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

Marc Bamuthi Joseph: O que o futebol pode nos ensinar sobre liberdade

Filmed:
1,005,797 views

"O futebol é a única coisa neste planeta que todos nós podemos concordar em fazermos juntos", diz o produtor do teatro e TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Por meio de suas performances e uma iniciativa de engajamento chamada "Moving and Passing", Joseph combina música, dança e futebol para revelar conexões acessíveis e alegres entre a arte e o esporte. Saiba mais sobre como ele está usando o belo jogo para promover a comunidade e destacar os problemas enfrentados pelos imigrantes.
- 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
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Os dois lugares
00:16
where I feel most free
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onde me sinto mais livre
00:20
aren't actually places.
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não são, na verdade, lugares.
00:22
They're moments.
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São momentos.
00:25
The first is inside of dance.
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O primeiro é dentro da dança.
00:29
Somewhere between
rising up against gravity
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Em algum lugar entre desafiar a gravidade
00:32
and the feeling that the air beneath me
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e a sensação de que o ar debaixo de mim
00:36
is falling in love with my body's weight.
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está se apaixonando
pelo peso do meu corpo.
00:39
I'm dancing and the air is carrying me
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Estou dançando e o ar está me carregando
00:43
like I might never come down.
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como se eu nunca fosse descer.
00:46
The second place that I feel free
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O segundo lugar em que me sinto livre
00:48
is after scoring a goal
on the soccer pitch.
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é após fazer um gol no campo de futebol.
00:51
My body floods with the chemical
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Meu corpo inunda com a química
00:54
that they put inside of EpiPens
to revive the dead,
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que colocam na EpiPen
para reviver os mortos,
00:57
and I am weightless,
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e fico sem peso,
01:01
raceless.
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sem raça.
01:04
My story is this: I'm a curator
at a contemporary arts center,
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Minha história é esta: sou curador
em um centro de artes contemporâneas,
01:08
but I don't really believe in art
that doesn't bleed or sweat or cry.
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mas não acredito em arte
que não sangre, sue ou chore.
01:16
I imagine that my kids
are going to live in a time
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Eu imagino que meus filhos
vão viver em um tempo
01:18
when the most valuable commodities
are fresh water and empathy.
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em que as mercadorias mais valiosas
serão água potável e empatia.
01:23
I love pretty dances
and majestic sculpture
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Eu amo danças bonitas
e esculturas majestosas
01:26
as much as the next guy,
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tanto quanto o próximo,
01:27
but give me something else to go with it.
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mas me dê algo a mais para continuar.
01:30
Lift me up with the aesthetic sublime
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Me eleve com a estética sublime
01:33
and give me a practice or some tools
to turn that inspiration
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e me dê uma prática ou algumas ferramentas
para transformar essa inspiração
01:37
into understanding and action.
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em compreensão e ação.
01:41
For instance, I'm a theater maker
who loves sports.
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Por exemplo, sou um produtor
de teatro que ama esporte.
Quando estava fazendo
minha última peça, /peh-LO-tah/,
01:46
When I was making
my latest piece /peh-LO-tah/
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01:48
I thought a lot about how soccer
was a means for my own immigrant family
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pensei muito sobre como o futebol era
um meio para minha família de imigrantes
01:53
to foster a sense of continuity
and normality and community
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promover um senso de continuidade,
normalidade e comunidade
01:57
within the new context of the US.
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dentro do novo contexto dos EUA.
02:01
In this heightened moment of xenophobia
and assault on immigrant identity,
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Neste momento de xenofobia elevada
e ataque à identidade dos imigrantes,
02:06
I wanted to think through
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eu queria pensar
02:07
how the game could serve
as an affirmational tool
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sobre como o jogo poderia servir
como uma ferramenta de afirmação
02:12
for first-generation Americans
and immigrant kids,
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para crianças imigrantes
e norte-americanos de primeira geração,
02:15
to ask them to consider
movement patterns on the field
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para pedir-lhes que considerem
padrões de movimento no campo
02:18
as kin to migratory patterns
across social and political borders.
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como os padrões migratórios
nas fronteiras sociais e políticas.
02:24
Whether footballers or not,
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Jogadores de futebol ou não,
02:26
immigrants in the US
play on endangered ground.
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imigrantes nos EUA jogam em solo ameaçado.
02:30
I wanted to help the kids understand
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Queria ajudar as crianças a entenderem
02:32
that the same muscle
that they use to plan the next goal
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que o mesmo músculo que elas
usam para planejar o próximo gol
02:36
can also be used
to navigate the next block.
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também pode ser usado
para furar a defesa adversária.
02:41
For me, freedom exists in the body.
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Para mim, a liberdade existe no corpo.
02:45
We talk about it abstractly
and even divisively,
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Nós falamos sobre isso
de forma abstrata e até divisiva,
02:48
like "protect our freedom,"
"build this wall,"
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como "proteja nossa liberdade",
"construa este muro",
02:51
"they hate us because of our freedom."
