Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED

Prevoditelj: Tilen Pigac - EFZG Recezent: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG

I'm a storyteller.

Ja sam pripovjedačica.

And I would like to tell you a few personal stories

I voljela bih vam ispričati nekoliko osobnih priča

about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."

o onome što ja volim zvati "opasnost jedne priče".

I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.

Odrasla sam u studentskom gradu u istočnoj Nigeriji.

My mother says that I started reading at the age of two,

Moja majka kaže kako sam počela čitati s dvije godine,

although I think four is probably close to the truth.

iako mislim kako je četiri vjerojatno bliže istini.

So I was an early reader,

Dakle, bila sam rani čitatelj.

and what I read were British and American children's books.

I ono što sam čitala su bile britanske i američke knjige za djecu.

I was also an early writer,

Isto tako sam bila i rani pisac.

and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,

I kad sam počela pisati, s kojih sedam godina starosti,

stories in pencil with crayon illustrations

priče pisane olovkom s ilustracijama masnim bojicama

that my poor mother was obligated to read,

koje je moja jadna majka bila prisiljena čitati,

I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:

napisala sam upravo onakve vrste priča kakve sam čitala.

All my characters were white and blue-eyed,

Svi moji likovi su bili bijelci s plavim očima.

they played in the snow,

Igrali su se u snijegu.

they ate apples,

Jeli su jabuke.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

and they talked a lot about the weather,

I pričali su puno o vremenu,

how lovely it was that the sun had come out.

o tome kako je lijepo što je sunce izašlo.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria.

Unatoč činjenici da sam živjela u Nigeriji.

I had never been outside Nigeria.

I nikada nisam bila izvan Nigerije.

We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes,

Nismo imali snijeg. Jeli smo mango.

and we never talked about the weather,

I nikada nismo pričali o vremenu,

because there was no need to.

jer nije bilo potrebe.

My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer,

Moji likovi su pili mnogo piva od đumbira

because the characters in the British books I read

jer su likovi u britanskim knjigama koje sam pročitala

drank ginger beer.

pili pivo od đumbira.

Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.

Nema veze što ja nisam imala pojma što pivo od đumbira jest.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And for many years afterwards,

I mnogo godina nakon toga,

I would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer.

imala bih očajnu želju da probam pivo od đumbira.

But that is another story.

No to je druga priča.

What this demonstrates, I think,

Ovo pokazuje, mislim,

is how impressionable and vulnerable we are

kako smo upečatljivi i ranjivi

in the face of a story,

pred licem priče,

particularly as children.

naročito kao djeca.

Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign,

Jer sve što sam pročitala su bile knjige u kojima su likovi bili stranci,

I had become convinced that books

a postala sam uvjerena da knjige,

by their very nature had to have foreigners in them

po svojoj prirodi, moraju imati strance u sebi,

and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify.

i moraju biti o stvarima s kojima se osobno ne mogu poistovjetiti.

Now, things changed when I discovered African books.

Sada, stvari su se promijenile kada sam otkrila afričke knjige.

There weren't many of them available,

Nije ih bilo mnogo na raspolaganju.

and they weren't quite as easy to find as the foreign books.

I nije ih bilo tako lako naći kao strane knjige.

But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye,

I zbog pisaca poput Chinua Achebe i Camara Laye

I went through a mental shift in my perception of literature.

proživjela sam mentalnu promjenu svoje percpecije književnosti.

I realized that people like me,

Shvatila sam da ljudi poput mene,

girls with skin the color of chocolate,

djevojke s kožom boje čokolade,

whose kinky hair could not form ponytails,

čija kovrčava kosa se ne može formirati u konjski rep,

could also exist in literature.

mogu postojati u književnosti.

I started to write about things I recognized.

Počela sam pisati o stvarima koje sam prepoznala.

Now, I loved those American and British books I read.

Voljela sam te američke i britanske knjige koje sam pročitala.

They stirred my imagination. They opened up new worlds for me.

Miješale su moju maštu. Otvorile su mi nove svijetove.

But the unintended consequence

Ali nenamjerna posljedica

was that I did not know that people like me

je bila da ja nisam znala kako ljudi poput mene

could exist in literature.

mogu postojati u knjigama.

