In a time when speaking out is seen as a form of liberation, author and essayist Panashe Chigumadzi presents a nuanced view of the many frequencies of silence. “What is not said, is just as important as what is said” and “there are silences shaped by language and cultural difference”, she says. In a talk that calls for understanding, Panashe shares conversations with her grandmother, and the stories that have inspired her to value and respect silence. Her exploration into how and why silences exist calls for greater introspection, imagination, and openness to the possibility of both hearing and feeling the words that are yet to be spoken. Panashe Chigumadzi is an essayist and novelist. Her 2015 debut novel Sweet Medicine (Blackbird Books) won the 2016 K. Sello Duiker Literary Award. Her second book, These Bones Will Rise Again (The Indigo Press) was published in June 2018 and shortlisted for the 2019 Alan Paton Prize for Non-fiction. Panashe was the founding editor of Vanguard Magazine, a platform for young black women coming of age in post-apartheid South Africa. A columnist for The New York Times, and contributing editor of the Johannesburg Review of Books, her work has featured in titles including The Guardian, Chimurenga, Africa is A Country, Transition, Washington Post and Die Ziet. She is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University’s Department of African and African American Studies. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
3 окт 2024
