Mexico reluctantly turns a page

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it seems fitting that Alberto Cervantes Garcia, proprietor of Libreria Cervantes in downtown Guadalajara, shares a name with one of history's most famous novelists. Cervantes, who has worked in the book business for twenty years, reads an average of three to four books a month, and estimates his yearly total at about fifty. For most Mexicans, that number is significantly lower, somewhere around 1.2 books a year, according to a 2003 study by Mexico's National Chamber of Publishers (CANIM). "I think it's a result of family culture," says Cervantes. "It hasn't been fomented in the schools either, the habit of reading."

Mexicans tend to agree their country puts a low value on recreational reading, although the statistics are not so cut and dry. "It's not so easy to say nobody reads in Mexico," says Dr. Maria Alicia Peredo Merlo, a professor of education at the University of Guadalajara who studies reading habits from a socio-cognitive perspective. Peredo cautions against asking people outright how many books they read a year, since it puts the respondent in a vulnerable position, which can skew results. Nubia Macias, General Director of Guadalajara's annual Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL), also backs away from citing numbers, claiming the CANIM has not yet released the results of its latest national reading index. "It seems to me a very delicate issue to talk about reading in Mexico when no one knows for certain how much people are reading," she explains. "We know effectively that people don't read a lot."

This may seem obvious to the average Mexican, and perhaps to those foreigners who have discovered the Mexican idea of a relaxing day at the beach doesn't usually include a book. The reasons behind the low rates of recreational reading, however, are more complex. Carlos Varela, a 27 year-old hostel manager from Guadalajara, received his degree in Hispanic literature from the University of Guadalajara and taught the same subject in the preparatorio, Mexico's high school equivalent. Varela faced frustration in trying to motivate his students to read; he attributes their lack of interest to the constant distractions they face.

"They're not convinced that reading can be a habit, a pleasure, an activity that can be beneficial for them," argues Varela. "They look for more immediate pleasure, like sports, video games, Internet, ways to spend their time when they could also be reading." Carina Ribera, a 31-year-old psychologist, agrees. "Most young people would rather spend 300 pesos on a ticket to go somewhere and dance for one night than to go buy a book," Ribera says. In Varela’s experience, reading is sometimes stigmatized as a passive activity in Mexico’s machista culture, which discourages young males from taking time out to read. "For boys, it’s more masculine for them to be playing sports or doing a more substantial activity than to be sitting there reading," he explains. "Of the ten students [in the class] that were reading, 7 or 8 were female."

Mexicans also put the blame on the government and its public schools. One argument goes that by obligating students to read, schools are actually discouraging students from reading for enjoyment. "I think reading is a recreational activity, a private one, an emotional one, full of pleasure," says FIL Director Macias. "Schools need to give student leisure time for books, to make it actually an enjoyable activity or a reward."

According to Peredo, that's partly what the Secretariat of Education has tried to do. Through programs entitled Reading Corners and Classroom Libraries, the Mexican government has distributed carefully selected collections of reading material to secondary schools across the Republic, but the effects of such programs have yet to be studied. "It’s been a good policy, but as far as what has been its impact, we don’t have information," says Peredo. In 2001, Mexico’s National Council for Arts and Culture (Conaculta) also initiated a program entitled "Towards a Country of Readers," which focused on augmenting the quality and quantity of books at libraries, reading rooms, book fairs, and bookstores. Although the program was supposed to continue until this year, no updated information was available.

While people living in metropolitan areas like Guadalajara have access to books through institutions like the Octavio Paz Ibero-American Library, it’s a different story for those who live in rural pueblos. Lois Cugini, a resident of San Antonio Tlaycapan, has been involved with library projects since five years ago, when she helped establish a primary-level library in San Antonio’s Niños Project social services building. "Kids have their books from school," Cugini says. "Otherwise there are not a lot of books in the house." Cugini and other volunteers are currently working on the Library in a Box project, to bring book collections to other rural communities such as Mezcala, San Juan, and the mission in San Pablo. "It’s to whet their appetite, to entice them so they keep coming back," she explains. "And it seems to work."

The Guadalajara metropolitan area, of course, is home to the Feria Internacional del Libro, the largest Spanish language book fair in the world. The FIL, which takes place the final week of November, expects to draw over 500,000 participants from the general public in addition to over 15,000 editorial professionals from around the globe. "Our entire program is designed to create readers, and bring them closer to books," says General Director Macias. "Not just during the week of the fair, but all year round we do activities in Jalisco." For Mexicans who balk at the high prices of new books, Alberto Cervantes says his store provides a cheaper alternative. His used books sell for about one-fourth of the original price, and in downtown Guadalajara alone there are more than 8 stores like his own. "If you have the desire to read, it’s just a question of looking," he says. Libreria Cervantes, located downtown on Avenida Juarez near the ex-Convento de Carmen, isn’t a bad place to start.