Absurdity of thinking small

Solani Ngobeni, The Weekender August , 2009

Whites still dominate publishing in SA, but if they were to embrace Africa a powerful global player will emerge, writes SOLANI NGOBENI
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IN A Strategic Report into Research Publishing in SA, published by the Academy of Science of SA (ASSAf), Prof Wieland Gevers posits that “SA occupies the paradoxical position in the arena of research publishing of being a dwarf internationally and a giant on the African continent”.

SA’s research base stubbornly remains white. It took Mark Gevisser to write The Dream Deferred. Where is a similar book on Steve Bantu Biko? We are waiting for a white researcher, aren’t we? The publishing industry, like research, is bedeviled by whiteness. The South African publishing industry is the largest on the continent. Most African publishing is dominated by education, and in SA, trade and academic publishing are thriving compared with their African counterparts.

Its “giantism” is relative. While we are the largest publishing industry on the continent, we are a small player on the global stage.

One of the most illuminating aspects of the ASSAf report is the preponderance of the south-north dialogue that permeates South African scholarship. For instance, it states that SA’s research publications, captured on the Journal Citation Reports of the Institute for Scientific Information (now Thomson Scientific), show that about 3500 papers with at least one South African author were published in 2000.

This represents about 0,5% (five in every 1000) of all papers in three major databases covering more than 5500 international journals in science, engineering, medicine, the social sciences, arts and humanities. South African research journals constituted only 19-23 (depending on the year) of the indexed journals on the databases in 2002 to 2004, which is 0,2%, containing about 350 papers. The rest of Africa produced only two papers.

Instead of SA’s academic institutions promoting local and African journals to appear in these international citation indexes, they instead glorify these Anglo-Saxon lists and journals.

The mandarins at the National Research Foundation will assure academics that they do recognise research-based scholarly books published in Africa , but they are more likely to get promoted if they publish abroad.

The national Department of Higher Education also takes publishing in journals far more seriously than publishing book chapters — or even books.

The gatekeepers at universities, rating agencies and the department have to realise that there is frankly little difference in terms of due diligence systems — such as peer-review and editorial quality — practices and standards between the northern publishers and their southern counterparts. Many northern publishers do not have peer-review systems .

The South African publishing industry suffers from the same severe bout of the south-north hangover as South African research, which has a lot to do with the neocolonial mentality of those in leadership positions in these arenas. They yearn for some “kith and kin” relationship with Europe and America.

IF THE Cape Town International Book Fair is anything to go by, the South African publishing industry remains a white enclave trying with all its might to speak to the north.

There are a few natives in the industry, mostly to be found in subsidiary roles, such as sales, marketing and African language publishing divisions .

Why is it that African publishers at the Cape Town International Book Fair are conspicuous by their absence? Why is it that the natives from Manenberg, Gugulethu , Langa and Nyanga are not targeted as possible consumers of literature ? Is this an international book fair or just a big book sale for four days every June ?

Kenyan publisher Henry Chakava, better known as the grandfather of African publishing who has contributed more to the continent than all South African publishers combined, maintains that he would rather attend the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany than attend a smaller version of Frankfurt in Cape Town.

While every year the Cape Town Book Fair is promoted at the London and Frankfurt fairs, the same is not done at the Nigerian, Kenyan or Egyptian book fairs.

Very few South African publishers attend the African fairs. Frankly, this is because most South African publishers see themselves as an extension of the US and UK’s publishing landscape. An international book fair in Johannesburg is likely to be more inclusive, representative and cosmopolitan than it would ever be in Cape Town.

Many South African publishers are more prone to seeking partnerships in the north, just like South African research . Hence, the sad reality that most African books are published abroad.

There are more African books at Foyles Bookshop in central London than in Johannesburg.

Zambia imports most of its academic books, yet no South African academic publisher has taken on the challenge of supplying African books to Zambia.

It is of historic and strategic importance that South African publishing reaches out to Africa .

The industry should not become a mercantilist predator in Africa, as Prof Chris Landsberg and Prof Adekeye Adebajo have warned against.

However, it should also not merely be in Africa while yearning to be part of Europe; it should become part of Africa, and locate itself squarely on the continent.

It should become a partner in development, and eschew its paternalistic attitudes towards the continent.

While South African publishing continues to remain totally disengaged from the continent, multinationals are scavenging in the school book market. Pearson Longman have a presence in 20 African countries, from SA to Morocco . South African publishing will remain a sideshow on the international stage until we realise that our development is inextricably bound to that of African publishing .

JAMES Currey, chairman of the Oxford-based James Currey Publishers — the leading academic publishers on Africa — spoke recently at a conference on scholarly publishing in Africa, hosted by the Africa Institute of SA. He said the survival and growth of the African publishing industry lies in the fostering of partnerships among African publishers.

South African publishing has an indispensable role to play in this regard, and it would be prudent that it transform itself at home in order to become acceptable and credible on the continent.

Currey is living proof of how genuine partnerships can be achieved. His recent book, Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series and the Launch of African Literature, is a partnership between James Currey Publishers and six African publishers.

It took a white man from the UK to do what most of us in SA — our financial muscle notwithstanding — cannot bring ourselves to do naturally.

International publishers such as James Currey repatriate more African knowledge than South African publishers, except for a few exceptions such as Human Sciences Research Council Press, Unisa Press and UKZN Press.

Until we transcend our provincialism, we run the risk of forever remaining a “continental giant” but an “international dwarf”.

And while we might bask in our misplaced glory, we are well advised to note that the publishing programme of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa , its imperfections notwithstanding, is more revered internationally than most South African publishers, who remain provincial.

To all intents and purposes, South African publishing, just like South African research, is nothing more than a duck splashing in the water of a small pond and mistaking it for an ocean.

n Ngobeni publishes academic and scholarly books.