TEDGlobal 2009
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Adichie: Opasnost jedne priče
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Readability: 4.1
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Naši životi, naše kulture, sastavljeni su od mnogih preklapajućih priča. Spisateljica Chimamanda Adichie priča priču o tome kako je pronašla svoj autentični kulturološki glas -- i upozorava da ako čujemo samo jednu priču o drugoj osobi ili zemlji, riskiramo kritično nerazumijevanje.
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 pripovjedačica.
00:14
And I would like to tell you a few personal stories
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I voljela bih vam ispričati nekoliko osobnih priča
00:17
about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."
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o onome što ja volim zvati "opasnost jedne priče".
00:22
I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
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Odrasla sam u studentskom gradu u istočnoj Nigeriji.
00:26
My mother says that I started reading at the age of two,
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Moja majka kaže kako sam počela čitati s dvije godine,
00:29
although I think four is probably close to the truth.
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iako mislim kako je četiri vjerojatno bliže istini.
00:34
So I was an early reader, and what I read
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Dakle, bila sam rani čitatelj. I ono što sam čitala
00:36
were British and American children's books.
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su bile britanske i američke knjige za djecu.
00:39
I was also an early writer,
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Isto tako sam bila i rani pisac.
00:42
and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,
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I kad sam počela pisati, s kojih sedam godina starosti,
00:46
stories in pencil with crayon illustrations
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priče pisane olovkom s ilustracijama u krejonu
00:48
that my poor mother was obligated to read,
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koje je moja jadna majka bila prisiljena čitati,
00:51
I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:
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napisala sam upravo onakve vrste priča kakve sam čitala.
00:55
All my characters were white and blue-eyed,
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Svi moji likovi su bili bijelci s plavim očima.
01:00
they played in the snow,
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Igrali su se u snijegu.
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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(Smijeh)
01:06
how lovely it was
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I pričali su puno o vremenu,
01:08
that the sun had come out.
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o tome kako je lijepo što je sunce izašlo.
01:10
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:12
Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria.
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Unatoč činjenici da sam živjela u Nigeriji.
01:15
I had never been outside Nigeria.
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I nikada nisam bila izvan Nigerije.
01:19
We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,
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Nismo imali snijeg. Jeli smo mango.
01:22
and we never talked about the weather,
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I nikada nismo pričali o vremenu,
01:24
because there was no need to.
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jer nije bilo potrebe.
01:26
My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer
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Moji likovi su 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 pročitala
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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Nema veze što ja nisam imala pojma što pivo od đumbira jest.
01:36
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:37
And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire
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I mnogo godina nakon toga, imala bih očajnu 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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No to je druga priča.
01:44
What this demonstrates, I think,
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Ovo pokazuje, mislim,
01:46
is how impressionable and vulnerable we are
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kako smo upečatljivi i ranjivi
01:49
in the face of a story,
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pred licem priče,
01:51
particularly as children.
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naročito kao djeca.
01:53
Because all I had read were books
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Jer sve što sam pročitala su bile knjige
01:55
in which characters were foreign,
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u kojoj su likovi bili stranci,
01:57
I had become convinced that books
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postala sam uvjerena da knjige,
01:59
by their very nature had to have foreigners in them
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po svojoj prirodi, moraju imati strance u sebi,
02:02
and had to be about things with which
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i moraju biti o stvarima s kojima
02:04
I could not personally identify.
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se osobno ne mogu poistovjetiti.
02:07
Things changed when I discovered African books.
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Sada, stvari su se promijenile kada sam otkrila afričke knjige.
02:11
There weren't many of them available, and they weren't
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Nije ih bilo mnogo na raspolaganju. I nije ih bilo
02:13
quite as easy to find as the foreign books.
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tako lako naći kao strane knjige.
02:15
But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye
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I zbog pisaca poput Chinua Achebe i Camara Laye
02:19
I went through a mental shift in my perception
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proživjela sam mentalnu promjenu svoje percpecije
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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djevojke s kožom boje čokolade,
02:27
whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,
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čija kovrčava kosa se ne može formirati u konjski rep,
02:30
could also exist in literature.
