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  • The Hidden History of South Africa’s Book and Reading Cultures by Archie L Dick
  • Rachel Matteau Matsha (bio)
Archie L Dick (2013) The Hidden History of South Africa’s Book and Reading Cultures. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press

Reading habits are generally difficult to ascertain and study, as the act of reading leaves little tangible trace, if any. In the case of South Africa, the task of studying readers and reading is further aggravated by the complexity and changing face of politically-aligned censorship, and its adverse impacts on reading and readers.

Archie L Dick, in his book The Hidden History of South Africa’s Book and Reading Cultures, aims at shedding light on how, when, where, and what, ordinary readers read in South Africa. Divided into eight chapters, Dick’s work takes us through South African common readers’ hidden histories – hidden because, he reminds us, they were ignored, neglected or obscured. Beginning with an examination of the spread of literacy and ensuing emergence of a reading culture amongst what he terms the Cape colony’s early readers of the 1650s, Dick’s account takes us well into the 1990s, the era marking the end of institutionalised censorship in South Africa. In doing so, Dick builds his argument on a variety of primary sources, including official records, slave wills, readership surveys, interviews, letters, and newspapers. The extensive usage of archival documentation, some of which has never been studied at length before, brings to the fore details on the workings of alternative reading and cultural spaces; connecting the dots between the otherwise fragmented reading cultures hidden behind the political and power struggles punctuating South African history. [End Page 123]

A fascinating aspect of Dick’s work is his ability to place the intellectual life of ordinary readers at the centre of his argument, providing previously little known information on the formation of reading communities often marginalised in South African literary historiographies. More or less aligned to the chapter division, these categories of readers include, in Dick’s words, slaves, ‘Free Blacks’, Khoisan, Griquas, women, Second World War troops, political activists, exiles, and political prisoners. The complex sets of relations between these readers, reading modalities and readership formations are examined in detail, highlighting the linkages between reading and broader socio-political affairs. This firmly inscribes Dick’s book within the interdisciplinary tradition of book history scholarship gaining momentum in South Africa. For example, in Chapter 3, Dick shows how early twentieth century white women’s reading groups played a role in nation building as they preached the virtues of the ‘right book’ for building ‘white reading nations’ (67), aligning reading to the broader imperial and colonial project. The book also touches on the subject of censorship during the apartheid era, illustrating how the intellectually repressive climate led to an increased politicisation of reading. Reflecting on the role of state librarians during apartheid, Dick concludes that – with few exceptions – librarians in South Africa generally supported censorship, with some going to the extent of burning and destroying banned books. Not confining his study within South African borders, Dick provides an interesting account of what books were read by South African readers in exile, and how these relate to what was read in South Africa. Using statistics and archives from the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) library as an example, he demonstrates how libraries in exile were used as a tool to support the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa (Chapter 7). Interpreting SOMAFCO’s lending figures to identify reading patterns, Dick also notes that readers in exile read a wide array of publications, including popular lifestyle magazines and Afrikaans literature over and above African literature, Marxist literature and general political books.

Dick goes beyond an analysis of each of these reading publics to successfully draw parallels between the groups of common readers identified and their respective reading protocols. In establishing links between the various intellectual circuits, Dick not only points towards a transnational understanding of readership formations and reading practices in South Africa, but also demonstrates some unlikely relationships forged around [End Page 124] books and readings. The agency of readers in the historical period discussed in Dick’s work...

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