The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry (4 page)

Americans in the Deaf-World do indeed feel a strong identification with that world and show great loyalty to it. There are numerous reasons for such solidarity. No doubt the feeling of belonging is reinforced by the shared experience of being Deaf in a world dominated by hearing people. Moreover, the Deaf-World is a surrogate family; it offers many ASL signers (those with hearing parents) what they often could not find at home: a positive identity, a language model to emulate, easy communication, and lives they can imagine leading. Sign language is the vehicle for much of Deaf people's knowledge of life and the world; no wonder they are bonded to the language and the Deaf-World. That bonding may lead Deaf people to protectively withhold from hearing people information about Deaf language and culture. KannapellD writes:

ASL is the only thing we have that belongs to Deaf people completely. It is the only thing that has grown out of the Deaf group. Maybe we are afraid to share our language with hearing people. Maybe our group identity will disappear once hearing people know ASL. Also, will hearing people dominate Deaf people more than before if they learn ASL?31

Finding it contrary to ethnic solidarity, many ethnic groups have reservations about individual achievement.32 Deaf stories frequently propound loyalty and the elite are cautioned that when they excel in hearing society they must not forget their roots in the Deaf-World. Success in the hearing world should be achieved using ASL technologies and interpreters and should preserve social ties among Deaf people. It should not be achieved by favoring oral language over sign or by isolating oneself among hearing people.33 Deaf people who try to pass as hearing are disparaged: Where is their Deaf pride?

In a further expression of the value placed on solidarity, Deaf people commonly believe, as do members of many ethnic groups, that one should marry within one's minority. Historically, Deaf marry Deaf approximately nine times out of ten, and when they marry a hearing person, it is often one with Deaf parents or relatives and thus familiar with the Deaf-World and its language 34 The Deaf-World collectively values Deaf children highly and takes an almost parental interest in the welfare of Deaf children unrelated to them. Deaf adults in rural areas, for example, will drive great distances to see Deaf children when invited, especially if the children might otherwise lack such contact. Interpreting and intercultural communication expert Anna Mindess makes the case that American Deaf culture is among the many world cultures that are collectivist-so-called because individuals formulate and pursue their goals in terms of their collective.35

CULTURAL RULES AND VALUES

The patrimony that one generation of an ethnic group passes to the next includes language, which we have discussed above, and cultural rules and values to which we turn now.36 Sign-language minorities, like ethnic minorities worldwide, encounter prejudice and discrimination in the host society. Ethnic communities, threatened by marginalization, find reaffirmation of their values and way of life in their cultures. Perhaps for these reasons cultural loyalty is the bedrock value of the Deaf-World.

Pride in one's cultural heritage and efforts to maintain and enhance traditions not only add meaning to ethnic members' daily lives, and contribute to defining their identity, but also aid in combating stigma.37 Central to that patrimony are the unique values of the ethnic group, starting with the value of being a member of the group. Members of the Deaf-World - like members of most ethnic groups we daresay-are generally quite content about their identity and have no wish to change it, although they are aware of the inconveniences or worse of membership in a minority and in particular their minority.

Values, like the value of being Deaf, underlie cultural rules of behavior. The rules of a culture and the rules of its language have this in common: In both cases, it is difficult for us, as members of the culture and speakers of its language, to state the rules in a systematic way, yet we are quite promptly aware when a rule has been broken. Thus we clearly know the rules in some sense-we have cultural competence as well as linguistic competence. And just as all languages must have rules for certain basic functions, such as identifying in the sentence who did what to whom, so, too, all cultures must have rules for such universal functions as relating to the group, gaining status, making decisions that affect the group and so forth. Cultural rules are not always honored any more than linguistic rules are. Such rules tell what you must know as a member of a particular cultural and linguistic group, but what one actually does or says depends on a host of intervening factors, including other rules that have priority. When we make claims about Deaf culture in the following, we are making claims about the underlying rules, about cultural knowledge. Although members' behavior will tend to honor the rules, there can be many exceptions depending on the situation and the people involved. Moreover, culture is not static but variable; Deaf culture changes as social forces change, among them language and education policy. In this discussion of Deaf culture, we are focused on the last half century but Parts II and later report on early American Deaf people.