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mogu postojati u književnosti.
02:32
I started to write about things I recognized.
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Počela sam pisati o stvarima koje sam prepoznala.
02:36
Now, I loved those American and British books I read.
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Voljela 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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Miješale su moju maštu. Otvorile su mi nove svijetove.
02:44
But the unintended consequence
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Ali nenamjerna posljedica
02:46
was that I did not know that people like me
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je bila da ja nisam znala kako ljudi poput mene
02:48
could exist in literature.
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mogu postojati u knjigama.
02:50
So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this:
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Ono što je otkriće afričkih pisaca učinilo za mene je bilo ovo:
02:54
It saved me from having a single story
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spasilo me od imanja jedne priče
02:57
of what books are.
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o tome što su knjige.
02:59
I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.
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Dolazim iz konvencionalne nigerijske obitelji srednjeg sloja.
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 je bila administrator.
03:07
And so we had, as was the norm,
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I tako smo imali, kao što je bila norma,
03:10
live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.
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živu poslugu, koja bi često dolazila iz obližnjih ruralnih naselja.
03:15
So the year I turned eight we got a new house boy.
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One godine kada sam navršila osam, dobili smo novog kućnog pomagača.
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 ispričala o njemu
03:24
was that his family was very poor.
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jest da je njegova obitelj bila jako siromašna.
03:27
My mother sent yams and rice,
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Moja majka je slala slatki krumpir i rižu,
03:29
and our old clothes, to his family.
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i našu staru odjeću, njegovoj obitelji.
03:32
And when I didn't finish my dinner my mother would say,
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A kada nisam dovršila svoju večeru moja 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 hranu! Znaš li ti? Ljudi kao Fideova obitelj nemaju ništa."
03:39
So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.
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Tako sam osjećala ogromno sažaljenje za Fideovu obitelj.
03:43
Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit,
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Tako smo jedne subote otišli u posjet njegovom selu.
03:46
and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket
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I njegova majka nam je pokazala košaru s prekrasnim uzorkom,
03:50
made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.
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napravljenu od obojane rafije, koju je njegov brat napravio.
03:53
I was startled.
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Bila sam začuđena.
03:55
It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family
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Nije mi palo na pamet da bi itko u njegovoj obitelji
03:58
could actually make something.
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mogao nešto napraviti.
04:01
All I had heard about them was how poor they were,
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Sve što sam čula o njima je kako su bili 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 vidjeti ih
04:06
as anything else but poor.
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kao išta drugo osim siromašne.
04:09
Their poverty was my single story of them.
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Njihovo siromaštvo je bila moja jedina priča o njima.
04:13
Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria
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Godinama poslije, razmišljala sam o tome kada sam napustila Nigeriju
04:15
to go to university in the United States.
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kako bih otišla na sveučilište u Sjedinjene Države.
04:18
I was 19.
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Bilo mi je 19 godina.
04:20
My American roommate was shocked by me.
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Moja američka cimerica je bila šokirana mojom pojavom.
04:24
She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,
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Pitala me gdje sam naučila govoriti 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 kako Nigerija
04:29
happened to have English as its official language.
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ima kao službeni jezik engleski.
04:34
She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music,"
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Pitala me bi li mogla slušati ono što je ona nazvala moju "plemensku glazbu",
04:38
and was consequently very disappointed
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i stoga je postala jako razočarana
04:40
when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.
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kada sam stavila vrpcu Mariah Carey.
04:42
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
04:45
She assumed that I did not know how
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Pretpostavljala je da ne znam kako
04:47
to use a stove.
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koristiti štednjak.
04:50
What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me
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Ono što me pogodilo je bilo ovo: počela se sažalijevati nada mnom
04:52
even before she saw me.
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čak i prije nego što me vidjela.
04:54
Her default position toward me, as an African,
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Njezina zadana pozicija naspram mene, kao Afrikanke,
04:58
was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.
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je bila vrsta zaštitničkog, dobronamjernog, sažalijevanja.
