ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.

Why you should listen

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and he seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices"; and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.

Bamuthi's evening-length work, red black and GREEN: a blues, was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His noted work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross-border fan culture and the politics of joy.

Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, and he is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

More profile about the speaker
Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2017

Marc Bamuthi Joseph: What soccer can teach us about freedom

Filmed:
1,005,797 views

"Soccer is the only thing on this planet that we can all agree to do together," says theater maker and TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Through his performances and an engagement initiative called "Moving and Passing," Joseph combines music, dance and soccer to reveal accessible, joyful connections between the arts and sports. Learn more about how he's using the beautiful game to foster community and highlight issues facing immigrants.
- Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
The two places
0
880
3216
00:16
where I feel most free
1
4120
3480
00:20
aren't actually places.
2
8680
2256
00:22
They're moments.
3
10960
1440
00:25
The first is inside of dance.
4
13640
3120
00:29
Somewhere between
rising up against gravity
5
17360
3216
00:32
and the feeling that the air beneath me
6
20600
3496
00:36
is falling in love with my body's weight.
7
24120
2680
00:39
I'm dancing and the air is carrying me
8
27760
3936
00:43
like I might never come down.
9
31720
1720
00:46
The second place that I feel free
10
34920
1856
00:48
is after scoring a goal
on the soccer pitch.
11
36800
3096
00:51
My body floods with the chemical
12
39920
2616
00:54
that they put inside of EpiPens
to revive the dead,
13
42560
3096
00:57
and I am weightless,
14
45680
3040
01:01
raceless.
15
49440
2040
01:04
My story is this: I'm a curator
at a contemporary arts center,
16
52840
4056
01:08
but I don't really believe in art
that doesn't bleed or sweat or cry.
17
56920
6280
01:16
I imagine that my kids
are going to live in a time
18
64000
2616
01:18
when the most valuable commodities
are fresh water and empathy.
19
66640
4080
01:23
I love pretty dances
and majestic sculpture
20
71560
2416
01:26
as much as the next guy,
21
74000
1656
01:27
but give me something else to go with it.
22
75680
2200
01:30
Lift me up with the aesthetic sublime
23
78480
2656
01:33
and give me a practice or some tools
to turn that inspiration
24
81160
4696
01:37
into understanding and action.
25
85880
2080
01:41
For instance, I'm a theater maker
who loves sports.
26
89160
4976
01:46
When I was making
my latest piece /peh-LO-tah/
27
94160
2256
01:48
I thought a lot about how soccer
was a means for my own immigrant family
28
96440
4616
01:53
to foster a sense of continuity
and normality and community
29
101080
4816
01:57
within the new context of the US.
30
105920
2440
02:01
In this heightened moment of xenophobia
and assault on immigrant identity,
31
109240
5056
02:06
I wanted to think through
32
114320
1576
02:07
how the game could serve
as an affirmational tool
33
115920
4056
02:12
for first-generation Americans
and immigrant kids,
34
120000
3496
02:15
to ask them to consider
movement patterns on the field
35
123520
3416
02:18
as kin to migratory patterns
across social and political borders.
36
126960
5280
02:24
Whether footballers or not,
37
132880
1496
02:26
immigrants in the US
play on endangered ground.
38
134400
3480
02:30
I wanted to help the kids understand
39
138880
1856
02:32
that the same muscle
that they use to plan the next goal
40
140760
3856
02:36
can also be used
to navigate the next block.
41
144640
3160
02:41
For me, freedom exists in the body.
42
149160
3520
02:45
We talk about it abstractly
and even divisively,
43
153240
2776
02:48
like "protect our freedom,"
"build this wall,"
44
156040
3776
02:51
"they hate us because of our freedom."
45
159840
2000
02:54
We have all these systems
that are beautifully designed
46
162400
3416
02:57
to incarcerate us or deport us,
47
165840
2696
03:00
but how do we design freedom?
48
168560
3040
03:04
For these kids, I wanted to track the idea
back to something that exists inside
49
172680
4176
03:08
that no one could take away,
50
176880
1376
03:10
so I developed this curriculum
51
178280
1736
03:12
that's part poli-sci class,
part soccer tournament,
52
180040
4936
03:17
inside of an arts festival.
53
185000
2440
03:20
It accesses /peh-LO-tah/'s
field of inquiry
54
188240
3656
03:23
to create a sports-based
political action for young people.
55
191920
3896
03:27
The project is called
"Moving and Passing."
56
195840
2696
03:30
It intersects curriculum development,
site-specific performance
57
198560
4136
03:34
and the politics of joy,
58
202720
1896
03:36
while using soccer as a metaphor
for the urgent question
59
204640
4136
03:40
of enfranchisement among immigrant youth.
60
208800
2360
03:44
Imagine that you are
a 15-year-old kid from Honduras
61
212120
3776
03:47
now living in Harlem,
62
215920
1776
03:49
or you're a 13-year-old girl born in DC
to two Nigerian immigrants.
63
217720
4896
03:54
You love the game.
64
222640
1336
03:56
You're on the field with your folks.
65
224000
1816
03:57
You've just been practicing
dribbling through cones
66
225840
2416
04:00
for, like, 15 minutes,
67
228280
1256
04:01
and then, all of a sudden,
a marching band comes down the field.
68
229560
3880
04:06
I want to associate the joy of the game
with the exuberance of culture,
69
234360
4736
04:11
to locate the site of joy in the game
70
239120
4496
04:15
at the same physical coordinate
71
243640
2536
04:18
as being politically informed by art,
72
246200
3856
04:22
a grass-laden theater for liberation.
73
250080
3360
04:25
We spend a week
74
253840
1216
04:27
looking at how the midfielder
would explain Black Lives Matter,
75
255080
3536
04:30
or how the goalkeeper
would explain gun control,
76
258640
3175
04:33
or how a defender's style
is the perfect metaphor
77
261839
4177
04:38
for the limits of American exceptionalism.
78
266040
2736
04:40
As we study positions on the field,
79
268800
2056
04:42
we also name and imagine our own freedoms.
80
270880
4120
04:48
I don't know, man, soccer is, like,
81
276720
1736
04:50
the only thing on this planet
that we can all agree to do together.
82
278480
4536
04:55
You know? It's like the official sport
of this spinning ball.
83
283040
4120
05:00
I want to be able
to connect the joy of the game
84
288000
5096
05:05
to the ever-moving footballer,
85
293120
3256
05:08
to connect that moving footballer
86
296400
2136
05:10
to immigrants who also moved
in sight of a better position.
87
298560
4480
05:15
Among these kids, I want
to connect their families' histories
88
303720
3656
05:19
to the bliss of a goal-scorer's run,
89
307400
2656
05:22
family like that feeling
after the ball beats the goalie,
90
310080
4016
05:26
the closest thing going to freedom.
91
314120
2880
05:30
Thank you.
92
318000
1216
05:31
(Applause)
93
319240
5480

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.

Why you should listen

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and he seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices"; and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.

Bamuthi's evening-length work, red black and GREEN: a blues, was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His noted work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross-border fan culture and the politics of joy.

Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, and he is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

More profile about the speaker
Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Speaker | TED.com