TEDGlobal 2007
Chris Abani: Telling stories from Africa
克里斯.阿巴尼讲述非洲故事
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Readability: 3.9
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在这篇深沉的个人演讲中,尼日利亚作家克里斯.阿巴尼认为是一些故事让"我们知道如何成为我们自己"。他通过包括他自己的作品在内的诗篇与叙事作品来追寻非洲之心。
Chris Abani - Novelist, poet
Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable." His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007). Full bio
Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable." His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007). Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:25
I just heard the best joke about Bond Emeruwa.
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我刚听到一个关于Bond Emeruwa的最有意思的笑话。
00:28
I was having lunch with him just a few minutes ago,
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在几分钟前我刚和他共进午餐，
00:31
and a Nigerian journalist comes -- and this will only make sense
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一个尼日利亚记者进来了——当然这只有在
00:33
if you've ever watched a James Bond movie --
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你看过007电影的情况下才能领略其中奥妙——
00:36
and a Nigerian journalist comes up to him and goes,
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尼日利亚记者走到他面前说:
00:38
"Aha, we meet again, Mr. Bond!"
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“啊，我们又见面了，邦德先生！”
00:41
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
00:43
It was great.
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啊，这真是太好了。
00:44
So, I've got a little sheet of paper here,
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我拿了一张小纸片在这里，
00:48
mostly because I'm Nigerian and if you leave me alone,
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主要由于我是个尼日利亚人，如果你不限制我，
00:50
I'll talk for like two hours.
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我会滔滔不绝说上两个钟头。
00:52
I just want to say good afternoon, good evening.
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但是，我只是想说声下午好，晚上好。
00:58
It's been an incredible few days.
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这真是令人难以置信的日子。
01:00
It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris.
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从今往后都没有这么好了。我想感谢艾莫克和克里斯。
01:03
But also, most importantly, all the invisible people behind TED
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但是，最重要的是这些幕后的不为人知的人们，
01:07
that you just see flitting around the whole place
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而你仅看到了一些在四处活动的人。
01:10
that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation.
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正是这样才使得这个地方有着如此多姿多彩、精力充沛的谈话。
01:16
It's really amazing.
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这真是太棒了
01:19
I've been in the audience.
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我也听过一些讲座。
01:21
I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide shows
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我是一个作家，我也看过那些带幻灯片来做演讲的人
01:25
and scientists and bankers, and I've been feeling a bit
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科学家和银行家，我觉得有点
01:29
like a gangsta rapper at a bar mitzvah.
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像一个黑帮说唱歌手在犹太教成人礼现场。
01:32
(Laughter)
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(笑声)♪
01:34
Like, what have I got to say about all this?
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我为什么说这些呢？
01:38
And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday,
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昨天我看了简(古道尔)的幻灯片。
01:40
and I thought it was really great, and I was watching
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我认为非常好，而且我看到
01:42
those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought,
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那些关于黑猩猩的非常好的幻灯，我想，
01:46
"Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?"
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“哇，如果一只黑猩猩能说话，它将会说些什么？”
01:51
My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush."
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我的第一个想法是：“哦，你知道，那是乔治.布什。”
01:53
But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?"
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然而随后我又想到：“为什么要对黑猩猩这么无礼？”
01:59
I guess there goes my green card.
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我猜这么说完我的绿卡算是泡汤了。
02:01
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
02:03
There's been a lot of talk about narrative in Africa.
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关于非洲的叙事作品有很多。
02:06
And what's become increasingly clear to me is that
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而对于我来说，越来越清晰地是
02:10
we're talking about news stories about Africa;
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我们正在谈论关于非洲的新闻故事，
02:13
we're not really talking about African narratives.
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我们并没有真正谈及非洲的叙事作品。
02:15
And it's important to make a distinction, because if the news is anything to go by,
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如果新闻只是随时间流逝的事情的话，那么在这里做一个区分非常重要。
02:19
40 percent of Americans can't -- either can't afford health insurance
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40%的美国人不能负担健康保险
02:25
or have the most inadequate health insurance,
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或者只能拥有最不充足的健康保险，
02:28
and have a president who, despite the protest
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他们有一位总统，这位总统不顾
02:31
of millions of his citizens -- even his own Congress --
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上百万公民——甚至包括他自己的国会在内——的抗议，
02:34
continues to prosecute a senseless war.