05:02
My roommate had a single story of Africa:
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Moja cimerica je imala jednu priču o Africi.
05:05
a single story of catastrophe.
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Jednu priču o katastrofi.
05:08
In this single story there was no possibility
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U toj jednoj priči nije bilo mogućnosti
05:10
of Africans being similar to her in any way,
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da joj Afrikanci budu slični, ni na koji način.
05:14
no possibility of feelings more complex than pity,
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Nimalo vjerojatnosti osjećaja kompleksnijih od sažalijevanja.
05:17
no possibility of a connection as human equals.
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Nimalo vjerojatnosti povezivanja kao jednakih ljudskih bića.
05:21
I must say that before I went to the U.S. I didn't
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Moram reći kako prije nego sam otišla u SAD nisam se
05:23
consciously identify as African.
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svjesno identificirala kao Afrikanka.
05:26
But in the U.S. whenever Africa came up people turned to me.
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Ali u SAD-u kad god bi se Afrika spomenula, ljudi su se obratili meni.
05:29
Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.
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Nema veze što nisam znala ništa o mjestima poput Namibije.
05:33
But I did come to embrace this new identity,
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Ali prihvatila sam taj novi identitet.
05:35
and in many ways I think of myself now as African.
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I u mnogim pogledima razmišljam o sebi sada kao o Afrikanki.
05:38
Although I still get quite irritable when
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Iako me poprilično može iziritirati kada
05:40
Africa is referred to as a country,
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je Afrika spomenuta kao zemlja.
05:42
the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight
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Najsvježiji primjer s mog, inače prekrasnog leta
05:46
from Lagos two days ago, in which
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iz Lagosa prije dva dana, na kojem
05:48
there was an announcement on the Virgin flight
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je bila objava na letovima Virgina
05:50
about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."
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o dobrotvornom radu u "Indiji, Africi i drugim zemljama".
05:55
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
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 SAD-u kao Afrikanka,
06:00
I began to understand my roommate's response to me.
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počela sam shvaćati reakciju moje cimerice na mene.
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 je sve što sam znala o Africi
06:07
were from popular images,
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bilo iz popularnih slika,
06:09
I too would think that Africa was a place of
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ja bih isto mislila kako je Afrika mjesto
06:12
beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals,
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prekrasnih krajolika, prekrasnih životinja,
06:16
and incomprehensible people,
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i nerazumljivih ljudi,
06:18
fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS,
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koji se bore u uzaludnim ratovima, umiru od siromaštva i SIDE,
06:21
unable to speak for themselves
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koji ne mogu govoriti za sebe,
06:24
and waiting to be saved
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i koji čekaju spasenje,
06:26
by a kind, white foreigner.
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od strane dragog, bijelog stranca.
06:29
I would see Africans in the same way that I,
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Vidjela bih Afrikance na isti način na koji sam,
06:31
as a child, had seen Fide's family.
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kao dijete, vidjela Fideovu obitelj.
06:35
This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.
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Jedna priča Afrike naposljetku dolazi, mislim, iz zapadnjačke književnosti.
06:39
Now, here is a quote from
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Sada, ovo je citat
06:41
the writing of a London merchant called John Locke,
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pisanog djela londonskog trgovca zvanog John Locke,
06:44
who sailed to west Africa in 1561
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koji je otplovio na zapad Afrike 1561.,
06:47
and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.
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i koji je vodio fascinantno izvješće o svom putovanju.
06:52
After referring to the black Africans
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Nakon oslovljavanja crnih Afrikanaca
06:54
as "beasts who have no houses,"
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kao "zvijeri koje nemaju kuće",
06:56
he writes, "They are also people without heads,
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on piše, "Oni su isto tako ljudi bez glava,
07:00
having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."
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koji imaju svoju usta i oči u svojim prsima."
07:05
Now, I've laughed every time I've read this.
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Svaki put sam se nasmijala kad bih to pročitala.
07:07
And one must admire the imagination of John Locke.
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I moramo se diviti mašti Johna Lockea.
