Tanzanian Association Oslo

Are Tanzanians watching more than reading?

GASIRIGWA SENGIYUMVA
Daily News; Thursday,November 22, 2007 @00:03

HAS it crossed your mind at any one time why people like TV drama and comedies? Well, one just needs to see how many people regardless of age, sex or education status gather in front of their television sets on a Thursday evening to watch ‘Ze comedy’, a popular weekly show aired by East Africa TV. But you hardly find them reading a book, newspapers or magazines wherever they might be.

There is an old saying: ‘If you want to hide something from an African, just put it in a book’. The validity of the statement depends on how one perceives it. The trend shows that to a large extent it could be true.

There is evidence showing that slowly the book is being replaced by other sources of knowledge and entertainment, particularly the television. Today, soap operas and comedies have taken centre stage in entertaining people in their homes. It is quite normal to find a seven year-old kid knowing all programmes for the day-to-day television dramas, both local and international.

Funny enough, he or she will recount last night’s episode of an English language drama as if he/she understands what is being said. When it comes to the youth, the situation is even more interesting as each of them is trying to rhyme so that he or she becomes a new Bongo flava (version of youth music in Tanzania) star. Listening to music and watching movies have been the order of the day. One needs to visit video libraries to see how people go in to rent the latest movie releases.

Serious reading is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, not only to the youth but also to elders, the working and non-working populace. Reading can be seen in a few sections of the urban population. For example, in affluent families where one has nothing to worry about as most of life’s basics are provided for. But even the sons and daughters of the elite who read books only get entangled in romantic literature.

Generally, reading habit among societies in this country is increasingly declining. You rarely find people reading a book, a journal or a newspaper in a passenger commuter bus, a plane or even in an office for that matter. Those who find a few minutes to spare at tea or lunch breaks, engage in gossips and the like.

“Most people I have come across read the Bible. I don’t know whether they are looking for consolation or what!” says Professor Jettoro Mbonile, from the University of Dar es Salaam, who also adds that “reading has not been our culture.

Dr Baala Masele from the Department of Literature and Linguistics of the same university shares the same thoughts. He says that reading has no roots in Africa. According to him, reading was forced on this continent and when it came; it was associated with bad experiences which are still being felt today.

He argues that reading was associated with Christianity and that going to school in those days one had to change their name and identity. “Accepting reading meant rejecting your culture. Instead of being a pastoral tending to your livestock, you become a clerk, who, of course, never matched with our environment,” says Dr Masele.

Scholars argue that African societies are traditionally used to the word of mouth (oral), and that the transition from oral to the written word was imposed suddenly. In most cases people read because they have examinations to attend to, from nursery to secondary and then to the university. After that reading is forgotten. “What the people are doing today are instructions from those who imposed the reading culture on them. That is why many people are not confident in themselves,” they add.

Prof. Mbonile says: “Most of us, who have gone to school and excelled in different disciplines, live artificial lives. We don’t know what is happening next door”. He explains that most of the people, who need help to change, live on hand to mouth basis - a situation where one has to worry about his next meal for the day. It is therefore hard for one to sit and read.

There is another African saying: ‘An empty stomach has no ears’. “Is it really possible to read when the stomach is requesting for something to fill it? In Africa we must first overcome the problem of hunger before we can concentrate on other issues. This has nothing to do with culture but we have priorities, and food comes first,” argues another scholar.

“What is the purpose of reading in the first place?” Prof. Mbonile asks, arguing that for anyone to read, they need to have a purpose. “If these people don’t find what interests them in whatever they read, there is no reason for them to do so,” he says.

He cites women as an example. He says that they are the most readers of tabloids in this country and elsewhere. You know why? Because they find what suits them in these papers and very easily understood. “Our language is becoming a problem rather than a resource,” says Prof Mbonile.

Dr Masele cements this point by saying that most of the literature we have in this country is written in a language that is not understood by a big section of the population. For most people, reading has no link with comprehension but rather pronouncing what is on the page. “Reading would be very effective if people had access to reading materials in the vernacular and/or a second language, provided they understand them,” he says.

Proponents of the reading culture think that hatred that some fellow Africans have for books is cultural. Their viewpoint is that in Africans seem to believe that knowledge comes with age, which they totally reject. People seem to prefer learning from elders, rejecting self enquiry and research. A critical argument is even seen as disrespectful in a culture that maintains that age means wisdom.

It is said that Westerners read more because they are too individualistic. This hasn’t been the culture in Africa. Because of lack of social cohesion, these people find the only consolation to boredom and loneliness in books and magazines.

“If we are to liberate millions of ordinary Tanzanians; farmers, political activists, HIV infected people, shopkeepers and labourers, and make them read, we need to address issues pertinent to them -issues that will help them solve their problems in our writings,” elaborates Prof Mbonile.

He adds that the problem starts with academicians who write books that don’t touch lives of ordinary citizens. “We write for people who want to excel in degrees only. We haven’t identified and captured the needs of ordinary citizens.”

“Professors are no longer think tanks. Instead of generating ideas during their spare time for example, they are busy tending to chickens and cows and to some, because of frustrations in life, they end up drinking too much,” laments Prof Mbonile.

“Culture is dynamic. Things are changing. The environment we are living in invite a lot of ideas, we have to read,” says Dr Alli Mcharazo, Director-General of the Tanzania Library Services Board (TLSB). He adds that the general public must do away with the mentality that we read to get jobs or to pass exams.
Dr Mcharazo concurs with Prof Mbonile’s viewpoint that writers should expand their ideas and explore new areas of writing.

This goes as far as the education system is concerned. Scholars argue that ours in an imported one and that the ideas we use are imported. They have no roots here. They are brought and made to be ours without being digested.

“The curriculum needs to be relevant to our environment; it needs to take roots here. School should be made part of the culture. To a Tanzanian, reading should be like cows to a Sukuma or Maasai. History of reading needs to be reviewed when discussing the issue of reading culture in this country,” he sums up.

From: Daily News (Tanzania)