The reader should not expect too much that is exotic in Deaf-World rules and values.38 As with recognized ethnic minorities, the DeafWorld absorbs some of the dominant ethnicity that surrounds it. Moreover, as sociolinguist Joshua Fishman points out, cultural properties at earlier stages of social development tend to fall away with increasing acceptance, leaving a smaller set of behaviors, values, and beliefs to define ethnicity.39

There are of course many more rules in Deaf culture and many more provisos about their operation than we list here. We have sought to provide enough information for the reader to assess the similarities and differences of Deaf culture with those of recognized ethnic groups. As with many ethnic groups, the Deaf-World has received only modest attention from sociologists and cultural anthropologists. The rules we are about to state are best viewed as hypotheses, subject to revision, about the cultural grammar that all native members of the culture have internalized.40

Managing language

Most English-speaking Americans take their language and culture for granted, but ASL signers do not. Rather, in this regard, they are similar to the French, who reify their language and culture and take measures to preserve their cultural patrimony. Members of the Deaf-World create organizations, events, and archives to foster the transmission of Deaf language and culture and they resist inroads by other languages and cultures. There are rules in Deaf culture for when and with whom to use ASL and when to use English-marked varieties of the language.41 In everyday conversations among Deaf people, signing that is heavily influenced by English is disparaged (unless used to rhetorical effect). Invented signing systems, which originated with educators and not the Deaf-World, are also disparaged. Deaf people may speak English when communicating with hearing people but in Deaf culture, using an oral language is not considered appropriate.42 Language use is governed by politeness rules, such as those for taking turns in a conversation, for speaking frankly and for speaking tactfully, for sharing information, for greeting, and for leaving.43

Gaining status

Heroes in ASL folktales and stories serve as models and are admirable because they help Deaf people. Likewise, the ideal Deaf person in America today serves on Deaf committees, acts as chairperson for Deaf events, hosts social affairs, contributes to the local Deaf-World pool of resources by devoting labor and time, and may help other Deaf people secure employment.44 Affirming one's individual achievement breaks the rule of cultural solidarity. Horatio Alger stories that recount individual triumphs over obstacles are unlike Deaf success stories. The model Deaf person presents his or her achievements as those of the local Deaf community, and is respected for crediting the contributions of other members.

Naming rituals

The giving and receiving of a name is an important event in Deaf culture. The following are the norms, from which individual cases may depart. Deaf children from hearing homes frequently arrive at school without a name in sign language. As their mastery of ASL and their acculturation proceeds, they receive a name, and that sign becomes their name for all except administrative purposes. The giving of a name sign is a rite of passage into the Deaf-World. Frequently the honor of conferring a name falls to a Deaf authority figure or a Deaf peer with Deaf parents. Hearing people who learn ASL and mingle with the Deaf will be given a name sign as well. Deaf parents will often choose for all their children a name sign at a single location where signs in ASL occur-for example, on the chin. The handshape they place there is the fingerspelled first letter of the child's first name. What if the names of two or more of their children start with the same letter? Then handshape is held constant and the location changes. In conversation, name signs are used only to refer to a third person who is not present.45

Decision-making

Consensus is the rule, not individual initiative. Deaf people characteristically caucus to decide a course of action and the interests of the Deaf-World are paramount. There may be diverse views, and votes are often taken but disagreements are normally resolved first. Making a decision for the group without its full participation breaks the rule. In making a decision, testimony from other Deaf people-especially eyewitness testimony-carries great weight, scientific findings less so.