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坚持发动一场不义的战争。
02:37
So if news is anything to go by,
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因此，如果新闻是顺便采访的一些东西，
02:39
the U.S. is right there with Zimbabwe, right?
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那么美国就与津巴布韦没什么区别了，是不是？
02:42
Which it isn't really, is it?
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它到底是不是这样呢？
02:46
And talking about war, my girlfriend has this great t-shirt
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谈及战争，我的女朋友有一件很棒的T恤，
02:48
that says, "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity."
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上面写道：“以轰炸求和平就如同通过做爱来找处女。”
02:53
It's amazing, isn't it?
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这话写得很绝，难道不是吗？
02:56
The truth is, everything we know about America,
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事实是，美国人——我们所知道的关于美国的每件事，
03:05
everything Americans come to know about being American,
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美国人所了解的作为美国人的每件事，
03:07
isn't from the news.
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并非源于新闻。
03:09
I live there.
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它——我们——我曾生活于此。
03:11
We don't go home at the end of the day and think,
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我们没有在一天结束回家之时想着
03:13
"Well, I really know who I am now
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“好的，我现在已经知道我是谁了。”
03:14
because the Wall Street Journal says that the Stock Exchange
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“因为华尔街新闻说股票交易”
03:18
closed at this many points."
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“在多少点上已经收盘了。”
03:20
What we know about how to be who we are comes from stories.
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是一些故事让我们知道如何成为我们自己。
03:23
It comes from the novels, the movies, the fashion magazines.
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它来自小说，电影，时尚杂志。
03:26
It comes from popular culture.
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它来自流行文化。
03:28
In other words, it's the agents of our imagination
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换句话说，是我们想象力的代言者
03:30
who really shape who we are. And this is important to remember,
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将我们塑造成我们自己。必须记住，
03:34
because in Africa
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因为，如你所知，在非洲，
03:37
the complicated questions we want to ask about
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我们思考过很多复杂的问题，
03:41
what all of this means has been asked
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人生，世界的意义，都被质疑过
03:43
from the rock paintings of the San people,
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从岩画到桑河人类，
03:47
through the Sundiata epics of Mali, to modern contemporary literature.
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穿越马里Sundiata 史诗，直到现代、当代文学。
03:51
If you want to know about Africa, read our literature --
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如果你想了解非洲，请阅读我们的文学作品——
03:54
and not just "Things Fall Apart," because that would be like saying,
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不仅仅是阅读Things Fall Apart《支离破碎》，因为那相当于是说，
03:58
"I've read 'Gone with the Wind' and so I know everything about America."
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“我已经读了《飘》，因此我对美国了如指掌。”
04:02
That's very important.
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这一点非常重要。
04:04
There's a poem by Jack Gilbert called "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart."
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杰克.吉尔伯特写了首诗，题为“被遗忘的心语”
04:08
He says, "When the Sumerian tablets were first translated,
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他写道：“当闪族人的书简初次被翻译，”
04:13
they were thought to be business records.
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“它被认为是商业记录，”
04:16
But what if they were poems and psalms?
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“但是，它们要是诗篇和圣歌呢？”
04:18
My love is like twelve Ethiopian goats
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“我的爱如同十二只埃塞俄比亚山羊，”
04:22
standing still in the morning light.
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“站立在静寂的晨光中。”
04:26
Shiploads of thuja are what my body wants to say to your body.
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“满船的金钟柏是我的身体想要对你的诉说。”
04:31
Giraffes are this desire in the dark."
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“长颈鹿正是这黑暗中的渴望。”
04:35
This is important.
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这一点非常重要。
04:36
It's important because misreading is really the chance
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因为误读确实会给
04:39
for complication and opportunity.
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复杂化以可能性和机会。
04:41
The first Igbo Bible was translated from English
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第一本伊博人的圣经翻译自英文，
04:45
in about the 1800s by Bishop Crowther,
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于1800年代由克鲁瑟主教所译。
04:47
who was a Yoruba.
