Voice: Deaf People in America

Com/HIP 124 Fall 1997

Tom Humphries
519 Roosevelt
Office hours: T and Th 10-11

This course will study the relationship between small groups and dominant culture in the United States. The small group discussed in this course is the population of Deaf people who have in the past 25 years begun to speak of themselves as a cultural group. Using readings by and about Deaf people, group discussions and invited speakers, the course will explore issues of language, consciousness, culture, self-representation, identity, and social structure. Key issues include theories of culture, language, voice, and social practice.

By exploring the emergence of this one group of people as it speaks about itself as a cultural group and as its language becomes defined and represented in a different light, this class will challenge and clarify critical thinking about how we view groups which are considered "ethnic", "minority", or "cultural" groups.

No knowledge of a signed language nor prior experience with this culture is required.

Assignments:

You will do 2-3 short written assignments during the quarter. Your first assignment is due in class on October 2 and is attached.

Examinations:

You will have a mid-term exam which will cover all readings and class discussion up until that point in the course. You will have a final exam which covers the readings and class discussion for the second half of the course as well as theoretical and critical issues raised by the entire course.

Grading:

Class participation & assignments: 10% Mid-term exam: 45% Final exam: 45%

Required reading:

Two texts: (Available at Groundwork Books)

1. Padden, C, & T. Humphries. Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture. Harvard University Press. l988.

2. Lane, Harlan. The Mask of Benevolence. Alfred A. Knopf. l992

A reader: (Available at QuikPrint, 4150 Regents Park Row, Suite 130, La Jolla, 457-1007):

1. Croce, N. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language. Harvard University Press, l985. pp. 98-105.
2. Van Cleve, J. & B. Crouch. A Place of Their Own. Gallaudet University Press, l989. pp. 106-127.
3. Baynton, D. "The unnatural language of signs: normality", Forbidden Signs. Univrsity of Chicago Press, 1996. pp. 132-148.
4. Sacks, O. Seeing Voices. University of California Press, l989. pp. 38-44.
5. Lane, H. The Deaf Experience. Harvard University Press. l984. pp. 73-80.
6. Perlmutter, D. "The language of the deaf" in New York Review of Books, March 28, l991. pp. 65-72.
7. Markowicz, H. "Myths about American Sign Language" in Lane, H. & F. Grosjean, Recent Perspectives in American Sign Language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, l980. pp. 1-6.
8. Battison, R. "Signs have parts: a simple idea" in Baker, C. & R. Battison, Sign Language and the Deaf Community. National Association of the Deaf. Silver Spring, MD. l980. pp. 35-51.
9. Padden, C. "American Sign Language" in Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness, McGraw-Hill, New York. pp. 43-53.
10. Bellugi, U. "How signs express complex meanings" in Baker, C. & R. Battison, Sign Language and the Deaf Community. National Association of the Deaf. Silver Spring, MD. l980. pp. 53-74.
11. Meier, R. "Language acquisition by deaf children" in American Scientist, Jan.-Feb., l991. Vol. 79, pp. 60-70.
12. The Salk Institute. Research Report, Language Research: New Views of How the Brain Works. The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA. l987.
13. Bragg, B. & E. Bergman. "Act One" in Tales from a Clubroom. Gallaudet University Press. l981. pp. 1-41.
14. Padden, C. "Folk explanation in language survival" in Middleton, D., Collective Remembering. Sage, Los Angeles, CA. l990. pp. 190-202.
15. Veditz, G. "The preservation of the sign language" translation sheet.
16. Graybill, P. "Liberation" and "Memories" translation sheets.
17. Valli, C. "Lonely, Sturdy Tree", "Paradox", "Snowflake" translation sheets.

Topics and class schedule:

Sept. 25 -- Introduction, who we will be studying and why.

Sept. 30 -- What issues are raised by the notion of Deaf people as a cultural group? (Padden & Humphries, Introduction and Chapter 1, Lane, 3-12)

Oct. 2 -- Competing theories about deaf people (Lane, 13-65; Croce; Van Cleve & Crouch)

Oct. 7 -- Further representation of deaf people (Padden and Humphries, Chapter 2; Lane, 69-99)

Oct. 9 -- Social organization of self/other--how is it seen in deaf people/ hearing people92s views of each other? (Padden & Humphries, Chapter 3)

Oct. 14 -- Oppression and discovery of ASL (Baynton; Padden and Humphries, Chapter 5; Lane, 103-125; Veditz translation)

Oct. 16 -- What does it mean to be without language? To have a signed language? (Sacks; Lane, in reader; Perlmutter)

Oct. 21 -- Anatomy of a signed language: ASL (Markowicz; Battison; Padden, in reader)

Oct. 23 -- What is ASL?, continued. (Bellugi)

Oct. 28 -- What does signed language tell us about human language development and the human capacity for language? (Meier; Salk Report)

Oct. 30 -- MID-TERM EXAM

Nov. 4 -- Proximity and parallel lives, survival. (Padden & Humphries, Chapter 4)

Nov. 6 -- Social pressure and oppression, consequences. (Lane, 129-162)

Nov. 11 -- Consequence and change (Lane, 165-185)

Nov. 13 -- Organization of meaning, constructing worlds. (Padden & Humphries, Chapter 6)

Nov. 18 -- Ethnicity and community. (Bragg and Bergman, 3-40)

Nov. 20 -- A new discourse, converging and diverging "folk science". ( Padden, in reader)

Nov. 25 -- Voice and expression: stories and poetry. (ASL poetry translations)

Dec. 2 -- Conflict and social policy. (Lane, 203-238)

Dec. 4 -- Possible lives. (Padden & Humphries, Chapter 7)

Dec. 13 -- FINAL EXAM, Saturday, 11-2:30.