1.1. I am multi-local

Last year, I went on my first book tour. In 13 months, I flew to 14 countries and gave some hundred talks. Every talk in every country began with an introduction, and every introduction began, Rellenar huecos (1): JXUwMDM5JXUwMDBkJXUwMDBkJXUwMDEy , with a lie: "Taiye Selasi comes from Ghana and Nigeria," or "Taiye Selasi comes from England and the States." Whenever I heard this opening sentence, no matter the country that concluded it -- England, America, Ghana, Nigeria -- I thought, "But that's not true." Yes, I was born in England and grew up in the United States. My mum, born in England, and raised in Nigeria, currently lives in Ghana. My father was born in Gold Coast, Rellenar huecos (2): JXUwMDM5JXUwMDQxJXUwMDYyJXUwMDMwJXUwMDFiJXUwMDFkJXUwMDFkJXUwMDFhJXUwMDFiJXUw MDQ4JXUwMDQzJXUwMDBjJXUwMDAzJXUwMDAzJXUwMDAxJXUwMDE3 , raised in Ghana, and has lived for over 30 years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For this reason, my introducers also called me "multinational." "But Nike is multinational," I thought, "I'm a human being."

Then, one fine day, Rellenar huecos (3): JXUwMDM1JXUwMDA0JXUwMDBkJXUwMDQ5JXUwMDU5JXUwMDFiJXUwMDFhJXUwMDA3 , I went to Louisiana, a museum in Denmark where I shared the stage with the writer Colum McCann. We were discussing the role of locality in writing, when suddenly Rellenar huecos (4): JXUwMDMxJXUwMDFkJXUwMDU0JXUwMDQ4JXUwMDAxJXUwMDFkJXUwMDU0JXUwMDRkJXUwMDA4 . I'm not multinational. I'm not a national at all. How could I come from a nation? How can a human being come from a concept? It's a question that had been bothering me for going on two decades. From newspapers, textbooks, conversations, I had learned to speak of countries as if they were eternal, singular, naturally occurring things, but I wondered: to say that I came from a country suggested that the country was an absolute, Rellenar huecos (5): JXUwMDJiJXUwMDFjJXUwMDAyJXUwMDA4JXUwMDQ1JXUwMDQ2JXUwMDBmJXUwMDExJXUwMDFkJXUw MDAxJXUwMDQ0JXUwMDUwJXUwMDFmJXUwMDA2JXUwMDA3JXUwMDFh in place in time, a constant thing, but was it? In my lifetime, countries had disappeared -- Czechoslovakia; appeared -- Timor-Leste; failed -- Somalia. My parents came from countries that didn't exist when they were born. To me, a country -- this thing that could be born, die, Rellenar huecos (6): JXUwMDNkJXUwMDFkJXUwMDA4JXUwMDExJXUwMDBmJXUwMDBh , contract -- hardly seemed the basis for understanding a human being.

And so it came as a huge relief to discover the sovereign state. What we call countries are actually various expressions of Rellenar huecos (7): JXUwMDJiJXUwMDFjJXUwMDE5JXUwMDEzJXUwMDE3JXUwMDE3JXUwMDBjJXUwMDBlJXUwMDA5JXUw MDRlJXUwMDUzJXUwMDA3JXUwMDE1JXUwMDE1JXUwMDExJXUwMDBkJXUwMDA3JXUwMDAwJXUwMDBi , an idea that came into fashion only 400 years ago. When I learned this, beginning my masters degree in international relations, I felt a sort of surge of relief. It was as I had suspected. History was real, cultures were real, but countries were invented. For the next 10 years, I Rellenar huecos (8): JXUwMDJiJXUwMDFjJXUwMDFhJXUwMDEyJXUwMDBmJXUwMDFj to re- or un-define myself, my world, my work, my experience, beyond the logic of the state.

In 2005, I wrote an essay, "What is an Afropolitan," Rellenar huecos (9): JXUwMDJiJXUwMDE4JXUwMDBlJXUwMDExJXUwMDE3JXUwMDBiJXUwMDAxJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5JXUw MDQ3JXUwMDRmJXUwMDFhJXUwMDAx an identity that privileged culture over country. It was thrilling how many people could relate to my experience, and instructional how many others didn't buy my sense of self. "How can Selasi claim to come from Ghana," one such critic asked, "when she's never known the Rellenar huecos (10): JXUwMDMxJXUwMDA3JXUwMDBhJXUwMDBkJXUwMDBlJXUwMDA5JXUwMDA3JXUwMDFkJXUwMDFkJXUw MDBjJXUwMDE2 of traveling abroad on a Ghanaian passport?"

Now, if I'm honest, I knew just what she meant. I've got a friend named Layla who was born and raised in Ghana. Her parents are third-generation Ghanaians of Lebanese descent. Layla, who speaks fluent Twi, knows Accra like the back of her hand, but when we first met years ago, I thought, "She's not from Ghana." In my mind, she came from Lebanon, despite the Rellenar huecos (11): JXUwMDI4JXUwMDExJXUwMDE1JXUwMDExJXUwMDBiJXUwMDFh fact that all her formative experience took place in suburban Accra. I, like my critics, was imagining some Ghana where all Ghanaians had brown skin or none held U.K. passports. I'd fallen into the limiting trap that the language of coming from countries sets -- the privileging of a fiction, the singular country, over reality: human experience. Speaking with Colum McCann that day, the Rellenar huecos (12): JXUwMDI4JXUwMDE1JXUwMDBiJXUwMDAwJXUwMDE3JXUwMDU5JXUwMDQ2JXUwMDBmJXUwMDA3JXUw MDBmJXUwMDBkJXUwMDAwJXUwMDE1JXUwMDU5JXUwMDQ0JXUwMDE2JXUwMDFkJXUwMDFmJXUwMDAw JXUwMDE1JXUwMDAx . "All experience is local," he said. "All identity is experience," I thought. "I'm not a national," I proclaimed onstage. "I'm a local. I'm multi-local."

See, "Taiye Selasi comes from the United States," isn't the truth. I have no relationship with the United States, all 50 of them, not really. My relationship is with Brookline, the town where I grew up; with New York City, where I started work; with Lawrenceville, where I spend Thanksgiving. What makes America home for me is not my passport or accent, but these very particular experiences and the places they occur. Despite my pride in Ewe culture, the Black Stars, and my love of Ghanaian food, I've never had a relationship with the Republic of Ghana, Rellenar huecos (13): JXUwMDJmJXUwMDA1JXUwMDFiJXUwMDFkJXUwMDU0JXUwMDRjJXUwMDBkJXUwMDEzJXUwMDE1JXUw MDAy . My relationship is with Accra, where my mother lives, where I go each year, with the little garden in Dzorwulu where my father and I talk for hours. These are the places that shape my experience. My experience is where I'm from.

Adapted from: https://www.ted.com/talks/taiye_selasi_don_t_ask_where_i_m_from_ask_where_i_m_a_local/transcript?referrer=playlist-talks_for_the_thoughtful_trave