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这个主教是约鲁巴人。
04:48
And it's important to know Igbo is a tonal language,
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要知道伊博语是一种注音语言，
04:51
and so they'll say the word "igwe" and "igwe":
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因此他们说一个词"igwe" 和 "igwe"
04:55
same spelling, one means "sky" or "heaven,"
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拼法相同，一个意思是“天空”或“天堂”，
04:59
and one means "bicycle" or "iron."
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而另一个意思是“自行车”或“铁”。
05:02
So "God is in heaven surrounded by His angels"
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所以“上帝在天堂里被他的天使围绕”
05:06
was translated as --
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被翻译成
05:08
[Igbo].
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(伊博语翻译)
05:12
And for some reason, in Cameroon, when they tried
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由于某种原因，在喀麦隆，当他们试图
05:14
to translate the Bible into Cameroonian patois,
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把圣经翻译成喀麦隆方言时，
05:16
they chose the Igbo version.
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他们选择了伊博语版本。
05:18
And I'm not going to give you the patois translation;
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而我并没有打算给你这种方言译文，
05:20
I'm going to make it standard English.
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我想让它成为标准的英文。
05:21
Basically, it ends up as "God is on a bicycle with his angels."
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基本上，结果它就翻成是“上帝和他的天使骑在自行车上”。
05:28
This is good, because language complicates things.
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这很好，因为语言让事情变复杂了。
05:33
You know, we often think that language mirrors
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如你所知，我们常认为语言反映
05:35
the world in which we live, and I find that's not true.
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我们所生活的世界，但是，我发现并非如此。
05:39
The language actually makes the world in which we live.
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实际上是语言造就了我们所生活的世界。
05:44
Language is not -- I mean, things don't have
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语言并非——我是说，事情对于
05:46
any mutable value by themselves; we ascribe them a value.
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它们自身并没有易变的价值——具有我们所赋予它们的价值。
05:49
And language can't be understood in its abstraction.
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而且语言不能在抽象中被理解。
05:52
It can only be understood in the context of story,
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它只能在故事的上下文中被理解。
05:54
and everything, all of this is story.
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而且每件事都是故事。
05:58
And it's important to remember that,
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必须记住
06:00
because if we don't, then we become ahistorical.
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因为如果我们不这样，我们就将变成跟历史无关的。
06:04
We've had a lot of -- a parade of amazing ideas here.
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我们已经有很多——一堆令人惊异的观点。
06:07
But these are not new to Africa.
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但这些对于非洲并不新鲜。
06:09
Nigeria got its independence in 1960.
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尼日利亚于1960年独立。
06:12
The first time the possibility for independence was discussed
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第一次讨论独立的可能性
06:16
was in 1922, following the Aba women's market riots.
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是在1922年，紧随阿巴妇女市场骚动之后。
06:20
In 1967, in the middle of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War,
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在1967年，在比夫拉-尼日利亚内战中，
06:24
Dr. Njoku-Obi invented the Cholera vaccine.
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Njoku-Obi医生发明了霍乱疫苗。
06:28
So, you know, the thing is to remember that
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因此，这事该被记住，
06:30
because otherwise, 10 years from now,
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因为，否则10年后，
06:32
we'll be back here trying to tell this story again.
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我们将回头来继续再说同样的故事。
06:36
So, what it says to me then is that it's not really --
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因此，对于我来说，它并非真的么？
06:41
the problem isn't really the stories that are being told
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问题并不在于被讲述的故事
06:43
or which stories are being told,
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或者是哪些故事正在被讲述；
06:45
the problem really is the terms of humanity
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真正的问题在于关于人性，
06:48
that we're willing to bring to complicate every story,
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我们要带入多少，来复杂化每个故事
06:51
and that's really what it's all about.
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这才是问题所在。
06:54
Let me tell you a Nigerian joke.
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我给你们讲个尼日利亚笑话。
06:56
Well, it's just a joke, anyway.
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不管怎样，这都只是个笑话。
06:58
So there's Tom, Dick and Harry and they're working construction.
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张三、李四和王五，他们都是搞建筑的。
07:02
And Tom opens up his lunch box and there's rice in it,
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张三打开午餐盒，里面有米饭，
07:05
and he goes on this rant about, "Twenty years,
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他叫道：“20年了，”
07:07
my wife has been packing rice for lunch.
