What soccer can teach us about freedom | Marc Bamuthi Joseph

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Yanyan Hong

The two places

有兩個地方，

where I feel most free

讓我感到最自由，

aren't actually places.

它們其實都不算地方。

They're moments.

它們是時刻。

The first is inside of dance.

第一是在舞蹈中。

Somewhere between rising up against gravity

在對抗地心引力升起來，

and the feeling that the air beneath me

到感受到我底下的空氣之間，

is falling in love with my body's weight.

我會愛上我的體重。

I'm dancing and the air is carrying me

我在舞蹈，而空氣帶著我，

like I might never come down.

好像我永遠不會落下一樣。

The second place that I feel free

第二個讓我感到自由的地方，

is after scoring a goal on the soccer pitch.

是在足球場上射門得分之後。

My body floods with the chemical

我的身體湧入放在腎上腺素筆裡面

that they put inside of EpiPens to revive the dead,

那種用來讓死者復甦的化學物質，

and I am weightless,

我沒有重量，

raceless.

沒有種族。

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

我的故事如下：我是 一間現代藝術中心的策展人，

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

但我不相信不會流血、 流汗，或哭泣的藝術。

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

我想像在我孩子所居住的時代，

when the most valuable commodities are fresh water and empathy.

最珍貴的商品是乾淨的水和同理心。

I love pretty dances and majestic sculpture

我熱愛好看的舞蹈和壯麗的雕塑，

as much as the next guy,

就和旁人一樣，

but give me something else to go with it.

但給我其他和它搭配的東西。

Lift me up with the aesthetic sublime

且美感的崇高把我抬起，

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

給我一場練習或一些工具，

來將那靈感轉化成為了解和行動。

into understanding and action.

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

比如，我是個熱愛運動的劇作人。

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

當我在創作我最新的作品 《peh-LO-tah》時，

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

我想了很多關於足球 對我自己的移民家庭的意義，

to foster a sense of continuity and normality and community

在美國的新背景中， 培養出一種持續、

常態、共同體的感覺。

within the new context of the US.

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

在這仇外心理 和攻擊移民身份的時刻，

I wanted to think through

我想要想清楚，

how the game could serve as an affirmational tool

比賽如何能成為一項認同工具，

for first-generation Americans and immigrant kids,

給第一代美國人和移民孩子使用，

to ask them to consider movement patterns on the field

要他們想想在場上的移動模式，

as kin to migratory patterns across social and political borders.

就像是跨過社會和政治 邊界的遷移模式。

Whether footballers or not,

不論是不是足球員，

immigrants in the US play on endangered ground.

美國的移民者都是 在受到危及的地面上玩球。

I wanted to help the kids understand

我想要協助孩子們了解

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

他們用來規劃下一次射門的肌肉，

can also be used to navigate the next block.

也能用來引導下一次的阻擋。

For me, freedom exists in the body.

對我來說，自由存在於體內。

We talk about it abstractly and even divisively,

我們談論它的方式 很抽象，甚至很分歧，

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

比如「保護我們的自由」、 「建立這道牆」、

"they hate us because of our freedom."

「他們因為我們的自由而討厭我們」。

We have all these systems that are beautifully designed

我們有這麼多體制

完美地設計來監禁我們或驅逐我們，

to incarcerate us or deport us,

but how do we design freedom?

但我們要如何設計自由？

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

為這些孩子，我想要把這想法 追溯回到內在的東西，

that no one could take away,

沒有人能奪走，

so I developed this curriculum

所以我發展出了這門課程，

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

它有一部分是政治科學課， 有一部分是足球巡迴賽，

inside of an arts festival.

我把它放在一個藝術節中。

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

它能取得《peh-LO-tah》的 研究調查領域，

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

來為年輕人創造出 以運動為基礎的政治行動。

The project is called "Moving and Passing."

這項專案計畫叫做「移動與傳球」。

It intersects curriculum development, site-specific performance

它貫穿了課程發展、 特定地點的表演，

and the politics of joy,

以及帶著喜悅的政治，

while using soccer as a metaphor for the urgent question

同時用足球當作象徵， 比喻迫切的問題：

of enfranchisement among immigrant youth.

將公民權授予移民年輕人。

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

想像一下，你是來自 宏都拉斯的十五歲孩子，

now living in Harlem,

現在住在哈林區，

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

或是出生在華盛頓特區的十三歲 女孩，父母都是奈及利亞移民。

You love the game.

你熱愛球賽。

You're on the field with your folks.

你和你的伙伴們在球場上。

You've just been practicing dribbling through cones

你剛剛在練習盤球穿越圓椎障礙，

for, like, 15 minutes,

練了大約十五分鐘，

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

接著，突然間一支軍樂隊來到場上。

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

我想要把球賽的喜悅 和文化的豐富性拉上關聯，

to locate the site of joy in the game

以在球賽中把喜悅放置在

at the same physical coordinate

和在透過藝術來增長

as being politically informed by art,

政治見識相同的實體座標上，

a grass-laden theater for liberation.

一間長滿草的自由劇院。

We spend a week

我們花一週的時間，

looking at how the midfielder would explain Black Lives Matter,

看著前衛如何解釋「黑命貴」，

or how the goalkeeper would explain gun control,

或守門員如何解釋槍枝管制，

or how a defender's style is the perfect metaphor

或後衛的風格如何能完美地象徵出

for the limits of American exceptionalism.

美國例外論的限制。

As we study positions on the field,

當我們研究場上每個角色的位置時，

we also name and imagine our own freedoms.

我們也說出及想像出了 屬於我們自己的自由。

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

我不知道，足球就像是……

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

地球上唯一我們都同意 能夠一起做的事。

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

你們知道嗎？它就像是 這顆旋轉地球的官方運動。

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

我想要把球賽的喜悅連結到

to the ever-moving footballer,

不斷在移動的足球員，

to connect that moving footballer

將那移動的足球員連結到

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

看到為得更佳位置而移動的移民。

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

在這些孩子當中，我想要 將他們的家庭歷史連結到

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

射門得分者高興奔跑的極樂，

family like that feeling after the ball beats the goalie,

家庭就像是在球打敗了 守門員之後的感受，

the closest thing going to freedom.

那是最接近自由的東西。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）