a las lagunas emocionales y cognitivas
to emotional and cognitive gaps worldwide
living in Istanbul,
women writers in the Middle East
con las escritoras de Medio Oriente.
me dijo:
in our exchange, she said,
why you're not a feminist,
el mundo en dos campos imaginarios,
into two imaginary camps,
eran países líquidos.
were liquid countries.
not yet settled.
es decir Occidente,
namely the West,
las que necesitaban feminismo
that needed feminism
unfortunate enough
para estos valores esenciales.
for these most essential values.
recuperarían el terreno algún día.
would someday catch up.
de las tierras sólidas
del progreso de la historia
in the progress of history
de otras personas en otros sitios,
of other people elsewhere,
ya no tendrían que luchar más
did not have to struggle
was shattered to pieces.
this dualistic pattern
por este patrón dualista
si en algún momento lo hizo.
does not necessarily move forward.
no siempre avanza.
pueden cometer los mismos errores
can make the same mistakes
opuestos a países líquidos.
versus liquid countries.
en tiempos líquidos,
in liquid times,
el difunto Zygmunt Bauman.
para nuestra época.
definition for our age.
que caminar sobre arenas movedizas.
to be walking on moving sands.
más a las mujeres que a los hombres,
vuelven al autoritarismo,
slide backwards into authoritarianism,
tiene que ser un momento vital
to be a vital moment,
la hermandad global entre mujeres.
for global sisterhood as well.
una pequeña confesión.
before I go any further.
an international conference or festival,
conferencia internacional o a un festival,
los oradores más deprimidos.
of the more depressed speakers.
and how our dreams of coexistence
y de coexistencia,
con una velocidad asombrosa,
with a bewildering speed,
a lo largo de los años.
quite demoralized.
otros escritores deprimidos
some other gloomy writers,
Egipto, Nigeria, Pakistán,
such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan,
China, Venezuela, Rusia.
China, Venezuela, Russia.
el uno al otro,
at each other in sympathy,
Preocupados y Deprimidos.
Writers International Club.
empezaron a cambiar
se hizo más popular,
fueron los escritores y poetas griegos.
joined first, came on board.
de Austria, Holanda, Francia,
from Austria, the Netherlands, France,
donde vivo y que llamo hogar,
where I live and where I call my home,
de nuestros países
the fate of our nations
en sus propias patrias.
in our own motherlands.
muy deprimidos,
very depressed for a long time,
tan poco acostumbrados a sentirse así
they were so not used to feeling this way
de Bangladesh o Turquía o Egipto
from Bangladesh or Turkey or Egypt
o de los EE.UU. postelectorales.
or from post-election USA.
de retos sin precedentes
of unprecedented challenges,
demasiado confusas,
entra en escena el demagogo.
enters into the picture.
cómo funcionan los sentimientos colectivos
how collective sentiments work
puede beneficiarse de ellos.
can benefit from them.
todos a nuestras tribus
belong in our tribes,
si estamos rodeados de afinidad.
if we are surrounded by sameness.
and in all shapes.
de un partido político marginal
of a marginal political party
que predica el dogma y el odio
preaching dogma and hatred,
y nazi en algún otro sitio.
Nazi-admiring orator somewhere else.
no parecen tener conexión.
they seem disconnected.
la una a la otra
and how they inspire movements,
y cómo inspiran movimientos,
una cualidad inconfundible:
unmistakable quality in common:
hacia la pluralidad.
la señal de una personalidad autoritaria".
of an authoritarian personality."
no puede ser
de la época en la que estamos viviendo?
of the age we're living in?
veo desvanecerse los matices.
I see nuances withering away.
tenemos a un locutor anti-algo
one anti-something speaker
if they shout at each other.
donde deberían fomentar nuestro intelecto,
is supposed to be nourished,
con un erudito creyente empedernido,
competing with a firmly theist scholar,
intercambio intelectual,
between two certainties.
existen en todas partes.
el derecho a ser complejos.
to be complex.
uno tras otro.
terror attack after another.
y cuando reaccionas contra la crueldad,
and when you react against the cruelty,
por los civiles en Yemen
for civilians in Yemen
que escribe esos mensajes
who write such messages
and stand in solidarity with
la violencia en Oriente Medio, en Europa,
in the Middle East, in Europe,
dónde sea, en todas partes,
no tenemos que elegir un dolor
that we don't have to pick one pain
es el efecto del tribalismo.
tribalism does to us.
al sufrimiento de otras personas.
to the suffering of other people.
no hemos sido siempre así.
we weren't always like this.
hice muchos eventos.
I did lots of events.
a los niños más pequeños en Turquía.
younger kids in Turkey.
cuánta empatía, imaginación
how much empathy, imagination
son mucho más propensos
to become global citizens
que en nacionalistas.
when you ask them,
to be poets and writers,
de confianza como los niños,
a borrar su personalidad.
to erase their individuality.
y en nosotros mismos.
and within ourselves.
sé que la pérdida de diversidad
I do know that the loss of diversity
en el mayor carcelero
the world's biggest jailer
el triste récord de China.
lo que ha pasado en Turquía
over there in Turkey
los países sólidos,
was an illusion,
también son una ilusión,
una diversidad de voces.
a multiplicity of voices inside.
every ingredient necessary
todos los ingredientes necesarios
es mezclar esos ingredientes".
is to mix those ingredients."
a los Balcanes,
alma global, como ciudadana del mundo,
as a global soul, as a world citizen,
just like all of us do.
múltiples historias.
mean multiple stories.
en busca de historias, desde luego,
chase stories, of course,
nos interesan los silencios,
interested in silences,
nuestros propios silencios.
about and written extensively
los derechos de las mujeres,
de decir en público
to say in a public space
jamás debería callarse
ever, remain silent
no es algo nuevo para mí,
no stranger to anxieties,
del poder de las emociones
about the power of emotions --
or a threshold --
tienen sus propios puntos de inflexión.
have their own tipping points.
no solo la identidad,
más allá de las fronteras.
que la vida tiene mucha magia
solía decir:
Khalil Gibran used to say,
para nuestros tiempos.
populistas aprenderemos
la necesidad de solidaridad global.
the need for global solidarity.
la belleza del cosmopolitismo
the beauty of cosmopolitanism
una palabra o un sabor.
with one word, or one taste.
significa "madre patria".
means "motherland."
la palabra también significa
por las tribus nómadas".
porque me hace pensar
because it makes me think
estar arraigadas en un solo sitio.
to be rooted in one place.
a todos lados.
para los narradores,
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