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“我老婆一直只给我带米饭作午餐。”
07:09
If she does it again tomorrow, I'm going to throw myself
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“如果明天还是这样，我就”
07:11
off this building and kill myself."
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“跳楼自杀。”
07:13
And Dick and Harry repeat this.
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李四和王五也重复了同样的话。
07:15
The next day, Tom opens his lunchbox, there's rice,
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第二天，张三打开饭盒，还是米饭，
07:17
so he throws himself off and kills himself,
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因此他跳楼自杀，
07:19
and Tom, Dick and Harry follow.
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李四和王五也效仿。
07:21
And now the inquest -- you know, Tom's wife
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警方调查之中，张三的老婆
07:23
and Dick's wife are distraught.
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和李四的老婆悔得肠子都青了
07:24
They wished they'd not packed rice.
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她们希望自己没有装米饭。
07:26
But Harry's wife is confused, because she said, "You know,
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但是王五的老婆很迷惑，因为她说，“你知道，”
07:29
Harry had been packing his own lunch for 20 years."
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“王五自己装午饭装了20年了。”
07:32
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
07:36
This seemingly innocent joke, when I heard it as a child in Nigeria,
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当我孩提时代在尼日利亚听到的时候，我觉得这个表面上很无知的笑话
07:41
was told about Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa,
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是用来指伊博人、约鲁巴人和豪萨人的，
07:43
with the Hausa being Harry.
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而豪萨人就是那个王五。
07:45
So what seems like an eccentric if tragic joke about Harry
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因此这看来有些古怪，如果关于王五的悲剧性笑话
07:49
becomes a way to spread ethnic hatred.
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成为一种宣扬种族仇恨的途径。
07:53
My father was educated in Cork, in the University of Cork, in the '50s.
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我父亲于20世纪50年代在科克（爱尔兰港口）的科克大学上学。
07:57
In fact, every time I read in Ireland,
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实际上，每次我在爱尔兰阅读时，
07:59
people get me all mistaken and they say,
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人们总是弄错，他们说，
08:01
"Oh, this is Chris O'Barney from Cork."
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“哦，这是来自科克的克里斯.欧巴内”
08:03
But he was also in Oxford in the '50s,
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“但是他50年代的时候也在牛津。”
08:07
and yet growing up as a child in Nigeria,
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“而且他在尼日利亚度过童年时代。”
08:09
my father used to say to me, "You must never eat or drink
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我的父亲曾对我说：“你必须不吃不喝”
08:12
in a Yoruba person's house because they will poison you."
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“在一个约鲁巴人家里，因为他们会给你下毒。”
08:17
It makes sense now when I think about it,
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当我想起这话时，现在知道是什么意思了。
08:19
because if you'd known my father,
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因为如果你认识我父亲，
08:20
you would've wanted to poison him too.
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你也会想给他下毒。
08:23
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
08:28
So I was born in 1966, at the beginning
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我生在1966年，
08:32
of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War, and the war ended after three years.
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在比夫拉-尼日利亚内战之初，这场战争在三年后结束。
08:38
And I was growing up in school and the federal government
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我在学校里成长，联邦政府
08:41
didn't want us taught about the history of the war,
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不希望我们学习这段战争的历史。
08:44
because they thought it probably would make us
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因为他们认为这有可能使我们
08:47
generate a new generation of rebels.
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成为新的背叛的一代。
08:49
So I had a very inventive teacher, a Pakistani Muslim,
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因此，我有了一位极富创造性的老师，一个巴基斯坦的穆斯林，
08:52
who wanted to teach us about this.
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他想教我们这些战争历史。
08:54
So what he did was to teach us Jewish Holocaust history,
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他所做的是教我们犹太人大屠杀历史，
08:58
and so huddled around books with photographs of people in Auschwitz,
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书中充满了奥斯维辛集中营的照片。
09:03
I learned the melancholic history of my people
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我学到了关于我的人民的悲惨的历史
09:06
through the melancholic history of another people.
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通过其他民族的悲惨史。
09:08
I mean, picture this -- really picture this.
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我说，想象这幅画面——真正地想想看
09:10
A Pakistani Muslim teaching Jewish Holocaust history
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一个巴基斯坦穆斯林教犹太大屠杀历史
09:15
to young Igbo children.