So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this:

Ono što je otkriće afričkih pisaca učinilo za mene je bilo ovo:

It saved me from having a single story of what books are.

spasilo me od imanja jedne priče o tome što su knjige.

I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.

Dolazim iz konvencionalne nigerijske obitelji srednjeg sloja.

My father was a professor.

Moj otac je bio profesor.

My mother was an administrator.

Moja majka je bila administrator.

And so we had, as was the norm,

I tako smo imali, kao što je bila norma,

live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.

stvarnu poslugu, koja bi često dolazila iz obližnjih ruralnih naselja.

So, the year I turned eight, we got a new house boy.

One godine kada sam navršila osam, dobili smo novog kućnog pomagača.

His name was Fide.

Njegovo ime je bilo Fide.

The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor.

Jedina stvar koju je majka ispričala o njemu jest da je njegova obitelj bila jako siromašna.

My mother sent yams and rice, and our old clothes, to his family.

Moja majka je slala slatki krumpir i rižu, i našu staru odjeću, njegovoj obitelji.

And when I didn't finish my dinner, my mother would say,

A kada nisam dovršila svoju večeru moja majka bi rekla,

"Finish your food! Don't you know? People like Fide's family have nothing."

"Pojedi svoju hranu! Znaš li ti? Ljudi kao Fideova obitelj nemaju ništa."

So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.

Tako sam osjećala ogromno sažaljenje za Fideovu obitelj.

Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit,

Tako smo jedne subote otišli u posjet njegovom selu.

and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket

I njegova majka nam je pokazala košaru s prekrasnim uzorkom,

made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.

napravljenu od obojane rafije, koju je njegov brat napravio.

I was startled.

Bila sam začuđena.

It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family

Nije mi palo na pamet da bi itko u njegovoj obitelji

could actually make something.

mogao nešto napraviti.

All I had heard about them was how poor they were,

Sve što sam čula o njima je kako su bili siromašni,

so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor.

tako da je postalo nemoguće vidjeti ih kao išta drugo osim siromašne.

Their poverty was my single story of them.

Njihovo siromaštvo je bila moja jedina priča o njima.

Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria

Godinama poslije, razmišljala sam o tome kada sam napustila Nigeriju

to go to university in the United States.

kako bih otišla na sveučilište u Sjedinjene Države.

I was 19.

Bilo mi je 19 godina.

My American roommate was shocked by me.

Moja američka cimerica je bila šokirana mojom pojavom.

She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,

Pitala me gdje sam naučila govoriti engleski tako dobro,

and was confused when I said that Nigeria

i bila je zbunjena kada sam joj rekla kako Nigerija

happened to have English as its official language.

ima kao službeni jezik engleski.

She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music,"

Pitala me bi li mogla slušati moju "plemensku glazbu",

and was consequently very disappointed

i stoga je postala jako razočarana

when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.

kada sam stavila vrpcu Mariah Carey.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

She assumed that I did not know how to use a stove.

Pretpostavljala je da ne znam kako koristiti štednjak.

What struck me was this:

Ono što me pogodilo je bilo ovo:

She had felt sorry for me even before she saw me.

Počela se sažalijevati nada mnom čak i prije nego što me vidjela.

Her default position toward me, as an African,

Njezina zadana pozicija naspram mene, kao Afrikanke,

was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.

je bila vrsta zaštitničkog, dobronamjernog, sažalijevanja.

My roommate had a single story of Africa:

Moja cimerica je imala jednu priču o Africi.

a single story of catastrophe.

Jednu priču o katastrofi.

In this single story,

U toj jednoj priči

there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her in any way,

nije bilo mogućnosti da joj Afrikanci budu slični, ni na koji način.

no possibility of feelings more complex than pity,

Nimalo vjerojatnosti osjećaja kompleksnijih od sažalijevanja.

no possibility of a connection as human equals.

Nimalo vjerojatnosti povezivanja kao jednakih ljudskih bića.

I must say that before I went to the U.S.,

Moram reći kako prije nego sam otišla u SAD nisam se

I didn't consciously identify as African.

svjesno identificirala kao Afrikanka.

But in the U.S., whenever Africa came up, people turned to me.

Ali u SAD-u kad god bi se Afrika spomenula, ljudi su se obratili meni.

Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.

Nema veze što nisam znala ništa o mjestima poput Namibije.

