Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local | TED

Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local | TED

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20 Comments

  1. This is utter trash. It is an abuse of language and a disgrace to logic. It's a useless excersise of trying to stand out. She makes nothing but assertions. She swaps country for community and acts as though she's done something special. She warps definitions and sweeps damning questions under the rug. What a joke

  2. Sometimes people forgot that not every is the same as them and that everyone has a different background. I think that someone should not be based on where they were born, but what kind of person they actually are.

  3. I haven’t seen any comments about this yet, but I thought it was interesting. I really like this TED talk because I don’t normally introduce myself with “where I’m from” but with what languages I speak. Both my parents were raised in Kaunas in Lithuania and with them they brought a lot of rituals that have been incorporated into how me and my younger brother were raised. We were taught that embracing and trying new cultures is important, and whenever we travel they told us we weren’t allowed to order anything “American” or local to us. When I introduce myself with these rituals I start with “I speak French, English and Lithuanian, and I’m learning Japanese.” This raises a lot of questions for people. I went to a completely French school for most of my early education so most of my educational rituals are French. I’ve been to France and most rituals there I felt accustomed to and at home with. Most people who don’t know Lithuanian “exists” will pass over it and set it in their minds that I’am French. My roots and most of my culture is Lithuanian. On the other hand though people who live in Europe automatically get attached to the fact that I speak English. Lastly my interest in Japan. I am not from Japan but I’ve immersed myself in the culture and have started following some Japanese rituals. I am not local to Japan but I aspire to be to some extent.

  4. Imagine a person born in Russia, travel to study to France, fall in love with French citizen whose roots are from Africa and they have a child born in Germany, where the family moved to work. What nationality is that child? Does a passport define his persona? Great TEDTalk about experience prevailing over "place of birth". Future is moving towards no gender, no nationalities.

  5. Incredible talk Taiye ✊ As a local of Nigeria, Qatar & the Netherlands I can't express enough how much I connect with your conceptualisation of nationality. The expression of the thoughts and feelings of many of us, I'm sure, as a collection of localised experiences rather than concrete members of a state entity is a wonderful way of words, and a valuable psychological progression of the human experience. Thank you for your message and your talk, and look forward to more of your work. ??✊???? ?

  6. sorry , but if white people would ask : ` where are you a local ? ` – this text would be about ` isn`t there any interest belong to my roots ? ` . the simple question is ` where do you live ? ` . multihuman . i`m a little bit drunk and i hate racists . just want to help . looking for identitiy is always fun , too . we never should forget !

  7. When someone ask , where are you frm, are whare are u really frm, [ Your Answer Correctly Is , From My Mother] We are all frm our Mothers. Ok, as a sovereign National, U have the right to choose what Nation u want to be a National for. You can also belong to a Sovereign Tribe, or Sovereign Native, or Aboriginal of the Land, like thr Muurs/Moors. Most peoples who claim Citizenship of what they think is a Country, are actual Corporate Citizens of that Corporation, called by most, not learnt in Sovereign Law, a Country, like the United States Corporation Company, not a Land, but a Corporation, if u can decipher the Matrix/Language u were created/born into. Ur Language is the Spell…The more language u know it's better, best for u…