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给幼小的伊博儿童。
09:16
Story is powerful.
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故事充满了力量。
09:18
Story is fluid and it belongs to nobody.
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故事是流淌的，它不属于任何人。
09:20
And it should come as no surprise
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它必须波澜不惊地出现。
09:22
that my first novel at 16 was about Neo-Nazis
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因此我写于16岁时的第一篇小说是关于新纳粹
09:25
taking over Nigeria to institute the Fourth Reich.
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第四帝国体制接管尼日利亚。
09:28
It makes perfect sense.
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特别说得通
09:29
And they were to blow up strategic targets
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他们突然打击战略目标
09:33
and take over the country, and they were foiled
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掌握了整个国家，结果被一个人阻止了，
09:35
by a Nigerian James Bond called Coyote Williams,
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这人是一个尼日利亚的詹姆士.邦德，名叫考尔欧特.威廉姆斯.
09:39
and a Jewish Nazi hunter.
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和一个犹太人——一个犹太的“纳粹猎人”。
09:42
And it happened over four continents.
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这个故事涉及四个大陆。
09:43
And when the book came out, I was heralded as Africa's answer
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当此书一出版，受到广泛欢迎，
09:46
to Frederick Forsyth, which is a dubious honor at best.
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我被看作非洲版的弗莱德里克.福塞斯，这最好是个值得怀疑的荣誉。
09:50
But also, the book was launched in time for me to be accused
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但是，这本书发行的时候正值我被控
09:53
of constructing the blueprint for a foiled coup attempt.
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有意谋反。
09:57
So at 18, I was bonded off to prison in Nigeria.
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因此在18岁时，我被关进尼日利亚的监狱。
10:02
I grew up very privileged, and it's important
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我在有特权的情况下成长，
10:03
to talk about privilege, because we don't talk about it here.
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谈及特权非常重要，因为我们在这里不谈论它。
10:06
A lot of us are very privileged.
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我们中的很多人享有特权。
10:08
I grew up -- servants, cars, televisions, all that stuff.
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我长大的过程中有仆人、汽车、电视，所有这些东西。
10:12
My story of Nigeria growing up was very different from the story
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我在尼日利亚长大的故事完全不同于
10:15
I encountered in prison, and I had no language for it.
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我在监狱里面对的情况。那种情况真是让我无言以对。
10:19
I was completely terrified, completely broken,
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我完全受到了惊吓，完全崩溃了，
10:23
and kept trying to find a new language,
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而且尽力想寻找一种新的语言，
10:27
a new way to make sense of all of this.
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一种新的途径去理解这种状况。
10:30
Six months after that, with no explanation,
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六个月以后，没有任何解释，
10:33
they let me go.
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他们就把我放了。
10:34
Now for those of you who have seen me at the buffet tables know
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现在，你们在餐桌边碰见我，就会知道
10:36
that it was because it was costing them too much to feed me.
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那是因为我吃得太多，关着我花了他们太多钱。
10:39
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
10:48
But I mean, I grew up with this incredible privilege,
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但是我的意思是说，我长大的过程中享有了难以置信的特权。
10:50
and not just me -- millions of Nigerians
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而且并非只有我——上百万尼日利亚人
10:52
grew up with books and libraries.
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成长中有书籍和图书馆。
10:54
In fact, we were talking last night about how all
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实际上，我们昨晚谈论了
10:58
of the steamy novels of Harold Robbins
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哈罗德.罗宾斯所有的色情小说如何
11:00
had done more for sex education of horny teenage boys in Africa
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对非洲处于性冲动时期的青少年进行性教育，
11:04
than any sex education programs ever had.
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而这些书中的性教育远多于已有的其他形式的性教育。
11:08
All of those are gone.
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所有的这些都已经过去了。
11:10
We are squandering the most valuable resource
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我们正在浪费最有价值的资源。
11:12
we have on this continent: the valuable resource
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我们在这块大陆上拥有的最有价值的资源是
11:14
of the imagination.
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想象力。
11:16
In the film, "Sometimes in April" by Raoul Peck,
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在鲁尔.派克的电影《四月某时》中，
11:19
Idris Elba is poised in a scene with his machete raised,
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伊迪里斯.厄尔巴在一幕中泰然自若举起弯刀,
11:23
and he's being forced by a crowd to chop up his best friend --
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他正被一群人强迫去砍他最好的朋友——
11:27
fellow Rwandan Army officer, albeit a Tutsi --
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卢旺达军官，是一个图西人——
11:30
played by Fraser James.