07:11
But what is important about his writing is that
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Ali ono što je važno o njegovom pisanju jest da
07:13
it represents the beginning
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predstavlja početak
07:15
of a tradition of telling African stories in the West:
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tradicije pričanja afričkih priča na zapadu.
07:18
A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives,
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Tradicije Sub-Saharske Afrike kao negativnog mjesta,
07:21
of difference, of darkness,
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mjesta različitosti, tame,
07:23
of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet
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ljudi koji, prema riječima prekrasnog pjesnika,
07:27
Rudyard Kipling,
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Rudyarda Kiplinga,
07:29
are "half devil, half child."
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su "polu vrag, polu dijete".
07:32
And so I began to realize that my American roommate
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I tako sam počela shvaćati kako je moja američka cimerica
07:35
must have throughout her life
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morala, tijekom svog života,
07:37
seen and heard different versions
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vidjeti i čuti različite verzije
07:39
of this single story,
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te jedne priče,
07:41
as had a professor,
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kao i profesor,
07:43
who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African."
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koji mi je jednom rekao kako moj roman nije "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 spremna tvrditi da je postojalo više stvari
07:50
wrong with the novel,
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koje su bile krive u romanu,
07:52
that it had failed in a number of places,
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da je podbacio na više mjesta.
07:56
but I had not quite imagined that it had failed
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Ali nisam mogla zamisliti da je podbacio
07:58
at achieving something called African authenticity.
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u dosezanju nečeg zvanog afrička autentičnost.
08:01
In fact I did not know what
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Zapravo, ja nisam znala što
08:03
African authenticity was.
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afrička autentičnost jest.
08:06
The professor told me that my characters
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Profesor mi je rekao kako su moji likovi
08:08
were too much like him,
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previše nalik njemu,
08:10
an educated and middle-class man.
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obrazovanom čovjeku srednjeg sloja.
08:12
My characters drove cars.
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Moji likovi su vozili automobile.
08:14
They were not starving.
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Nisu gladovali.
08:17
Therefore they were not authentically African.
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Slijedom toga, 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 dodati kako sam ja isto tako kriva
08:24
in the question of the single story.
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po pitanju jedne priče.
08:27
A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S.
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Prije nekoliko godina, otišla sam iz SAD-a posjetiti Meksiko.
08:31
The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense,
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Politička klima u SAD-u je u to vrijeme bila napeta.
08:33
and there were debates going on about immigration.
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I vodile su se debate o imigraciji.
08:37
And, as often happens in America,
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I, kao što se to često događa u Americi,
08:39
immigration became synonymous with Mexicans.
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imigracija je postala sinonim s Meksikancima.
08:42
There were endless stories of Mexicans
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Postojale su beskonačne priče o Meksikancima
08:44
as people who were
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kao ljudima koji su
08:46
fleecing the healthcare system,
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bježali od zdravstvenog sustava,
08:48
sneaking across the border,
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koji su se šuljali preko granice,
08:50
being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.
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koje su uhitili na granici, i takve stvari.
08:54
I remember walking around on my first day in Guadalajara,
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Sjećam se šetnje na svoj prvi dan u Guadalajari,
08:58
watching the people going to work,
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promatrajući ljude kako odlaze na posao,
09:00
rolling up tortillas in the marketplace,
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spremajući tortilje na tržnici,
09:02
smoking, laughing.
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pušeći, smijući se.
09:05
I remember first feeling slight surprise.
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Sjećam se prvog osjećaja laganog iznenađenja.
09:08
And then I was overwhelmed with shame.
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A zatim sam bila obuzeta sramom.
09:11
I realized that I had been so immersed
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Shvatila sam kako sam bila toliko zadubljena
09:14
in the media coverage of Mexicans
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u medijsku reportažu o Meksikancima
09:16
that they had become one thing in my mind,
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da su postali samo jedna stvar u mom umu,
09:18
the abject immigrant.
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bijedni imigranti.
09:21
I had bought into the single story of Mexicans
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"Zagrizla" sam u jednu priču o Meksikancima
09:23
and I could not have been more ashamed of myself.
