Don't Ask Where I'm From, Ask Where I'm a Local | Taiye Selasi | TED Talks

Amazing women! love it.

Emm. maybe cuz people might know countries but not the location and cultures of every city and neighbourhood??

Home is where your heart is..where your passion lies.

My parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment. - Ted Mosby

exactly my story. brilliantly articulated. 👏👏👏

As someone who can relate to this, I think she provided insightful ideas about a simple question that has been troubling me for most of my life. As someone who does not fit the stereotype of a typical 'white' or 'black' American, I struggled with answering this question when I was in Europe. On one hand I looked Asian so people expected me to name some Asian country and fit into my Asian stereotypes, while on the other hand, I do not fully relate to the Asian experience, having grown up in America. It's simply a question I do not enjoy answering since I feel like none of my answers really justify my full experience. But now I will take some tips from Taiye and instead describe my local experiences. :)

Am I the only guy that noticed that she is so hot and sexy? Great talk

A complicated plea for not being seen as African.... This is what I hear: I am one of you wherever I am. receive me well and give me your attention; don't you see how pretty I am with a ton of makeup?

I think the point of this talk is not that suggestion we should ask where you're a local rather than where you're from, but the fragility of our conception on nation in understanding other people. And it's worth enough to think about it. We might, however, keep asking people where you are from, to express our interest in other people or just because of the convenience to get some information about others. But we could know that cognitive limit of the conceptions at least so that we might not make any horrible mistakes, if we bear the question in mind. In that extent we can take this talk valuable.

Nationality is irrelevant in my experience due to the fact that my parents birthplace were colonized by the Spanish who migrated along with slaves. it's become tedious to reveal my background because it takes away from the mystery of being a stranger and it's uncomfortable to experience the eagerness in ppl that wasn't too familiarize their self bcuz they'll likely want to relate.

She is making it ok to be a white African which is wrong. She wants to write her own history and when u do that how could you not lie? You want to take the good and ignore the bad. Instead of discovering your history and preserving it, then advancing it. She seems brilliant, but European in mind. This is why I have to disagree with her.

This is why its called existential "angst": You rebel against the system but you ultimately become the system.

In all this time she's rebelling against what she is "not", she is spending all of her time focusing on it, it is all she knows.

I get it. Not everyone's identity is simple. And judging from these comments, a lot of simple-minded people don't care to understand/appreciate/respect that.

Reminds me of Hawaii. Many of my Polynesian friends would ask questions about where you're local.

Myth of national identity? Nation of france doesnt exist? Man the globalist elites are going all-in trying to destroy the nation state, but i guess this is better than bombing people to make it happen. How did the line go? "In modern europe there is no room for homogenous national states" about kosovo war.

If anything this is a case for nation states, when countries can be artificial but nations exist always, even without having their own country, kurds being excellent modern example. Im morally opposed to the whole idea of multi-ethnic countries. And i dont think this woman is from anywhere, shes just another example of the priveleged upper class internationalists.

Such a good video! Thank you for uploading TED :)

Taiye, I'm working on a dissertation on "local" responses to climate change. Your teaching is totally relevant to defining what "local" means today. "Local" is no longer the traditional meaning of "place of birth" or "origin'; "local" is a node in the global network, the place where you experience yourself, your daily life and your relationships. I will be sure to credit your work in my dissertation.

That was amazing.

Simply amazing