But I did come to embrace this new identity,

Ali prihvatila sam taj novi identitet.

and in many ways I think of myself now as African.

I u mnogim pogledima razmišljam o sebi sada kao o Afrikanki.

Although I still get quite irritable when Africa is referred to as a country,

Iako me poprilično može iziritirati kada je Afrika spomenuta kao zemlja.

the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight

Najsvježiji primjer s mog, inače prekrasnog leta

from Lagos two days ago,

iz Lagosa prije dva dana, na kojem

in which there was an announcement on the Virgin flight

je bila objava na letovima Virgina

about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."

o dobrotvornom radu u "Indiji, Africi i drugim zemljama".

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So, after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African,

Nakon što sam provela nekoliko godina u SAD-u kao Afrikanka,

I began to understand my roommate's response to me.

počela sam shvaćati reakciju moje cimerice na mene.

If I had not grown up in Nigeria,

Da nisam odrasla u Nigeriji, i da je sve što sam znala o Africi

and if all I knew about Africa were from popular images,

bilo iz popularnih slika,

I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes,

ja bih isto mislila kako je Afrika mjesto prekrasnih krajolika,

beautiful animals,

prekrasnih životinja,

and incomprehensible people,

i nerazumljivih ljudi,

fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS,

koji se bore u uzaludnim ratovima, umiru od siromaštva i side,

unable to speak for themselves

koji ne mogu govoriti za sebe,

and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner.

i koji čekaju spasenje, od strane dragog, bijelog stranca.

I would see Africans in the same way that I,

Vidjela bih Afrikance na isti način na koji sam,

as a child, had seen Fide's family.

kao dijete, vidjela Fideovu obitelj.

This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.

Jedna priča Afrike naposljetku dolazi, mislim, iz zapadnjačke književnosti.

Now, here is a quote from the writing of a London merchant called John Lok,

Sada, ovo je citat pisanog djela londonskog trgovca zvanog John Lok,

who sailed to west Africa in 1561

koji je otplovio na zapad Afrike 1561.,

and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.

i koji je vodio fascinantno izvješće o svom putovanju.

After referring to the black Africans as "beasts who have no houses,"

Nakon oslovljavanja crnih Afrikanaca kao "zvijeri koje nemaju kuće",

he writes, "They are also people without heads,

on piše, "Oni su isto tako ljudi bez glava,

having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."

koji imaju svoje usta i oči u svojim prsima."

Now, I've laughed every time I've read this.

Svaki put sam se nasmijala kad bih to pročitala.

And one must admire the imagination of John Lok.

I moramo se diviti mašti Johna Lokea.

But what is important about his writing

Ali ono što je važno o njegovom pisanju jest da

is that it represents the beginning

predstavlja početak

of a tradition of telling African stories in the West:

tradicije pričanja afričkih priča na zapadu.

A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives,

Tradicije Sub-Saharske Afrike kao negativnog mjesta,

of difference, of darkness,

mjesta različitosti, tame,

of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet Rudyard Kipling,

ljudi koji, prema riječima prekrasnog pjesnika, Rudyarda Kiplinga,

are "half devil, half child."

su "polu vrag, polu dijete".

And so, I began to realize that my American roommate

I tako sam počela shvaćati kako je moja američka cimerica

must have throughout her life

morala, tijekom svog života,

seen and heard different versions of this single story,

vidjeti i čuti različite verzije te jedne priče,

as had a professor,

kao i profesor,

who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African."

koji mi je jednom rekao kako moj roman nije "autentično afrički".

Now, I was quite willing to contend

Bila sam prilično spremna tvrditi

that there were a number of things wrong with the novel,

da je postojalo više stvari koje su bile krive u romanu,

that it had failed in a number of places,

da je podbacio na više mjesta.

but I had not quite imagined that it had failed

Ali nisam mogla zamisliti da je podbacio

at achieving something called African authenticity.

u dosezanju nečeg zvanog afrička autentičnost.

In fact, I did not know what African authenticity was.

Zapravo, ja nisam znala što afrička autentičnost jest.

The professor told me that my characters were too much like him,

Profesor mi je rekao kako su moji likovi previše nalik njemu,

an educated and middle-class man.

obrazovanom čovjeku srednjeg sloja.