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此人由弗莱舍.詹姆斯扮演。
11:32
And Fraser's on his knees, arms tied behind his back,
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弗莱舍双手被反绑在背后，跪在地上
11:36
and he's crying.
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他在哭泣。
11:38
He's sniveling.
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他简直是涕泗横流。
11:39
It's a pitiful sight.
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这是个令人同情的场景。
11:40
And as we watch it, we are ashamed.
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当看到这一幕时，我们感到羞愧难当。
11:45
And we want to say to Idris, "Chop him up.
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我们想对伊迪里斯说。“砍了他吧。”
11:48
Shut him up."
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“让他闭嘴。”
11:50
And as Idris moves, Fraser screams, "Stop!
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当伊迪里斯上前，弗莱舍尖叫道：“住手！”
11:54
Please stop!"
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“请住手！”
11:56
Idris pauses, then he moves again,
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伊迪里斯停了一下，复又上前，
11:59
and Fraser says, "Please!
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弗莱舍说道：“求求你了！”
12:02
Please stop!"
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“求求你，住手吧！”
12:04
And it's not the look of horror and terror on Fraser's face that stops Idris or us;
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并非弗莱舍脸上恐怖和惧怕的表情让伊迪里斯或者是我们这些观众要住手，
12:10
it's the look in Fraser's eyes.
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让人住手的是弗莱舍的眼神。
12:12
It's one that says, "Don't do this.
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它在说：“不要这样。”
12:16
And I'm not saying this to save myself,
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“我并不是要说这些来救我自己，”
12:18
although this would be nice. I'm doing it to save you,
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“虽然救我会很好，但是我这样做是为了拯救你。”
12:22
because if you do this, you will be lost."
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“因为如果你这样做了，你将会迷失自我。”
12:26
To be so afraid that you're standing in the face
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那是非常可怕的，如果你直面死亡
12:29
of a death you can't escape and that you're soiling yourself
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无法逃脱，而同时又在羞辱你自己
12:31
and crying, but to say in that moment,
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并且嚎啕大哭，但是此时说出
12:33
as Fraser says to Idris, "Tell my girlfriend I love her."
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弗莱舍对伊迪里斯所说的话：“告诉我的女友我爱她。”
12:37
In that moment, Fraser says,
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在那种时候，弗莱舍说：
12:41
"I am lost already, but not you ... not you."
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“我已经迷失自我，但是你，你，不该也这样。”
12:46
This is a redemption we can all aspire to.
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这是一种我们都可以盼望的救赎。
12:49
African narratives in the West, they proliferate.
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在西方，有关非洲的叙事作品快速增多。
12:53
I really don't care anymore.
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我确实已不再关心。
12:54
I'm more interested in the stories we tell about ourselves --
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我更关注那些讲述我们自己的故事——
12:58
how as a writer, I find that African writers
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如何当一个作家，我发现非洲作家
13:03
have always been the curators of our humanity on this continent.
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一直在充当这块大陆上我们人性的监护者。
13:06
The question is, how do I balance narratives that are wonderful
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问题是，我如何去平衡那些令人愉快的作品
13:12
with narratives of wounds and self-loathing?
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和那些创伤文学，自揭其丑的作品呢?
13:16
And this is the difficulty that I face.
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这是我所面临的困难。
13:19
I am trying to move beyond political rhetoric
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我正试图超越政治上的花言巧语，
13:21
to a place of ethical questioning.
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去触及民族问题。
13:23
I am asking us to balance the idea
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我请我们大家去平衡这些
13:26
of our complete vulnerability with the complete notion
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有关我们所有的弱点的看法。
13:30
of transformation of what is possible.
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用观念上的完全变革或任何可能的办法去达到这种平衡。
13:32
As a young middle-class Nigerian activist,
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作为一个年轻的尼日利亚中产阶级活动家，
13:34
I launched myself along with a whole generation of us
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我与所有同辈人一起投入
13:37
into the campaign to stop the government.