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i nisam mogla biti više posramljena zbog same sebe.
09:26
So that is how to create a single story,
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Dakle, tako se stvara jedna priča,
09:28
show a people as one thing,
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prikažete ljude kao jednu stvar,
09:31
as only one thing,
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kao samo jednu stvar,
09:33
over and over again,
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opet i iznova,
09:35
and that is what they become.
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i to je ono što postaju.
09:38
It is impossible to talk about the single story
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Nemoguće je govoriti o jednoj priči
09:40
without talking about power.
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bez da se govori o moći.
09:43
There is a word, an Igbo word,
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Postoji riječ, lgbo riječ,
09:45
that I think about whenever I think about
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o kojoj razmišljam kadgod razmišljam o
09:47
the power structures of the world, and it is "nkali."
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strukturama moći u svijetu, a to je "nkali".
09:50
It's a noun that loosely translates
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To je imenica koja se površno prevodi
09:52
to "to be greater than another."
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kao "biti veći nego drugi".
09:55
Like our economic and political worlds,
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Kao naši gospodarski i politički svijetovi,
09:58
stories too are defined
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priče su, isto tako, definirane
10:00
by the principle of nkali:
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nkali načelom.
10:03
How they are told, who tells them,
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Kako su ispričane, tko ih priča,
10:05
when they're told, how many stories are told,
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kada su ispričane, koliko priča je ispričano,
10:08
are really dependent on power.
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doista su ovisne o 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 ispričati priču druge osobe,
10:15
but to make it the definitive story of that person.
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već je pretvoriti u krajnju priču te osobe.
10:19
The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes
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Palestinski pjesnik Mourid Barghouti piše
10:21
that if you want to dispossess a people,
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da ako želite oduzeti imanje ljudima,
10:24
the simplest way to do it is to tell their story
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najjednostavniji način je da im ispričate njihovu priču,
10:27
and to start with, "secondly."
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i počnete s, "drugo".
10:30
Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans,
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Počnite priču sa strijelama domorodačkih Amerikanaca,
10:34
and not with the arrival of the British,
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a ne s 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 s
10:42
the failure of the African state,
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neuspjehom afričke države,
10:44
and not with the colonial creation of the African state,
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a ne sa stvaranjem kolonija u afričkim državama,
10:48
and you have an entirely different story.
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i imate potpuno drugačiju priču.
10:52
I recently spoke at a university where
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Nedavno sam održala govor na sveučilištu gdje
10:54
a student told me that it was
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mi je student rekao kako je
10:56
such a shame
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velika šteta
10:58
that Nigerian men were physical abusers
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što su nigerijski muškarci zlostavljači
11:01
like the father character in my novel.
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poput lika oca u mom romanu.
11:04
I told him that I had just read a novel
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Rekla sam mu kako sam upravo pročitala roman
11:06
called American Psycho --
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zvan "Američki Psiho" --
11:08
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
11:10
-- and that it was such a shame
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-- i kako je velika šteta
11:12
that young Americans were serial murderers.
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što su mladi Amerikanci serijski ubojice.
11:15
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
11:19
(Applause)
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(Pljesak)
11:25
Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation.
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Očito sam to rekla u stanju blage iritacije.
11:28
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
11:30
But it would never have occurred to me to think
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Ne bi mi nikad palo na pamet da pomislim,
11:32
that just because I had read a novel
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samo zato jer sam pročitala roman
11:34
in which a character was a serial killer
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u kojoj je lik serijski ubojica,
11:36
that he was somehow representative
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da to na neki način predstavlja
11:38
of all Americans.
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sve Amerikance.
11:40
This is not because I am a better person than that student,
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A sad, to nije zbog toga što sam bolja osoba nego taj student,
11:43
but because of America's cultural and economic power,
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već, zbog američke kulturološke i gospodarske moći,
11:46
I had many stories of America.
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imala sam mnoge priče o Americi.
11:48
I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.
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Pročitala sam Tylera i Updikea i Steinbecka i Gaitskilla.
