Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Oct 1, 2005
Born-deaf, sign-language-using people have for the past two centuries been placed within a succes... more Born-deaf, sign-language-using people have for the past two centuries been placed within a succession of externally constructed models, notably the traditional ''medical'' or pathological model. This perceives them primarily as biologically deficient beings in need of cures or charity in order to be successfully assimilated into society. This paper proposes that the concept of colonialism is the one that most appropriately describes the ''existential'' reality of deaf communities, and offers instead a deaf-constructed model. Utilizing recent confirmation of the existence of bona-fide feaf cultures, it highlights the extent to which these communities have resisted such models, maintaining their own beliefs concerning their validity and quality of their existence, and what they offer to non-deaf societies. This ''vulnerability as strength'' is manifested through the concept of deafhood, which is presented as the first move towards a formal narrative of decolonizing and liberatory possibilities.
In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry... more In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry as a whole can be approached, and a proposal for the way we can measure Dorothy Miles’ achievement and legacy. Attempting such a ‘fullness’ is necessary because there are a significant number of dimensions involved, and because several of these extend the boundaries of what we know about poetry and art. It is also necessary because many non-Deaf people still think of Deaf people in reductionist or diminutive terms, and may therefore fail to notice those dimensions which are features of Deaf community, culture and art which inform the works. Other crucial dimensions include the unique ways in which sign poetry straddles four other artistic ‘concepts’: the folk arts of Western and non-Western societies, performed song, song poetry, and Western poetry itself. For reasons of space these will only be mentioned at relevant points in the text, rather than elaborated on here. Once all of these dimensions are understood, future readers/viewers can then address Miles’ work to evaluate the extent to which it manifests the features outlined, and how those features might be used to enhance the aesthetic appreciation of her work begun in this book.
by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is writt... more by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is written, alas, without sight of the first round of responses-a shame, since this discussion is intended to be linear I assume rather than circular, but deadlines are deadlines. The style I used is compatible with interactive programs. I am going to use simple straightforward language so people who wish to can participate by filtering it through their Academic Importance Program to add the five-syllable words so loved by university males everywhere. But more on that later. Space does not allow sufficient detail here, so I welcome all responses that will insist on more data. It is my sincere hope that this topic will run and run as a permanent section of Sign Language Studies. Internet has too limited an audience, and we need the permanence of print for this critical debate. One of the most exciting prospects is that the debate will itself reveal, quite unconsciously, some Deaf cultural values. Since some of us seem to stand accused of participating in the Deaf Club's bingo night instead of sipping sherry upstairs with the Management Council, I thought it appropriate to call the numbers for a while. Join me and see if anyone can win. Undoubtedly, Graham has done us all a favor by sticking his neck out to raise these questions. One of the most important achievements is to bring material from the "new" discussions in anthropology etc. into our field. I was gobsmacked to read in the last Signpost that applied linguistics conferences were a new experience for Sign researchers. It is clear that once again people involved in the Deaf world are well behind the radicals of other fields. Explanations can be easily found, but it is still depressing. Throughout this paper I will myself add suggestions of other radical fields that we could usefully explore. Let me begin with the places where I agree with Graham in relation to his critique of Padden and Kyle (assuming that his representation of them is accurate). I find it curious that the ultimate Bingo map, Trager and Hall's awesome creation, as built on by Stokoe, is exempt from this criticism. Perhaps it is because it has 100 numbers instead of the requisite 90 of bingo! The idea that there is a unitary American Deaf Culture is undoubtedly problematic. My own year's experience in the US convinced me that
Parallels in status of British Sign Language (BSL) and West Indian Creole (WIC) in Britain reflec... more Parallels in status of British Sign Language (BSL) and West Indian Creole (WIC) in Britain reflect popular attitudes towards the groups that use these two non-standard languages. Also similar are the social circumstances leading to pidginization and creolization: slaves from one language area in Africa were forcibly dispersed in the West Indies, and deaf children in schools were far from where their home signs were understood. Paired examples of utterances in each show the structural similarity of BSL and WIC. These several parallels have pertinent educational and cultural implications.