My characters drove cars.

Moji likovi su vozili automobile.

They were not starving.

Nisu gladovali.

Therefore they were not authentically African.

Slijedom toga, nisu bili autentično afrički.

But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty

Ali moram brzo dodati kako sam ja isto tako kriva

in the question of the single story.

po pitanju jedne priče.

A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S.

Prije nekoliko godina, otišla sam iz SAD-a posjetiti Meksiko.

The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense,

Politička klima u SAD-u je u to vrijeme bila napeta.

and there were debates going on about immigration.

I vodile su se debate o imigraciji.

And, as often happens in America,

I, kao što se to često događa u Americi,

immigration became synonymous with Mexicans.

imigracija je postala sinonim s Meksikancima.

There were endless stories of Mexicans

Postojale su beskonačne priče o Meksikancima

as people who were fleecing the healthcare system,

kao ljudima koji su iskorištavali zdravstvo.

sneaking across the border,

koji su se šuljali preko granice,

being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.

koje su uhitili na granici, i takve stvari.

I remember walking around on my first day in Guadalajara,

Sjećam se šetnje na svoj prvi dan u Guadalajari,

watching the people going to work,

promatrajući ljude kako odlaze na posao,

rolling up tortillas in the marketplace,

spremajući tortilje na tržnici,

smoking, laughing.

pušeći, smijući se.

I remember first feeling slight surprise.

Sjećam se prvog osjećaja laganog iznenađenja.

And then, I was overwhelmed with shame.

A zatim sam bila obuzeta sramom.

I realized that I had been so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans

Shvatila sam kako sam bila toliko zadubljena u medijsku reportažu o Meksikancima

that they had become one thing in my mind,

da su postali samo jedna stvar u mom umu,

the abject immigrant.

bijedni imigranti.

I had bought into the single story of Mexicans

"Zagrizla" sam u jednu priču o Meksikancima

and I could not have been more ashamed of myself.

i nisam mogla biti više posramljena zbog same sebe.

So that is how to create a single story,

Dakle, tako se stvara jedna priča,

show a people as one thing,

prikažete ljude kao jednu stvar,

as only one thing,

kao samo jednu stvar,

over and over again,

opet i iznova,

and that is what they become.

i to je ono što postaju.

It is impossible to talk about the single story

Nemoguće je govoriti o jednoj priči

without talking about power.

bez da se govori o moći.

There is a word, an Igbo word,

Postoji riječ, lgbo riječ,

that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the world,

o kojoj razmišljam kadgod razmišljam o strukturama moći u svijetu,

and it is "nkali."

a to je "nkali"

It's a noun that loosely translates to "to be greater than another."

To je imenica koja se površno prevodi kao "biti veći nego drugi".

Like our economic and political worlds,

Kao naši gospodarski i politički svijetovi,

stories too are defined by the principle of nkali:

priče su, isto tako, definirane nkali načelom.

How they are told, who tells them,

Kako su ispričane, tko ih priča,

when they're told, how many stories are told,

kada su ispričane, koliko priča je ispričano,

are really dependent on power.

doista su ovisne o moći.

Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person,

Moć je sposobnost, ne samo ispričati priču druge osobe,

but to make it the definitive story of that person.

već je pretvoriti u krajnju priču te osobe.

The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes

Palestinski pjesnik Mourid Barghouti piše

that if you want to dispossess a people,

da ako želite oduzeti imanje ljudima,

the simplest way to do it is to tell their story

najjednostavniji način je da im ispričate njihovu priču,

and to start with, "secondly."

i počnete s, "drugo".

Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans,

Počnite priču sa strijelama domorodačkih Amerikanaca,

and not with the arrival of the British,

a ne s dolaskom Britanaca,

and you have an entirely different story.

i imate potpuno drugačiju priču.

Start the story with the failure of the African state,

Počnite priču s neuspjehom afričke države,

and not with the colonial creation of the African state,

a ne sa stvaranjem kolonija u afričkim državama,

and you have an entirely different story.

i imate potpuno drugačiju priču.

I recently spoke at a university

Nedavno sam održala govor na sveučilištu gdje

where a student told me that it was such a shame

mi je student rekao kako je velika šteta

that Nigerian men were physical abusers

što su nigerijski muškarci zlostavljači

like the father character in my novel.

poput lika oca u mom romanu.