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 saznala, prije nekoliko godina, kako se očekuje od pisaca
11:58
to have had really unhappy childhoods
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da imaju stvarno nesretna djetinjstva
12:02
to be successful,
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kako bi bili uspješni,
12:04
I began to think about how I could invent
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počela sam razmišljati kako bih mogla izmisliti
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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(Smijeh)
12:10
But the truth is that I had a very happy childhood,
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Ali istina je da sam imala jako sretno djetinjstvo,
12:14
full of laughter and love, in a very close-knit family.
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puno smijeha i ljubavi, u jako bliskoj obitelji.
12:17
But I also had grandfathers who died in refugee camps.
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Ali imala sam i djedove koji su umrli u izbjegličkim kampovima.
12:21
My cousin Polle died because he could not get adequate healthcare.
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Moj rođak Polle je umro jer nije mogao dobiti adekvatnu zdravstvenu njegu.
12:25
One of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a plane crash
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Jedan od mojih najbližih prijatelja, Okoloma, je umro u zrakoplovnoj nesreći
12:28
because our fire trucks did not have water.
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jer naša vatrogasna vozila nisu imala vode.
12:31
I grew up under repressive military governments
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Odrasla sam pod represivnim vojničkim vladama
12:34
that devalued education,
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koje su podcjenjivale obrazovanje,
12:36
so that sometimes my parents were not paid their salaries.
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pa tako ponekad mojim roditeljima nisu bile isplaćene njihove plaće.
12:39
And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table,
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I tako sam, kao dijete, vidjela kako je džem nestao sa stola za doručak,
12:43
then margarine disappeared,
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zatim je margarin nestao,
12:45
then bread became too expensive,
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zatim je kruh postao preskup,
12:48
then milk became rationed.
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zatim se mlijeko počelo dobivati u porcijama.
12:51
And most of all, a kind of normalized political fear
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I najviše od svega, neka vrsta normaliziranog političkog straha
12:54
invaded our lives.
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je provalila u naše živote.
12:58
All of these stories make me who I am.
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Sve te priče me čine onim što jesam.
13:00
But to insist on only these negative stories
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Ali inzistirati samo na tim negativnim pričama
13:04
is to flatten my experience
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bi značilo spljoštiti moje iskustvo,
13:07
and to overlook the many other stories
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i previdjeti mnoge druge priče
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 stereotipove.
13:14
and the problem with stereotypes
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A problem sa stereotipovima
13:17
is not that they are untrue,
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nije da su lažni,
13:19
but that they are incomplete.
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već da su nepotpuni.
13:21
They make one story become the only story.
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Oni pretvaraju jednu priču u jedinu priču.
13:25
Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes:
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Naravno, Afrika je kontinent pun katastrofa.
13:27
There are immense ones, such as the horrific rapes in Congo
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One su neizmjerne, poput onih užasavajućih silovanja u Kongu.
13:31
and depressing ones, such as the fact that
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One su deprimirajuće, poput činjenice da
13:33
5,000 people apply for one job vacancy in Nigeria.
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se 5.000 ljudi prijavi za jedno radno mjesto u Nigeriji.
13:38
But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe,
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Ali postoje druge priče koje ne govore o katastrofi.
13:41
and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them.
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I jako je važno, i isto tako je važno pričati o njima.
13:45
I've always felt that it is impossible
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Uvijek sam osjećala kako se nemoguće
13:47
to engage properly with a place or a person
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propisno poistovjetiti s mjestom ili osobom
13:50
without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.
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bez poistovjećivanja sa svim pričama o tom mjestu i s tom osobom.
13:54
The consequence of the single story
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Posljedica jedne priče
13:57
is this: It robs people of dignity.
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je ova: krade ljudima dostojanstvo.
14:00
It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.
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Stvara poteškoće u prepoznavanju našeg ravnopravnog čovječanstva.
14:04
It emphasizes how we are different
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Naglašava kako smo različiti
14:07
rather than how we are similar.
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umjesto toga kako smo slični.
