Can Reading become a Culture?

I read an article in City Press a while ago by Zamayhira Peter on how our Minister of Basic Education is looking to popularise reading where she and company saw it fitting to use public figures as ambassadors for this campaign. All this to say, if kids see those they look up to reading, they will be inspired and want to read. Maybe. With that said, I attended a panel discussion over the weekend at Wits (organised by the SLLM Council) and one of the questions that kept going around was on how pop culture can/does influence reading, and also how we can encourage a reading culture. Your girls Beyonce and Bonang were thrown in the mix a few times. You will remember Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's cameo appearance in the Flawless music video, and despite much criticism, From A To B might get folks reading beyond the stan perspective.  

I will call myself a reading ambassador as well. I am an avid reader, I try encouraging those around me to read by sharing my reads with them - depending on the distance - I lend them books (to which I now draw a contract between me and the pARTy involved, because honestly, people need to account when they lose your book while they keep saying 'I will bring it' and never do. Lip service won't bring back your books - hashtag that!). I also share (whenever I can) what I am reading over social media as well because '...our daily reading habits are largely centred on tweets and Facebook updates.' Of recent, I also share texts from my reads via my WhatsApp status since they can be updated regularly. And, yes, I follow books/reading pages and reading folks alike. But, are people reading because they see/saw me reading, or am I reading because I saw/see others reading? Maybe.

'The books we read should be relatable to the reader in language and narrative. They must reflect my lived experiences for them to interest me.' What this plainly says to me is, read first in your mother tongue before you embark on new terrains. The truth of the matter is, English as a primary language  that's used to asses and measure intelligence - is limiting. Somehow if you don't fall within the English Brackets, you are unable to be a pART of and pARTicipate in certain groups/discussions, read certain books, and ask burning questions because you don't have the words or understanding. Maybe we just need to find our reading in relatable language and narrative. Gain our confidence in our own languages before setting off to break English, or it us. This can be argued of course; is English the language of the elite or does it (or do we) put us (ourselves) under unnecessary pressure?  In the Book Club Meetings I've attended recently, and in this past weekend's panel discussion, having read Malebo Sephodi's Miss Behave as well, feminism has shown itself in this relatable language and narrative argument. Feminism has been there, but now because discussions are driven in English, it comes off as though it hasn't always been around. But, as narrated in Malebo's book and other folks' stories, it's been there, living and breathing.

I have found that, it's not that we don't want to read, or at the least try it, we just don't know where to stART because language is the first thing that stands in our way. The public slants and humiliation that comes after one messes up the English language is ridiculous (and I have been a pARTicipant of this before - something I am not proud of).  The authors might be names we recognise and relate to, but is the content the same? You find that only a select few are able to access (find, read, understand)  the content and be freed (spread the gospel and help others) because they've had the privilege of hitting it off with English. That elite few then find themselves together (because belonging) and creating a wall for the majority that wants to penetrate through. If our primary languages (mother tongues) are sidelined when we have to learn/unlearn, how then are we expected to break reading barriers and make reading a culture using a language we are only introduced to a few years into our lives?

The late Nelson Mandela wasn't overboard when he said, If you talk to a man in a language that he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. May we remember this as we embark on creating and popularising a reading culture. May we share ideas on how we can go about instilling this culture at grassroots level.