I told him that I had just read a novel called "American Psycho" --

Rekla sam kako sam upravo pročitala roman zvan "Američki Psiho" --

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

-- and that it was such a shame

-- i kako je velika šteta

that young Americans were serial murderers.

što su mladi Amerikanci serijski ubojice.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation.

Očito sam to rekla u stanju blage iritacije.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But it would never have occurred to me to think

Ne bi mi nikad palo na pamet da pomislim,

that just because I had read a novel in which a character was a serial killer

samo zato jer sam pročitala roman u kojoj je lik serijski ubojica,

that he was somehow representative of all Americans.

da to na neki način predstavlja sve Amerikance.

This is not because I am a better person than that student,

A sad, to nije zbog toga što sam bolja osoba nego taj student,

but because of America's cultural and economic power,

već, zbog američke kulturološke i gospodarske moći,

I had many stories of America.

imala sam mnoge priče o Americi.

I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.

Pročitala sam Tylera i Updikea i Steinbecka i Gaitskilla.

I did not have a single story of America.

Nisam imala jednu priču o Americi.

When I learned, some years ago,

Kada sam saznala, prije nekoliko godina, kako se očekuje od pisaca

that writers were expected to have had really unhappy childhoods

da imaju stvarno nesretna djetinjstva

to be successful,

kako bi bili uspješni,

I began to think about how I could invent horrible things my parents had done to me.

počela sam razmišljati kako bih mogla izmisliti strašne stvari koje su mi roditelji radili.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But the truth is that I had a very happy childhood,

Ali istina je da sam imala jako sretno djetinjstvo,

full of laughter and love, in a very close-knit family.

puno smijeha i ljubavi, u jako bliskoj obitelji.

But I also had grandfathers who died in refugee camps.

Ali imala sam i djedove koji su umrli u izbjegličkim kampovima.

My cousin Polle died because he could not get adequate healthcare.

Moj rođak Polle je umro jer nije mogao dobiti adekvatnu zdravstvenu njegu.

One of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a plane crash

Jedan od mojih najbližih prijatelja, Okoloma, je umro u zrakoplovnoj nesreći

because our fire trucks did not have water.

jer naša vatrogasna vozila nisu imala vode.

I grew up under repressive military governments

Odrasla sam pod represivnim vojnim vladama

that devalued education,

koje su podcjenjivale obrazovanje,

so that sometimes, my parents were not paid their salaries.

pa tako ponekad mojim roditeljima nisu bile isplaćene njihove plaće.

And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table,

I tako sam, kao dijete, vidjela kako je džem nestao sa stola za doručak,

then margarine disappeared,

zatim je margarin nestao,

then bread became too expensive,

zatim je kruh postao preskup,

then milk became rationed.

zatim se mlijeko počelo dobivati u porcijama.

And most of all, a kind of normalized political fear

I najviše od svega, neka vrsta normaliziranog političkog straha

invaded our lives.

je provalila u naše živote.

All of these stories make me who I am.

Sve te priče me čine onim što jesam.

But to insist on only these negative stories

Ali inzistirati samo na tim negativnim pričama

is to flatten my experience

bi značilo spljoštiti moje iskustvo,

and to overlook the many other stories that formed me.

i previdjeti mnoge druge priče koje su me oblikovale.

The single story creates stereotypes,

Jedna priča stvara stereotipove.

and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue,

A problem sa stereotipovima nije da su lažni,

but that they are incomplete.

već da su nepotpuni.

They make one story become the only story.

Oni pretvaraju jednu priču u jedinu priču.

Of course, Africa is a continent full of catastrophes:

Naravno, Afrika je kontinent pun katastrofa.

There are immense ones, such as the horrific rapes in Congo

One su neizmjerne, poput onih užasavajućih silovanja u Kongu.

and depressing ones,

One su deprimirajuće, poput činjenice da

such as the fact that 5,000 people apply for one job vacancy in Nigeria.

se 5.000 ljudi prijavi za jedno radno mjesto u Nigeriji.

But there are other stories that are not about catastrophe,

Ali postoje druge priče koje ne govore o katastrofi.

and it is very important, it is just as important, to talk about them.

I jako je važno, i isto tako je važno pričati o njima.