14:09
So what if before my Mexican trip
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Dakle, što kad bih prije svog meksičkog putovanja
14:11
I had followed the immigration debate from both sides,
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pratila debatu o imigraciji s obje strane,
14:15
the U.S. and the Mexican?
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američke i meksičke?
14:17
What if my mother had told us that Fide's family was poor
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Što kad bi nam moja majka rekla kako je Fideova obitelj siromašna
14:21
and hardworking?
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i radišna?
14:23
What if we had an African television network
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Što kad bi imali afričku televizijsku mrežu
14:25
that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world?
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koja bi prenosila raznolike afričke priče diljem cijelog svijeta?
14:29
What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls
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Ono što Nigerijski pisac Chinua Achebe naziva
14:31
"a balance of stories."
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"ravnoteža priča".
14:34
What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher,
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o mom Nigerijskom izdavaču,
14:37
Mukta Bakaray,
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Mukta Bakarayu,
14:39
a remarkable man who left his job in a bank
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izvanrednom čovjeku koji je napustio svoj posao u banci
14:41
to follow his dream and start a publishing house?
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kako bi slijedio svoj san i osnovao izdavačku kuću?
14:44
Now, the conventional wisdom was that Nigerians don't read literature.
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Sada, konvencionalna mudrost je da Nigerijci ne čitaju knjige.
14:48
He disagreed. He felt
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On se nije složio. Osjećao je
14:50
that people who could read, would read,
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da će ljudi koji mogu čitati, čitati,
14:52
if you made literature affordable and available to them.
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ako im učinite knjigu cjenovno prihvatljivom i dostupnom.
14:56
Shortly after he published my first novel
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Nedugo 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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išla sam na TV postaju u Lagosu kako bih dala 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 kao glasnik je došla do mene i rekla,
15:05
"I really liked your novel. I didn't like the ending.
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"Stvarno mi se svidio tvoj roman. Nije mi se svidio završetak.
15:08
Now you must write a sequel, and this is what will happen ..."
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Morate napisati nastavak, a ovo je što će se dogoditi..."
15:11
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
15:14
And she went on to tell me what to write in the sequel.
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I nastavila je sa pričom što da napišem u nastavku.
15:17
I was not only charmed, I was very moved.
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Nisam bila samo šarmirana, bila sam jako dirnuta.
15:20
Here was a woman, part of the ordinary masses of Nigerians,
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Ovdje je žena, dio običnog nigerijskog puka,
15:23
who were not supposed to be readers.
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koji ne bi trebali biti čitatelji.
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 si je pripisala vlasništvo nad njom
15:28
and felt justified in telling me
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i osjećala je da je opravdano reći mi
15:31
what to write in the sequel.
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što napisati u nastavku.
15:33
Now, what if my roommate knew about my friend Fumi Onda,
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Sada, što kada bi moja cimerica znala o mojoj prijateljici Fumi Ondai,
15:37
a fearless woman who hosts a TV show in Lagos,
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neustrašivoj ženi koja vodi TV show u Lagosu,
15:40
and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?
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i koja je odlučna da ispriča priče koje želimo zaboraviti?
15:43
What if my roommate knew about the heart procedure
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o srčanoj operaciji
15:47
that was performed in the Lagos hospital last week?
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koja je prošli tjedan u bolnici u Lagosu napravljena?
15:50
What if my roommate knew about contemporary Nigerian music,
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o suvremenoj nigerijskoj glazbi?
15:54
talented people singing in English and Pidgin,
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Talentirani ljudi koji pjevaju na engleskom i pidgin,
15:57
and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo,
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na Igbo i yoruba i Ijo,
15:59
mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela
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mješajući utjecaje od Jay-Za do Felae
16:03
to Bob Marley to their grandfathers.
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do Bob Marleya i do njihovih djedova.
16:06
What if my roommate knew about the female lawyer
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o ženi odvjetnici
16:08
who recently went to court in Nigeria
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koja je nedavno išla na sud u Nigeriji
16:10
to challenge a ridiculous law
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kako bi se borila protiv besmislenog zakona
16:12
that required women to get their husband's consent
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koji je zahtijevao od žena da dobiju mužev pristanak
16:15
before renewing their passports?