S eve ral sc h olar s have asked what are the relations between two recently developed concepts, ... more S eve ral sc h olar s have asked what are the relations between two recently developed concepts, Deaf ethnicity and Deafhood. The emergence of these concepts, along with others such as "audism" (Humphries 1977), "dysconscious audism," "Sign Language Peoples," and "Deaf Gain" reflects important attempts by Deaf communities and their allies to redefine Deaf peoples, their cultures, and their languages. As part of the same process, starting in the 1990s, older concepts such as "People of the Eye," have been presented anew, and externally generated concepts such as postcolonialism have been brought to bear. Similar processes of redefining identity can be found among other minority groups, such as African Americans, women, gays and lesbians and disabled people, all of whom have felt the need to escape the reductionist lens of definitions created by oppressors, developing instead conceptualizations that assist with the liberation of their communities. "Deaf ethnicity" and "Deafhood" are two such conceptualizations. We start by explaining "Deaf ethnicity" and "Deafhood," and then we address their relations.
In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry... more In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry as a whole can be approached, and a proposal for the way we can measure Dorothy Miles’ achievement and legacy. Attempting such a ‘fullness’ is necessary because there are a significant number of dimensions involved, and because several of these extend the boundaries of what we know about poetry and art. It is also necessary because many non-Deaf people still think of Deaf people in reductionist or diminutive terms, and may therefore fail to notice those dimensions which are features of Deaf community, culture and art which inform the works. Other crucial dimensions include the unique ways in which sign poetry straddles four other artistic ‘concepts’: the folk arts of Western and non-Western societies, performed song, song poetry, and Western poetry itself. For reasons of space these will only be mentioned at relevant points in the text, rather than elaborated on here. Once all of these dimensions are understood, future readers/viewers can then address Miles’ work to evaluate the extent to which it manifests the features outlined, and how those features might be used to enhance the aesthetic appreciation of her work begun in this book.
by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is writt... more by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is written, alas, without sight of the first round of responses-a shame, since this discussion is intended to be linear I assume rather than circular, but deadlines are deadlines. The style I used is compatible with interactive programs. I am going to use simple straightforward language so people who wish to can participate by filtering it through their Academic Importance Program to add the five-syllable words so loved by university males everywhere. But more on that later. Space does not allow sufficient detail here, so I welcome all responses that will insist on more data. It is my sincere hope that this topic will run and run as a permanent section of Sign Language Studies. Internet has too limited an audience, and we need the permanence of print for this critical debate. One of the most exciting prospects is that the debate will itself reveal, quite unconsciously, some Deaf cultural values. Since some of us seem to stand accused of participating in the Deaf Club's bingo night instead of sipping sherry upstairs with the Management Council, I thought it appropriate to call the numbers for a while. Join me and see if anyone can win. Undoubtedly, Graham has done us all a favor by sticking his neck out to raise these questions. One of the most important achievements is to bring material from the "new" discussions in anthropology etc. into our field. I was gobsmacked to read in the last Signpost that applied linguistics conferences were a new experience for Sign researchers. It is clear that once again people involved in the Deaf world are well behind the radicals of other fields. Explanations can be easily found, but it is still depressing. Throughout this paper I will myself add suggestions of other radical fields that we could usefully explore. Let me begin with the places where I agree with Graham in relation to his critique of Padden and Kyle (assuming that his representation of them is accurate). I find it curious that the ultimate Bingo map, Trager and Hall's awesome creation, as built on by Stokoe, is exempt from this criticism. Perhaps it is because it has 100 numbers instead of the requisite 90 of bingo! The idea that there is a unitary American Deaf Culture is undoubtedly problematic. My own year's experience in the US convinced me that
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Oct 1, 2005
Born-deaf, sign-language-using people have for the past two centuries been placed within a succes... more Born-deaf, sign-language-using people have for the past two centuries been placed within a succession of externally constructed models, notably the traditional ''medical'' or pathological model. This perceives them primarily as biologically deficient beings in need of cures or charity in order to be successfully assimilated into society. This paper proposes that the concept of colonialism is the one that most appropriately describes the ''existential'' reality of deaf communities, and offers instead a deaf-constructed model. Utilizing recent confirmation of the existence of bona-fide feaf cultures, it highlights the extent to which these communities have resisted such models, maintaining their own beliefs concerning their validity and quality of their existence, and what they offer to non-deaf societies. This ''vulnerability as strength'' is manifested through the concept of deafhood, which is presented as the first move towards a formal narrative of decolonizing and liberatory possibilities.