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阻止政府的运动。
13:40
And I asked millions of people,
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我请求上百万同胞，
13:42
without questioning my right to do so,
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我丝毫不怀疑自己有权这样去做，
13:44
to go up against the government.
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去揭竿而起反对政府。
13:46
And I watched them being locked up in prison and tear gassed.
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我看到他们被关进监狱，被催泪弹袭击。
13:48
I justified it, and I said, "This is the cost of revolution.
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我认为这是正当的，我说：“这是革命的代价。”
13:51
Have I not myself been imprisoned?
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我是不是没蹲过监狱？
13:53
Have I not myself been beaten?"
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我是不是没被打过？
13:55
It wasn't until later, when I was imprisoned again,
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没多久，我又被关进监狱，
13:58
that I understood the real meaning of torture,
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我知道了严刑拷打到底是什么，
14:00
and how easy your humanity can be taken from you,
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你的人格尊严轻易就被剥夺了，
14:03
for the time I was engaged in war,
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此时我卷入了战争，
14:06
righteous, righteous war.
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正义的战争。
14:09
Excuse me.
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对不起。
14:12
Sometimes I can stand before the world --
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有时，我能站在全世界面前——
14:14
and when I say this, transformation
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此时，变革
14:16
is a difficult and slow process --
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正经历一个困难而缓慢的过程。
14:18
sometimes I can stand before the world and say,
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有时，我能站在全世界面前说，
14:21
"My name is Chris Abani.
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“我叫克里斯.阿巴尼，”
14:23
I have been human six days, but only sometimes."
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“我做了六天人，而这其中仅仅只是有时是人。”
14:26
But this is a good thing.
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但是这是一件好事。
14:28
It's never going to be easy.
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它从未变得简单。
14:30
There are no answers.
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那些问题没有答案。
14:32
As I was telling Rachel from Google Earth,
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我对来自谷歌地球的蕾切尔说，
14:34
that I had challenged my students in America --
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我在美国曾挑战过我的学生。
14:36
I said, "You don't know anything about Africa, you're all idiots."
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我说：“你们完全不了解非洲，你们是白痴。”
14:39
And so they said, "Tell me about Africa, Professor Abani."
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他们说：“跟我们说说非洲吧，阿巴尼教授。”
14:42
So I went to Google Earth and learned about Africa.
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因此我上谷歌网，去了解非洲。
14:45
And the truth be told, this is it, isn't it?
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那上面说了真实情况，就是这样，不是吗？
14:48
There are no essential Africans,
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那里没有本质上的非洲人，
14:49
and most of us are as completely ignorant as everyone else
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我们大部分都像其他所有人一样
14:51
about the continent we come from,
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对于我们的大陆是完全无知的，
14:53
and yet we want to make profound statements about it.
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然而我们还想对它进行深入地阐述。
14:56
And I think if we can just admit that we're all trying
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我想如果我们能够承认我们都试图
14:58
to approximate the truth of our own communities,
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去接近我们自己所处社会的真实情况，
15:01
it will make for a much more nuanced
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这将有助于形成一个更有区别
15:03
and a much more interesting conversation.
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也更加有趣的谈话。
15:06
I want to believe that we can be agnostic about this,
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我愿意相信我们在这个问题上能够成为不可知论者，
15:10
that we can rise above all of this.
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以便我们能够凌驾于这一切。
15:12
When I was 10, I read James Baldwin's "Another Country,"
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当我10岁的时候，我看了詹姆士.鲍尔温的《另一个国家》，
15:16
and that book broke me.
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此书让我崩溃。
15:18
Not because I was encountering homosexual sex and love
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这不是因为我第一次面对同性性行为和爱情，
15:21
for the first time, but because the way James wrote about it
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而是因为詹姆士写作这本书的方式
15:24
made it impossible for me to attach otherness to it.
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使得我无法对它产生疏离感。
15:27
"Here," Jimmy said.
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“这里，”吉米说。
15:29
"Here is love, all of it."
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“这里有爱，全部的爱。”
15:31
The fact that it happens in "Another Country"
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发生在《另一个国家》里的事情
15:33
takes you quite by surprise.
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使你因为惊奇而变得平静。
15:36
My friend Ronald Gottesman says there are three kinds of people in the world:
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我的朋友罗纳德.高茨曼说世上有三种人。
15:38
those who can count, and those who can't.