I've always felt that it is impossible

Uvijek sam osjećala kako se nemoguće

to engage properly with a place or a person

propisno poistovjetiti s mjestom ili osobom

without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.

bez poistovjećivanja sa svim pričama o tom mjestu i s tom osobom.

The consequence of the single story is this:

Posljedica jedne priče

It robs people of dignity.

je ova: krade ljudima dostojanstvo.

It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.

Stvara poteškoće u prepoznavanju našeg ravnopravnog čovječanstva.

It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.

Naglašava kako smo različiti umjesto toga kako smo slični.

So what if before my Mexican trip,

Dakle, što kad bih prije svog meksičkog putovanja

I had followed the immigration debate from both sides,

pratila debatu o imigraciji s obje strane,

the U.S. and the Mexican?

američke i meksičke?

What if my mother had told us that Fide's family was poor

Što kad bi nam moja majka rekla kako je Fideova obitelj siromašna

and hardworking?

i radišna?

What if we had an African television network

Što kad bi imali afričku televizijsku mrežu

that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world?

koja bi prenosila raznolike afričke priče diljem cijelog svijeta?

What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls "a balance of stories."

Ono što Nigerijski pisac Chinua Achebe naziva "ravnoteža priča".

What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher,

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o mom Nigerijskom izdavaču,

Muhtar Bakare,

Mukta Bakareu,

a remarkable man who left his job in a bank

izvanrednom čovjeku koji je napustio svoj posao u banci

to follow his dream and start a publishing house?

kako bi slijedio svoj san i osnovao izdavačku kuću?

Now, the conventional wisdom was that Nigerians don't read literature.

Sada, konvencionalna mudrost je da Nigerijci ne čitaju knjige.

He disagreed.

On se nije složio.

He felt that people who could read, would read,

Osjećao je da će ljudi koji mogu čitati, čitati,

if you made literature affordable and available to them.

ako im učinite knjigu cjenovno prihvatljivom i dostupnom.

Shortly after he published my first novel,

Nedugo nakon što je izdao moj prvi roman,

I went to a TV station in Lagos to do an interview,

išla sam na TV postaju u Lagosu kako bih dala intervju.

and a woman who worked there as a messenger came up to me and said,

I žena koja je radila tamo kao glasnik je došla do mene i rekla,

"I really liked your novel. I didn't like the ending.

"Stvarno mi se svidio tvoj roman. Nije mi se svidio završetak.

Now, you must write a sequel, and this is what will happen ..."

Morate napisati nastavak, a ovo je što će se dogoditi..."

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And she went on to tell me what to write in the sequel.

I nastavila je sa pričom što da napišem u nastavku.

I was not only charmed, I was very moved.

Nisam bila samo šarmirana, bila sam jako dirnuta.

Here was a woman, part of the ordinary masses of Nigerians,

Ovdje je žena, dio običnog nigerijskog puka,

who were not supposed to be readers.

koji ne bi trebali biti čitatelji.

She had not only read the book,

Ona ne samo da je pročitala knjigu, već si je pripisala vlasništvo nad njom

but she had taken ownership of it

i osjećala je da je opravdano reći mi

and felt justified in telling me what to write in the sequel.

što napisati u nastavku.

Now, what if my roommate knew about my friend Funmi Iyanda,

Sada, što kada bi moja cimerica znala o mojoj prijateljici Fumi Ondai,

a fearless woman who hosts a TV show in Lagos,

neustrašivoj ženi koja vodi TV show u Lagosu,

and is determined to tell the stories that we prefer to forget?

i koja je odlučna da ispriča priče koje želimo zaboraviti?

What if my roommate knew about the heart procedure

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o srčanoj operaciji

that was performed in the Lagos hospital last week?

koja je prošli tjedan u bolnici u Lagosu napravljena?

What if my roommate knew about contemporary Nigerian music,

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o suvremenoj nigerijskoj glazbi?

talented people singing in English and Pidgin,

Talentirani ljudi koji pjevaju na engleskom i pidgin,

and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo,

na Igbo i yoruba i Ijo,

mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela

mješajući utjecaje od Jay-Za do Felae

to Bob Marley to their grandfathers.

do Bob Marleya i do njihovih djedova.