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prije obnavljanja svojih putovnica?
16:18
What if my roommate knew about Nollywood,
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o Nollywoodu,
16:21
full of innovative people making films despite great technical odds,
343
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punom inovativnih ljudi koji snimaju filmove usprkos velikim tehničkim zaprekama?
16:25
films so popular
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Filmovi su toliko popularni
16:27
that they really are the best example
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da su oni najbolji primjer
16:29
of Nigerians consuming what they produce?
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da Nigerijci troše ono što proizvedu.
16:32
What if my roommate knew about my wonderfully ambitious hair braider,
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Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o mojoj prekrasnoj ambicioznoj pletilji kose,
16:35
who has just started her own business selling hair extensions?
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koja je započela svoje poslovanje prodajuću ekstenzije za kosu?
16:39
Or about the millions of other Nigerians
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Ili o milijunima drugih Nigerijaca
16:41
who start businesses and sometimes fail,
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koji su osnovali poduzeća i ponekad doživjeli neuspjeh,
16:43
but continue to nurse ambition?
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ali koji i dalje njeguju ambiciju?
16:47
Every time I am home I am confronted with
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Svaki put kad sam doma suočena sama s
16:49
the usual sources of irritation for most Nigerians:
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uobičajenim izvorima iritacije za većinu Nigerijaca:
16:52
our failed infrastructure, our failed government,
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naša neuspjela infrastruktura, naše neuspjela vlada.
16:55
but also by the incredible resilience of people who
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Ali isto tako i s nevjerojatnom otpornošću ljudi koji
16:58
thrive despite the government,
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uspijevaju usprkos 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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Svako ljeto u Lagosu podučavam na radionicama pisanja.
17:06
and it is amazing to me how many people apply,
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I meni je iznenađujuće koliko ljudi se prijavi,
17:09
how many people are eager to write,
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koliko ljudi je željno pisanja,
17:12
to tell stories.
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kako bi ispričalo priče.
17:14
My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit
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Moj nigerijski izdavač i ja smo upravo osnovali 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 izgradnji knjižnica
17:22
and refurbishing libraries that already exist
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i obnavljanju već postojećih knjižnica,
17:24
and providing books for state schools
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i pribavljanju knjiga za državne škole
17:27
that don't have anything in their libraries,
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koje nemaju ništa u svojim knjižnicama,
17:29
and also of organizing lots and lots of workshops,
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i isto tako o organiziranju mnogo, mnogo radionica
17:31
in reading and writing,
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čitanja i pisanja,
17:33
for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.
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za sve ljude koji su željni ispričati mnoge naše 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 se koristile kako bi oduzimale i kako bi klevetale.
17:44
but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.
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Ali priče se isto tako mogu upotrijebiti za osnaživanje, i za humaniziranje.
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 isto tako mogu popraviti to slomljeno dostojanstvo.
17:56
The American writer Alice Walker wrote this
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Američka spisateljica Alice Walker je napisala ovo
17:58
about her Southern relatives
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o svojim južnjačkim rođacima
18:00
who had moved to the North.
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koji su se preselili na sjever.
18:02
She introduced them to a book about
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Upoznala ih je s knjigom o
18:04
the Southern life that they had left behind:
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južnjačkom životu koji su ostavili iza.
18:07
"They sat around, reading the book themselves,
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"Sjedili su uokolo, sami čitajući knjige,
18:11
listening to me read the book, and a kind of paradise was regained."
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slušajući mene kako čitam knjigu, i neka vrsta raja je ponovno uspostavljena."
18:17
I would like to end with this thought:
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Željela bih završiti s ovom mišlju:
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 nema jedne priče
18:26
about any place,
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o nekom mjestu,
18:28
we regain a kind of paradise.
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ponovno smo pridobili neku vrstu raja.
18:30
Thank you.
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Hvala vam.
18:32
(Applause)
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(Pljesak)
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