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会算计的人，不会算计的人。
15:41
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
15:45
He also says that the cause of all our trouble
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他还说导致所有麻烦的原因
15:48
is the belief in an essential, pure identity:
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是对本质的纯粹的一致性的信仰：
15:51
religious, ethnic, historical, ideological.
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宗教的，种族的，历史的，意识形态的。
15:56
I want to leave you with a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa
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我想给你们留下一首尤瑟夫.考门亚卡写的诗
15:59
that speaks to transformation.
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这首诗是写变革的。
16:02
It's called "Ode to the Drum," and I'll try and read it
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名叫“鼓颂”，我试着用一种
16:05
the way Yusef would be proud to hear it read.
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尤瑟夫会觉得自豪的方式来读它。
16:11
"Gazelle, I killed you for your skin's exquisite touch,
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“瞪羚，我为了你皮毛细腻的触感而杀了你，”
16:17
for how easy it is to be nailed to a board
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“还为了你的皮毛能轻易地被钉在木板上”
16:20
weathered raw as white butcher paper.
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“如同屠宰用的白纸一样被风化”
16:24
Last night I heard my daughter praying for the meat here at my feet.
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“昨晚我听到我女儿为了我脚边的肉祷告。”
16:29
You know it wasn't anger that made me stop my heart till the hammer fell.
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“你知道不是愤怒使我的心在锤落时停跳。”
16:33
Weeks ago, you broke me as a woman
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“数周前，你粉碎我好像一个女人
16:36
once shattered me into a song beneath her weight,
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在她的身下，将我碎成一首歌
16:40
before you slouched into that grassy hush.
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“在你慵懒沉入绿色的静谧之前”
16:43
And now I'm tightening lashes, shaped in hide as if around a ribcage,
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“现在，我系紧鞭子，修整兽皮围住胸腔，”
16:48
shaped like five bowstrings.
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“形如五股弓弦。”
16:50
Ghosts cannot slip back inside the body's drum.
328
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“鬼魂无法溜回身体之鼓”
16:53
You've been seasoned by wind, dusk and sunlight.
329
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“你已经风雨、薄暮与阳光的历练。”
16:57
Pressure can make everything whole again.
330
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“压力使得万物再次变得完整，”
17:01
Brass nails tacked into the ebony wood,
331
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“黄铜指甲嵌入黑檀木之中”
17:03
your face has been carved five times.
332
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“你的面孔经过五次雕琢。”
17:06
I have to drive trouble in the hills.
333
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“我不得不将烦恼赶入山林。”
17:08
Trouble in the valley,
334
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“赶入深谷。”
17:10
and trouble by the river too.
335
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“跟随河流走远。”
17:12
There is no palm wine, fish, salt, or calabash.
336
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“没有棕榈酒，鱼，盐和葫芦。”
17:16
Kadoom. Kadoom. Kadoom.
337
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鬼魂毁灭。鬼魂毁灭。鬼魂毁灭。
17:20
Ka-doooom.
338
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“鬼魂毁灭。”
17:22
Now I have beaten a song back into you.
339
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“现在我敲击出了一首歌给你，”
17:26
Rise and walk away like a panther."
340
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“起身像黑豹一样走远。”
17:30
Thank you.
341
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谢谢。
17:32
(Applause)
342
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(掌声)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chris Abani - Novelist, poetImprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable." His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007).
Why you should listen
Chris Abani's first novel, published when he was 16, was Masters of the Board, a political thriller about a foiled Nigerian coup. The story was convincing enough that the Nigerian government threw him in jail for inciting a coincidentally timed real-life coup. Imprisoned and tortured twice more, he channeled the experience into searing poetry.
Abani's best-selling 2004 novel GraceLand is a searing and funny tale of a young Nigerian boy, an Elvis impersonator who moves through the wide, wild world of Lagos, slipping between pop and traditional cultures, art and crime. It's a perennial book-club pick, a story that brings the postcolonial African experience to vivid life.
Now based in Los Angeles, Abani published The Virgin of Flames in 2007. He is also a publisher, running the poetry imprint Black Goat Press.
Chris Abani | Speaker | TED.com