In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry... more In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry as a whole can be approached, and a proposal for the way we can measure Dorothy Miles’ achievement and legacy. Attempting such a ‘fullness’ is necessary because there are a significant number of dimensions involved, and because several of these extend the boundaries of what we know about poetry and art. It is also necessary because many non-Deaf people still think of Deaf people in reductionist or diminutive terms, and may therefore fail to notice those dimensions which are features of Deaf community, culture and art which inform the works. Other crucial dimensions include the unique ways in which sign poetry straddles four other artistic ‘concepts’: the folk arts of Western and non-Western societies, performed song, song poetry, and Western poetry itself. For reasons of space these will only be mentioned at relevant points in the text, rather than elaborated on here. Once all of these dimensions are understood, future readers/viewers can then address Miles’ work to evaluate the extent to which it manifests the features outlined, and how those features might be used to enhance the aesthetic appreciation of her work begun in this book.
by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is writt... more by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is written, alas, without sight of the first round of responses-a shame, since this discussion is intended to be linear I assume rather than circular, but deadlines are deadlines. The style I used is compatible with interactive programs. I am going to use simple straightforward language so people who wish to can participate by filtering it through their Academic Importance Program to add the five-syllable words so loved by university males everywhere. But more on that later. Space does not allow sufficient detail here, so I welcome all responses that will insist on more data. It is my sincere hope that this topic will run and run as a permanent section of Sign Language Studies. Internet has too limited an audience, and we need the permanence of print for this critical debate. One of the most exciting prospects is that the debate will itself reveal, quite unconsciously, some Deaf cultural values. Since some of us seem to stand accused of participating in the Deaf Club's bingo night instead of sipping sherry upstairs with the Management Council, I thought it appropriate to call the numbers for a while. Join me and see if anyone can win. Undoubtedly, Graham has done us all a favor by sticking his neck out to raise these questions. One of the most important achievements is to bring material from the "new" discussions in anthropology etc. into our field. I was gobsmacked to read in the last Signpost that applied linguistics conferences were a new experience for Sign researchers. It is clear that once again people involved in the Deaf world are well behind the radicals of other fields. Explanations can be easily found, but it is still depressing. Throughout this paper I will myself add suggestions of other radical fields that we could usefully explore. Let me begin with the places where I agree with Graham in relation to his critique of Padden and Kyle (assuming that his representation of them is accurate). I find it curious that the ultimate Bingo map, Trager and Hall's awesome creation, as built on by Stokoe, is exempt from this criticism. Perhaps it is because it has 100 numbers instead of the requisite 90 of bingo! The idea that there is a unitary American Deaf Culture is undoubtedly problematic. My own year's experience in the US convinced me that
Parallels in status of British Sign Language (BSL) and West Indian Creole (WIC) in Britain reflec... more Parallels in status of British Sign Language (BSL) and West Indian Creole (WIC) in Britain reflect popular attitudes towards the groups that use these two non-standard languages. Also similar are the social circumstances leading to pidginization and creolization: slaves from one language area in Africa were forcibly dispersed in the West Indies, and deaf children in schools were far from where their home signs were understood. Paired examples of utterances in each show the structural similarity of BSL and WIC. These several parallels have pertinent educational and cultural implications.
