The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry by Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, Ulf Hedberg
Tags: Psychology, Clinical Psychology
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There have also been several international congresses devoted in part to the Deaf arts. There are lithographs, oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, pen-and-ink drawings, neon sculptures, photography, and animated films. These works capture aspects of the lives of Deaf people. The renunciation of sign language, formally approved at the 1880 Milan congress, is a recurrent theme, as are the experiences of American Deaf schoolchildren brought up under that regime, where only spoken language was allowed. Many canvases celebrate sign language and Deaf culture. The flourishing study of signed languages in the last few decades and the associated empowerment of Deaf people, have fostered a particularly prolific period in the Deaf arts.71
HISTORY
Scholars agree: "Without memory there can be no ethnicity."72 History is so central to ethnicity that the British House of Lords, in a study of ethnic underrepresentation in government, declared that an ethnic group has two core properties: a cultural tradition of its own, and an awareness of a long shared history that it keeps alive and that distinguishes it from other groups.73 As members of an ethnic group, our history places us on a time line: looking back at past generations, we have a heightened sense of our identity; "the past is a resource used by groups in the collective quest for meaning and community."74 Looking forward, future generations will know our history, which then grants us a measure of immortality.75 The striking parallels with the role of kinship-our ancestors are our past, our descendants our future-suggests that claims of history and of kinship are alternative ways of building ethnic solidarity and giving it timelessness. Indeed, sociologist Anthony Smith points out that some ethnic groups have heroes in their history who are tied to the group only by exemplifying shared values and not by genealogy.76
The history of an ethnic group, a product of the group's culture, is quite different from a scholarly account. An ethnic history is not judged by how accurate it is but rather by how well it organizes experience in the light of cultural values and by its emotive power.77 From this perspective, Deaf history and, more broadly, Deaf Studies are important resources in defining and redefining Deaf ethnicity. Cultural claims, icons, and imagery are used by activists in ethnic mobilization. For example, the official meaning of the 1880 Congress of Milan has long been the renunciation of sign language and the affirmation of the mainstream oral language. However, the Deaf-World in the United States as elsewhere has appropriated that event for ethnic mobilization; it became a symbol-not merely of a particular congress stacked against the Deaf and their language, but of the power imbalance between hearing and Deaf people more generally.
The American Deaf-World has a rich history recounted in stories, books, films, and the like. It has its legends, heroes, and important sites. Earlier we recounted the legend of the abbe de 1'Epee (how he came to establish the first Deaf schools). Another legend of beginnings concerns the gathering of Deaf people in early America, precipitated by the founding of the first permanent school for the Deaf. The legend begins:
In the spring of 1814, a young minister named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was home in Hartford, Connecticut, recuperating from an illness. One day he observed his younger brother playing with the neighbor's children, including the eight-year-old Alice CogswellD. She had become deaf at the age of two owing to German measles, and had not heard or spoken since then. Gallaudet went over to her. He showed her his hat and wrote the letters H-A-T on the ground. He pointed from the hat to the written word. AliceD responded eagerly, seeming to understand that the letters represented the hat.78
AliceD's plight was symbolic of the plight of countless Deaf Americans. Without hearing, she lived apart from hearing people; without sign, she lived
HISTORY
Scholars agree: "Without memory there can be no ethnicity."72 History is so central to ethnicity that the British House of Lords, in a study of ethnic underrepresentation in government, declared that an ethnic group has two core properties: a cultural tradition of its own, and an awareness of a long shared history that it keeps alive and that distinguishes it from other groups.73 As members of an ethnic group, our history places us on a time line: looking back at past generations, we have a heightened sense of our identity; "the past is a resource used by groups in the collective quest for meaning and community."74 Looking forward, future generations will know our history, which then grants us a measure of immortality.75 The striking parallels with the role of kinship-our ancestors are our past, our descendants our future-suggests that claims of history and of kinship are alternative ways of building ethnic solidarity and giving it timelessness. Indeed, sociologist Anthony Smith points out that some ethnic groups have heroes in their history who are tied to the group only by exemplifying shared values and not by genealogy.76
The history of an ethnic group, a product of the group's culture, is quite different from a scholarly account. An ethnic history is not judged by how accurate it is but rather by how well it organizes experience in the light of cultural values and by its emotive power.77 From this perspective, Deaf history and, more broadly, Deaf Studies are important resources in defining and redefining Deaf ethnicity. Cultural claims, icons, and imagery are used by activists in ethnic mobilization. For example, the official meaning of the 1880 Congress of Milan has long been the renunciation of sign language and the affirmation of the mainstream oral language. However, the Deaf-World in the United States as elsewhere has appropriated that event for ethnic mobilization; it became a symbol-not merely of a particular congress stacked against the Deaf and their language, but of the power imbalance between hearing and Deaf people more generally.
The American Deaf-World has a rich history recounted in stories, books, films, and the like. It has its legends, heroes, and important sites. Earlier we recounted the legend of the abbe de 1'Epee (how he came to establish the first Deaf schools). Another legend of beginnings concerns the gathering of Deaf people in early America, precipitated by the founding of the first permanent school for the Deaf. The legend begins:
In the spring of 1814, a young minister named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was home in Hartford, Connecticut, recuperating from an illness. One day he observed his younger brother playing with the neighbor's children, including the eight-year-old Alice CogswellD. She had become deaf at the age of two owing to German measles, and had not heard or spoken since then. Gallaudet went over to her. He showed her his hat and wrote the letters H-A-T on the ground. He pointed from the hat to the written word. AliceD responded eagerly, seeming to understand that the letters represented the hat.78
AliceD's plight was symbolic of the plight of countless Deaf Americans. Without hearing, she lived apart from hearing people; without sign, she lived
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