What if my roommate knew about the female lawyer

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o ženi odvjetnici

who recently went to court in Nigeria to challenge a ridiculous law

koja je nedavno išla na sud u Nigeriji kako bi se borila protiv besmislenog zakona

that required women to get their husband's consent

koji je zahtijevao od žena da dobiju mužev pristanak

before renewing their passports?

prije obnavljanja svojih putovnica?

What if my roommate knew about Nollywood,

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o Nollywoodu,

full of innovative people making films despite great technical odds,

punom inovativnih ljudi koji snimaju filmove usprkos velikim tehničkim zaprekama?

films so popular

Filmovi su toliko popularni

that they really are the best example of Nigerians consuming what they produce?

da su oni najbolji primjer da Nigerijci troše ono što proizvedu.

What if my roommate knew about my wonderfully ambitious hair braider,

Što kada bi moja cimerica znala o prekrasnoj ambicioznoj pletilji kose,

who has just started her own business selling hair extensions?

koja je započela svoje poslovanje prodajući ekstenzije za kosu?

Or about the millions of other Nigerians who start businesses and sometimes fail,

Ili o milijunima drugih Nigerijaca koji su osnovali poduzeća i doživjeli neuspjeh,

but continue to nurse ambition?

ali koji i dalje njeguju ambiciju?

Every time I am home I am confronted

Svaki put kad sam doma suočena sama s

with the usual sources of irritation for most Nigerians:

uobičajenim izvorima iritacije za većinu Nigerijaca:

our failed infrastructure, our failed government,

naša neuspjela infrastruktura, naše neuspjela vlada.

but also by the incredible resilience

Ali isto tako i s nevjerojatnom otpornošću

of people who thrive despite the government,

ljudi koji uspijevaju usprkos vladi,

rather than because of it.

a ne zbog nje.

I teach writing workshops in Lagos every summer,

Svako ljeto u Lagosu podučavam na radionicama pisanja.

and it is amazing to me how many people apply,

I meni je iznenađujuće koliko ljudi se prijavi,

how many people are eager to write,

koliko ljudi je željno pisanja,

to tell stories.

kako bi ispričalo priče.

My Nigerian publisher and I have just started a non-profit

Moj nigerijski izdavač i ja smo upravo osnovali neprofitnu organizaciju

called Farafina Trust,

zvanu "Farafina Trust".

and we have big dreams of building libraries

I imamo velike snove o izgradnji knjižnica

and refurbishing libraries that already exist

i obnavljanju već postojećih knjižnica,

and providing books for state schools

i pribavljanju knjiga za državne škole

that don't have anything in their libraries,

koje nemaju ništa u svojim knjižnicama,

and also of organizing lots and lots of workshops,

i isto tako o organiziranju mnogo, mnogo radionica

in reading and writing,

čitanja i pisanja,

for all the people who are eager to tell our many stories.

za sve ljude koji su željni ispričati mnoge naše priče.

Stories matter.

Priče su važne.

Many stories matter.

Mnoge priče su važne.

Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign,

Priče su se koristile kako bi oduzimale i kako bi klevetale.

but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.

Ali priče se isto tako mogu upotrijebiti za osnaživanje, i za humaniziranje.

Stories can break the dignity of a people,

Priče mogu slomiti dostojanstvo ljudi.

but stories can also repair that broken dignity.

Ali priče isto tako mogu popraviti to slomljeno dostojanstvo.

The American writer Alice Walker wrote this

Američka spisateljica Alice Walker je napisala ovo

about her Southern relatives who had moved to the North.

o svojim južnjačkim rođacima koji su se preselili na sjever.

She introduced them to a book about

Upoznala ih je s knjigom o

the Southern life that they had left behind.

južnjačkom životu koji su ostavili iza.

"They sat around, reading the book themselves,

"Sjedili su uokolo, sami čitajući knjige,

listening to me read the book, and a kind of paradise was regained."

slušajući mene kako čitam knjigu, i neka vrsta raja je ponovno uspostavljena."

I would like to end with this thought:

Željela bih završiti s ovom mišlju:

That when we reject the single story,

kada odbacimo jednu priču,

when we realize that there is never a single story

kada shvatimo da nikada nema jedne priče

about any place,

o nekom mjestu,

we regain a kind of paradise.

ponovno smo pridobili neku vrstu raja.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)