Managing social relations-introductions

When two Deaf people meet, they position themselves in relation to Deaf culture. As we saw earlier, they say at the outset what schools they attended, what Deaf relatives and friends they share. Everyone in the Deaf-World is connected to every one else, if only by mutual friends, so the trick is to find the connection. Deaf peers and friends hug on meeting and on separating. It seems to us that they hug more often and hug a wider range of people than do their hearing counterparts. Remaining aloof, failing to hug, giving priority to individuating information (such as profession) rather than cultural information all break the rules for introductions. Although Americans are rather informal compared, say, with the French or Japanese, Deaf Americans seem even more informal. Lifelong friendships in Deaf culture are the norm.

Pooling resources

When a Deaf person incurs a debt to another Deaf person, what is received and paid back is generally not money but work or a commitment of time. Although there is this one-on-one reciprocity in Deaf culture, there is also group reciprocity. A Deaf person donates information, favors, or work to one or more Deaf people or activities and then, when he or she is in need, Deaf people-not necessarily the same ones who benefited directly-will reciprocate. Thus A will help B move and C will fix A's car. Deaf people have a sense, without record keeping, of who has contributed a lot and who too little. Paddy LaddD describes this reciprocity in U.K. Deaf clubs, and calls it "Deaf-gelt."46 Anthropologist Theresa Smith calls it "indirectly reciprocal," and Deaf educator, Marie PhilipD, calls it "reciprocity."47

Constructing discourse

Ethnographers study the discourse of ethnic groups to learn their rhetorical strategies (such as narration, cause-effect analysis, argumentation) to shed light on the beliefs and worldview that underlie them. For this precis of ASL discourse we draw heavily on Theresa Smith's work. ASL discourse is narrative. The core perspective is personal, that of a participant rather than an observer. ASL discourse favors providing context. It normally goes from specifics, which provide context, to the general conclusion; from the beginning to the end in narrating a series of events, since prior events contextualize later ones. ASL discourse is holistic and focuses on relationships between people. Texts reflect and move through various settings and perspectives but the focus of Deaf discourse is broad, the meaning is in the larger whole. Smith contrasts ASL discourse with mainstream American English discourse on some two dozen traits.

In quoting other people, the narrator frequently assumes their roles in the story: sophisticated reasoning requires the ability to take the perspective of others. In doing this, the narrator exploits the possibilities of using space in ASL. We saw a Deaf comedian tell the story of an overweight customer, a flirtatious waitress, and an uncooperative hamburger at a McDonald's. First the narrator took the role, and hence the position and demeanor, of the customer placing an order, then those of the waitress writing it down, those of the cook preparing it, those of the waitress delivering it, and those of the customer again, now getting ready to devour an oversize hamburger. Then the narrator shifts his torso toward the hamburger's position (rotating, leaning down, and looking up at the customer) and pleads for mercy. A rapid return puts him in the role of the startled but implacably hungry customer. In the ensuing dialog between burger ("Don't eat me!") and customer, the narrator needs only to shift eye-gaze up or down and turn his head slightly to indicate who is talking, the hamburger or the customer. The Deaf audience has to observe where in space the narrator has placed the signs for waitress, customer, and hamburger; it must keep a mental image of the scene in order to interpret who is speaking to whom. The audience also has to transform spatial relations with each successive shift in narrative roles, all the while processing the grammar and meanings of the sentences. The Deaf narrator is like a movie director, shifting perspectives, moving in and out. This is true in virtually all stories, not just in entertainment.

Teaching in Deaf discourse is primarily conducted by modeling or telling stories, rather than by explanation or direction. To argue a point, Deaf people commonly relate their personal experiences as a specific illustration. These experiences are more convincing than abstract evidence because their narration includes the needed context and has the authenticity arising from a firsthand observer. Such storytelling also affirms shared experience and bonding. Minimizing the importance of personal testimony breaks the rule. English-based rhetorical structures break the rules. (Some storytelling genres are sketched below under language arts.)