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"eles nos odeiam por causa
da nossa liberdade".
02:54
We have all these systems
that are beautifully designed
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Temos todos esses sistemas
lindamente projetados
02:57
to incarcerate us or deport us,
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para nos encarcerar ou deportar,
03:00
but how do we design freedom?
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mas como projetamos a liberdade?
03:04
For these kids, I wanted to track the idea
back to something that exists inside
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Eu queria devolver a essas crianças
a ideia de algo que existe dentro delas,
03:08
that no one could take away,
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que ninguém poderia tirar,
03:10
so I developed this curriculum
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portanto desenvolvi este currículo
03:12
that's part poli-sci class,
part soccer tournament,
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que é parte aula de ciência política,
parte torneio de futebol,
03:17
inside of an arts festival.
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dentro de um festival de artes.
03:20
It accesses /peh-LO-tah/'s
field of inquiry
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Ele acessa o campo
de pesquisa do /peh-LO-tah/
03:23
to create a sports-based
political action for young people.
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para criar uma ação política baseada
no esporte para os jovens.
03:27
The project is called
"Moving and Passing."
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O projeto é chamado
de "Moving and Passing".
03:30
It intersects curriculum development,
site-specific performance
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Ele cruza o desenvolvimento curricular,
performances específicas de arte ambiente
03:34
and the politics of joy,
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e políticas de alegria,
03:36
while using soccer as a metaphor
for the urgent question
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enquanto usa o futebol como uma metáfora
para a questão urgente de emancipação
entre os jovens imigrantes.
03:40
of enfranchisement among immigrant youth.
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03:44
Imagine that you are
a 15-year-old kid from Honduras
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Imagine que você é uma criança
de 15 anos de Honduras
03:47
now living in Harlem,
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morando no Harlem,
03:49
or you're a 13-year-old girl born in DC
to two Nigerian immigrants.
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ou uma menina de 13 anos nascida
em Washington de imigrantes nigerianos.
03:54
You love the game.
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Você ama o jogo.
03:56
You're on the field with your folks.
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Você está no campo com seu povo.
03:57
You've just been practicing
dribbling through cones
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Você acabou de praticar
o drible entre cones
04:00
for, like, 15 minutes,
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por cerca de 15 minutos,
04:01
and then, all of a sudden,
a marching band comes down the field.
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e então, de repente,
uma fanfarra vem pelo campo.
04:06
I want to associate the joy of the game
with the exuberance of culture,
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Quero associar a alegria do jogo
com a exuberância da cultura,
04:11
to locate the site of joy in the game
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para posicionar a alegria no jogo
04:15
at the same physical coordinate
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na mesma coordenada física
04:18
as being politically informed by art,
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de ser informado politicamente pela arte,
04:22
a grass-laden theater for liberation.
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um palco gramado para a liberação.
04:25
We spend a week
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Nós gastamos uma semana
04:27
looking at how the midfielder
would explain Black Lives Matter,
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olhando como o meia explicaria
"Black Lives Matter",
04:30
or how the goalkeeper
would explain gun control,
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ou como o goleiro explicaria
o controle de armas,
04:33
or how a defender's style
is the perfect metaphor
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ou como o estilo de um defensor
é a metáfora perfeita
04:38
for the limits of American exceptionalism.
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para os limites
do excepcionalismo americano.
04:40
As we study positions on the field,
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Ao estudar as posições no campo,
04:42
we also name and imagine our own freedoms.
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também nomeamos e imaginamos
nossa própria liberdade.
04:48
I don't know, man, soccer is, like,
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Eu não sei, cara, o futebol é tipo
04:50
the only thing on this planet
that we can all agree to do together.
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a única coisa neste planeta que todos
nós podemos concordar em fazer juntos.
04:55
You know? It's like the official sport
of this spinning ball.
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Você sabe? É como o esporte
oficial desta bola giratória.
05:00
I want to be able
to connect the joy of the game
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Eu quero ser capaz de conectar
a alegria do jogo
05:05
to the ever-moving footballer,
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ao jogador sempre em movimento,
05:08
to connect that moving footballer
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para conectar esse jogador em movimento
05:10
to immigrants who also moved
in sight of a better position.
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aos imigrantes que também
se moveram para uma posição melhor.
05:15
Among these kids, I want
to connect their families' histories
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Entre essas crianças, quero conectar
as histórias de suas famílias
05:19
to the bliss of a goal-scorer's run,
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com a felicidade da corrida de um gol,
05:22
family like that feeling
after the ball beats the goalie,
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a família como aquele sentimento
depois que a bola derrota o goleiro,
05:26
the closest thing going to freedom.
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a coisa mais próxima da liberdade.
05:30
Thank you.
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Obrigado!
05:31
(Applause)
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(Aplausos) (Vivas)
Translated by Larissa Corraide
Reviewed by Cláudia Sander

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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