What soccer can teach us about freedom | Marc Bamuthi Joseph

翻译人员: Christina Wang 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

The two places

让我感到

where I feel most free

最自由的两个地方

aren't actually places.

并不是什么特定的地点。

They're moments.

而是两个时刻。

The first is inside of dance.

第一个是跳舞的时候。

Somewhere between rising up against gravity

在抵抗重力而升起

and the feeling that the air beneath me

和感受到我身下的空气时，

is falling in love with my body's weight.

我与自身的重量坠入爱河。

I'm dancing and the air is carrying me

我在跳舞，空气在托住我，

like I might never come down.

好像我永远也不会回到地面。

The second place that I feel free

第二个让我感到自由的地方

is after scoring a goal on the soccer pitch.

是我在足球场得分以后的时刻。

My body floods with the chemical

我的血液中充斥着

that they put inside of EpiPens to revive the dead,

人们用来复苏濒死之人的 化学药品（肾上腺素），

and I am weightless,

让我失去了重量，

raceless.

没有了种族。

My story is this: I'm a curator at a contemporary arts center,

我的故事是这样： 我是一个现代艺术馆的馆长，

but I don't really believe in art that doesn't bleed or sweat or cry.

但我并不真的相信 没有血汗、泪水的艺术。

I imagine that my kids are going to live in a time

我想象我的孩子会生活在一个

when the most valuable commodities are fresh water and empathy.

当最有价值的东西 是淡水和同情的时代。

I love pretty dances and majestic sculpture

我对美丽的舞蹈和雄伟雕塑的爱

不比其他人少，

as much as the next guy,

but give me something else to go with it.

但给我点其它可以伴随 艺术的东西吧。

Lift me up with the aesthetic sublime

用美学的崇高把我托起，

and give me a practice or some tools to turn that inspiration

然后给我一个练习或者工具， 让我把这灵感

into understanding and action.

转化成理解和行动。

For instance, I'm a theater maker who loves sports.

比如说，我是一个 热爱运动的戏剧家。

When I was making my latest piece /peh-LO-tah/

当我在创作最新的剧作 peh-LO-tah时，

I thought a lot about how soccer was a means for my own immigrant family

我想了很多关于我自己的移民家庭，

to foster a sense of continuity and normality and community

如何在美国的新环境中， 用足球来建立一种连续性，

within the new context of the US.

体会平常和集体感。

In this heightened moment of xenophobia and assault on immigrant identity,

在这个高度排外、 移民身份受到攻击的时刻，

I wanted to think through

我想好好思考

how the game could serve as an affirmational tool

一个足球比赛如何可以成为 第一代美国人和移民儿童

肯定自我的工具，

for first-generation Americans and immigrant kids,

to ask them to consider movement patterns on the field

能够让他们把球场上的移动

as kin to migratory patterns across social and political borders.

看作跨越社会和政治边界的迁移。

Whether footballers or not,

不管是不是热爱足球，

immigrants in the US play on endangered ground.

美国境内的移民都在 危险的地方生活与玩耍。

I wanted to help the kids understand

我想帮孩子们认识到

that the same muscle that they use to plan the next goal

他们用来计划下个进球的肌肉

can also be used to navigate the next block.

同样可以用来指引下个街区的方向。

For me, freedom exists in the body.

在我看来，自由是与生俱来的。

We talk about it abstractly and even divisively,

我们对自由的讨论 经常是抽象的，有分歧的，

like "protect our freedom," "build this wall,"

比如“保卫我们的自由”， “建这个墙”，

"they hate us because of our freedom."

“他们讨厌我们 是因为我们的自由。”

We have all these systems that are beautifully designed

有这么多精心设计的系统

to incarcerate us or deport us,

来监禁我们，或驱逐我们，

but how do we design freedom?

但我们要如何设计自由呢？

For these kids, I wanted to track the idea back to something that exists inside

对于这些孩子，我想追寻一个 存在于内心、

that no one could take away,

无人能夺走的东西。

so I developed this curriculum

所以在一个艺术节上，

that's part poli-sci class, part soccer tournament,

我开设了一个课程， 一部分是政治学课程，

inside of an arts festival.

一部分是足球比赛。

It accesses /peh-LO-tah/'s field of inquiry

它用了peh-LO-tah的核心主题

to create a sports-based political action for young people.

来创建一个基于体育的 针对年轻人的政治活动。

The project is called "Moving and Passing."

这个项目叫“Moving and Passing” （移动和传递）

It intersects curriculum development, site-specific performance

它融合了课程研发， 基于不同场地的表演，

and the politics of joy,

和关于喜悦的政治，

while using soccer as a metaphor for the urgent question

同时用足球作为一个比喻 来回应现在很危急的

of enfranchisement among immigrant youth.

如何让移民青年享有公民权的问题。

Imagine that you are a 15-year-old kid from Honduras

想象一下你是一个15岁的孩子， 来自洪都拉斯，

now living in Harlem,

现在生活在纽约 哈莱姆区（Harlem），

or you're a 13-year-old girl born in DC to two Nigerian immigrants.

或者你是一个13岁的小女孩， 生于华盛顿特区，父母是尼日利亚移民。

You love the game.

你喜欢这个足球比赛。

You're on the field with your folks.

你和你的伙伴们在场上。

You've just been practicing dribbling through cones

你已经练习了带球过路障，

for, like, 15 minutes,

练了15分钟了，

and then, all of a sudden, a marching band comes down the field.

然后，突然间， 一个行进乐队走向了球场。

I want to associate the joy of the game with the exuberance of culture,

我想把比赛的乐趣 与文化的丰富性相结合，

to locate the site of joy in the game

把比赛的乐趣放置在

at the same physical coordinate

和通过艺术来介绍政治知识

as being politically informed by art,

同样的坐标位置上，

a grass-laden theater for liberation.

一个绿草如茵、解放自由的剧院。

We spend a week

我们用了一周

looking at how the midfielder would explain Black Lives Matter,

来看中场球员如何解释了 Black Lives Matter（黑人抗议歧视的活动），

or how the goalkeeper would explain gun control,

或者守门员的位置 可以怎么解释枪支管制，

or how a defender's style is the perfect metaphor

或者一个防守球员的风格 怎么完美的比喻了

for the limits of American exceptionalism.

美国排外主义的局限。

As we study positions on the field,

当我们研究球场上的位置，

we also name and imagine our own freedoms.

我们也会命名和想象 我们自己的自由。

I don't know, man, soccer is, like,

怎么说呢，足球大概是

the only thing on this planet that we can all agree to do together.

这个星球上唯一一个 我们都愿意一起做的事。

You know? It's like the official sport of this spinning ball.

是吧？它像是一个 关于这旋转的球的官方体育活动。

I want to be able to connect the joy of the game

我希望可以把球赛的喜悦

to the ever-moving footballer,

联系到永远在移动的球员，

to connect that moving footballer

把那在移动的球员

to immigrants who also moved in sight of a better position.

联系到同样在向更美好的 方向移动的移民群体。

Among these kids, I want to connect their families' histories

对这些孩子，我想把他们的家庭历史

to the bliss of a goal-scorer's run,

联系到得分球员跑动时的幸福，

family like that feeling after the ball beats the goalie,

那看到足球冲向守门员的感觉

the closest thing going to freedom.

是最接近自由的时刻。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）