S eve ral sc h olar s have asked what are the relations between two recently developed concepts, ... more S eve ral sc h olar s have asked what are the relations between two recently developed concepts, Deaf ethnicity and Deafhood. The emergence of these concepts, along with others such as "audism" (Humphries 1977), "dysconscious audism," "Sign Language Peoples," and "Deaf Gain" reflects important attempts by Deaf communities and their allies to redefine Deaf peoples, their cultures, and their languages. As part of the same process, starting in the 1990s, older concepts such as "People of the Eye," have been presented anew, and externally generated concepts such as postcolonialism have been brought to bear. Similar processes of redefining identity can be found among other minority groups, such as African Americans, women, gays and lesbians and disabled people, all of whom have felt the need to escape the reductionist lens of definitions created by oppressors, developing instead conceptualizations that assist with the liberation of their communities. "Deaf ethnicity" and "Deafhood" are two such conceptualizations. We start by explaining "Deaf ethnicity" and "Deafhood," and then we address their relations.
In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry... more In this chapter I begin to sketch an outline of a full, formal framework within which sign poetry as a whole can be approached, and a proposal for the way we can measure Dorothy Miles’ achievement and legacy. Attempting such a ‘fullness’ is necessary because there are a significant number of dimensions involved, and because several of these extend the boundaries of what we know about poetry and art. It is also necessary because many non-Deaf people still think of Deaf people in reductionist or diminutive terms, and may therefore fail to notice those dimensions which are features of Deaf community, culture and art which inform the works. Other crucial dimensions include the unique ways in which sign poetry straddles four other artistic ‘concepts’: the folk arts of Western and non-Western societies, performed song, song poetry, and Western poetry itself. For reasons of space these will only be mentioned at relevant points in the text, rather than elaborated on here. Once all of these dimensions are understood, future readers/viewers can then address Miles’ work to evaluate the extent to which it manifests the features outlined, and how those features might be used to enhance the aesthetic appreciation of her work begun in this book.
by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is writt... more by Paddy Ladd The bingo master's breakout This response to Graham Turner's paper is written, alas, without sight of the first round of responses-a shame, since this discussion is intended to be linear I assume rather than circular, but deadlines are deadlines. The style I used is compatible with interactive programs. I am going to use simple straightforward language so people who wish to can participate by filtering it through their Academic Importance Program to add the five-syllable words so loved by university males everywhere. But more on that later. Space does not allow sufficient detail here, so I welcome all responses that will insist on more data. It is my sincere hope that this topic will run and run as a permanent section of Sign Language Studies. Internet has too limited an audience, and we need the permanence of print for this critical debate. One of the most exciting prospects is that the debate will itself reveal, quite unconsciously, some Deaf cultural values. Since some of us seem to stand accused of participating in the Deaf Club's bingo night instead of sipping sherry upstairs with the Management Council, I thought it appropriate to call the numbers for a while. Join me and see if anyone can win. Undoubtedly, Graham has done us all a favor by sticking his neck out to raise these questions. One of the most important achievements is to bring material from the "new" discussions in anthropology etc. into our field. I was gobsmacked to read in the last Signpost that applied linguistics conferences were a new experience for Sign researchers. It is clear that once again people involved in the Deaf world are well behind the radicals of other fields. Explanations can be easily found, but it is still depressing. Throughout this paper I will myself add suggestions of other radical fields that we could usefully explore. Let me begin with the places where I agree with Graham in relation to his critique of Padden and Kyle (assuming that his representation of them is accurate). I find it curious that the ultimate Bingo map, Trager and Hall's awesome creation, as built on by Stokoe, is exempt from this criticism. Perhaps it is because it has 100 numbers instead of the requisite 90 of bingo! The idea that there is a unitary American Deaf Culture is undoubtedly problematic. My own year's experience in the US convinced me that
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