Elif Shafak: The revolutionary power of diverse thought
אליף שאפק: הכוח המהפכני של מחשבה רב גונית
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.
at a literary festival,
experience an overlap in their senses
חפיפה בחושים שלהם
by this subject, myself included.
מהופנטים מהנושא הזה.
and said, "Yeah, I know all of that.
ואמרה: "כן, אני יודעת את כל זה.
We learned it at school.
למדנו על זה בבית ספר.
of food and ingredients
get hungry when you write?
maybe you could taste words.
has a different color,
is quite pungent, almost perfumed,
כמעט מבושם,
all of this to the teenager,
את כל זה לאותה נערה,
what I was trying to convey
שאני מנסה לומר
allowed me to say.
in similar situations:
and I stopped talking.
the truth was complicated,
remain silent for fear of complexity.
to give on that day.
a different flavor than sad words.
the word "creativity" taste like,
יש למילה "יצירתיות",
this last word that troubles me.
there's more and more people
the culture, the land, the food.
לארץ, לאוכל.
by its politics and politicians,
הפוליטיקה והפוליטיקאים שלה,
of despair or hurt or anger.
our emotional intelligence.
האינטליגנציה הרגשית שלנו.
pays very little attention to emotions.
תשומת לב מעטה מאוד לרגשות.
are so busy with data and metrics
כל כך עסוקים במידע וטבלאות
those things in life
under statistical models.
בתוך מודלים סטטיסטיים.
for two main reasons.
משתי סיבות מרכזיות.
I think we all are like that.
a new stage in world history
guide and misguide politics
ומעוותים את הפוליטיקה
and social networking,
around the world quite fast.
about economic factors,
על הגורמים הכלכליים
about emotional factors.
מחקרים על גורמים רגשיים
feelings and perceptions?
of our biggest intellectual challenges,
האינטלקטואליים הכי גדולים,
are replete with emotions.
exploiting these emotions.
שמנצלים את הרגשות הללו.
and among the intelligentsia,
לעשות זאת.
on economic inequality worldwide,
באי-שוויון כלכלי בעולם,
to emotional and cognitive gaps worldwide
לפערים הרגשיים והקוגניטיביים בעולם
living in Istanbul,
women writers in the Middle East
על סופרות במזרח התיכון
in our exchange, she said,
why you're not a feminist,
into two imaginary camps,
את העולם לשני מחנות דמיוניים,
were liquid countries.
not yet settled.
namely the West,
that needed feminism
unfortunate enough
for these most essential values.
למען הערכים הבסיסיים האלה.
would someday catch up.
יום אחד יתייצבו.
in the progress of history
of other people elsewhere,
של אנשים במקומות אחרים,
did not have to struggle
was shattered to pieces.
this dualistic pattern
הדפוסים הדואליסטיים האלה
does not necessarily move forward.
לאו דווקא צועדת קדימה.
can make the same mistakes
versus liquid countries.
in liquid times,
definition for our age.
to be walking on moving sands.
הולכים על חולות נודדים.
slide backwards into authoritarianism,
למשטרים אוטוקרטיים,
to be a vital moment,
for global sisterhood as well.
before I go any further.
משהו קטן לפני שנמשיך.
an international conference or festival,
בכנס או פסטיבל בינלאומי
of the more depressed speakers.
and how our dreams of coexistence
על דמוקרטיה ודו קיום
with a bewildering speed,
quite demoralized.
some other gloomy writers,
גם סופרים דכאוניים אחרים,
such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan,
China, Venezuela, Russia.
at each other in sympathy,
Writers International Club.
לסופרים מודאגים ומדוכאים.
joined first, came on board.
סופרים ומשוררים יווניים,
from Austria, the Netherlands, France,
where I live and where I call my home,
the fate of our nations
in our own motherlands.
very depressed for a long time,
במשך תקופה ארוכה מאוד,
they were so not used to feeling this way
from Bangladesh or Turkey or Egypt
או טורקיה או מצרים
or from post-election USA.
מארה"ב שאחרי הבחירות.
of unprecedented challenges,
באתגרים בלתי צפויים,
enters into the picture.
דמגוגיה נכנסת לתמונה.
how collective sentiments work
קולקטיביים עובדים
can benefit from them.
יכול להרוויח מהם.
belong in our tribes,
if we are surrounded by sameness.
אם נקיף את עצמנו בדומים לנו.
and in all shapes.
of a marginal political party
של מפלגה פוליטית שולית
preaching dogma and hatred,
Nazi-admiring orator somewhere else.
מעריץ נאצים במקום אחר.
they seem disconnected.
נראות לא קשורות זו לזו.
and how they inspire movements,
ואיך הם יוצרים תנועות,
unmistakable quality in common:
of an authoritarian personality."
לאישיות אוטוריטרית".
of the age we're living in?
של העידן בו אנו חיים?
I see nuances withering away.
אני רואה ניואנסים מתרחקים.
one anti-something speaker
if they shout at each other.
is supposed to be nourished,
מטופח האינטלקט שלנו,
competing with a firmly theist scholar,
between two certainties.
to be complex.
terror attack after another.
and when you react against the cruelty,
וכשאתם יוצאים נגד האכזריות,
for civilians in Yemen
who write such messages
and stand in solidarity with
in the Middle East, in Europe,
במזרח התיכון, באירופה,
that we don't have to pick one pain
לבחור כאב אחד
tribalism does to us.
to the suffering of other people.
אטומים לסבלם של אחרים.
we weren't always like this.
I did lots of events.
younger kids in Turkey.
בילדים צעירים בטורקיה.
how much empathy, imagination
to become global citizens
יגדלו להיות אזרחים גלובליים
when you ask them,
to be poets and writers,
to erase their individuality.
and within ourselves.
I do know that the loss of diversity
אני יודעת שאובדן הרב גוניות
the world's biggest jailer
לבית הכלא הגדול ביותר בעולם
over there in Turkey
was an illusion,
a multiplicity of voices inside.
every ingredient necessary
את כל הרכיבים הדרושים
is to mix those ingredients."
לערבב את אותם רכיבים".
as a global soul, as a world citizen,
גלובלית, תושבת העולם,
just like all of us do.
mean multiple stories.
chase stories, of course,
אחרי סיפורים, כמובן.
interested in silences,
גם מתעניינים בשתיקות,
about and written extensively
to say in a public space
להכריז במקום ציבורי
ever, remain silent
no stranger to anxieties,
about the power of emotions --
or a threshold --
have their own tipping points.
נקודות המפנה שלהן.
שהוא מעל לגבולות.
Khalil Gibran used to say,
the need for global solidarity.
the beauty of cosmopolitanism
with one word, or one taste.
מילה אחד, או טעימה אחת.
means "motherland."
because it makes me think
בגלל שהוא גורם לי לחשוב
to be rooted in one place.
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