Reading as a culture

It is not new to hear that black people don’t like reading or that the best way to hide anything from the black man is to put it in a novel. How many of our teachers or university lecturers have used these common beliefs to trigger our interest in reading? Many are sorry of this lack of interest in reading. 

As for me I love reading, I have had the chance of having a mother who initiated me since I was a kid. I remember the first book I ever read, le livre de la jungle or the many books she bought for me as soon as an “auntie” or an “uncle” gave me some money. I even recall moments of corruption in my primary school where my classmates would lend me their books first, so they would not be submitted to the wrath of the class prefect. I love reading and would dive into one as soon as I have the chance to do so. I always have accepted that Africans don’t like reading, almost by fatality. However, during a journey in Scotland with my friends we had the chance to visit Edinburgh and realised something. After seeing those huge airtight libraries, we understood that white people discovered that air damages the books and hence the need for appropriate structures to help preserve the books. Not that I have never seen a library (if anything my university has one) but it was at this specific moment that it all fell into place. Everything I read and learned made me more conscious of the truth that indeed reading is a culture. 
It wasn’t that I have never heard of it, it simply had a different and more vivid explanation. Reading in Western cultures gained its place with time there was a process to its being as valued as it is today.

Let’s start with writing, I am sure you are aware that writing and reading work hand in hand. So as you might know writing comes from Ancient Egypt. it was created 6000 years ago and traces have been found in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Ancient Greeks introduced writing in their political system to engrave the laws and it is in the 5^th century BC that books started spreading. I also think that reading at some point in time was reserved to the rich and elites of the society, not just everyone. If one had means he/she could take a preceptor for his son so he could be taught the various subjects of the time. Knowledge was then a luxury. I might also have read that Charlemagne loved books and during his time, he encouraged the production of books especially the elementary books to teach Latin. These are very few facts to the history of reading to remind us that there were good leaders that encouraged reading, and it not being accessible to everyone might have even contributed to the realisation of its importance. Most importantly these folks have been reading from the fifth century before BC!!!!

On our African continent, 400 years of slavery and 56 years of independence down the line, people are surprised that we are not at the same level, or don’t show the same interest? Don’t be fooled, I am not trying to talk about the harm that has been done to our continent, or justify people who don’t like reading. However, if we all agree that reading is a culture, we should also know that it didn’t happen by magic. It needs time and effort, we can’t just copy and paste. For people that had only oral history I think we are doing great progress to catch up with the train already in motion. Think about this: on one hand a civilisation that found the need to put down its law and on the other hand a civilisation that was forced to incorporate something new in its system and expected to be as good as the first one. The result cannot be the same. The point I am trying to make is that we as Africans need to acknowledge our struggle and encouraged ourselves to do better. It is okay for people who haven’t worn our shoes to say that we don’t like to read but it is our duty to make a difference between what people say and who we really are.

To teach the love of reading, it would not be enough in our context to build libraries and to complain that the youth is not interested in our extensive collections of books. We should go a step further and create that desire in them. If we so believe that reading is very important for the development of our continent, shouldn’t we find solutions to help with these problems? I am sure a lot is being done to help to that but we do not need to perpetuate these myths that are obviously wrong. I am AFRICAN, I love reading and because I am neither special nor alone, I know that Africans can learn to love reading if they are encouraged to do so.