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In Celebration of Deafhood
Sara Louise Wheeler
Sociology 2014 48: 838
DOI: 10.1177/0038038514532573

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What is This?
532573
research-article2014
SOC0010.1177/0038038514532573SociologyBook Review Essay

Book Review Essay

Sociology
2014, Vol. 48(4) 838–844
In Celebration of Deafhood © The Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0038038514532573
soc.sagepub.com

Sara Louise Wheeler

University of Liverpool, UK

Gaurav Mathur and Donna Jo Napoli (eds)

Deaf around the World: The Impact of Language
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, £27.50 pbk (ISBN: 9780199732531), 416 pp.

Harlan Lane, Richard C Pillard and Ulf Hedberg

The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, £34.99 (ISBN: 9780199759293), 296 pp.

Cynthia B Roy (ed.)

Discourse in Signed Languages
Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2011, $85 (ISBN: 978153685118), 240 pp.

The past few decades have seen a dramatic reconceptualisation of d/Deaf 1 people world-
wide, including: attitudes towards the nature, status and importance of sign languages;
theories underpinning Deaf education; and the realisation of a collective culture and
sense of identity. For many scholars this paradigm shift constitutes an ‘ethnic awakening’
amongst the newly recognised Deaf community. In this vein, Deaf scholar and activist
Paddy Ladd developed the term ‘Deafhood’ to describe the process by which Deaf indi-
viduals come to actualise their Deaf identity, explaining that the medical term ‘deafness’
is unsatisfactory due to its focus on the wider predicament of hearing impairment, at the
expense of the existential collective experiences of those who are culturally Deaf.
In his seminal work, Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood (2003),
Ladd uses the metaphor of a museum of ‘Deafness’, whose main hall is filled with totems
of historical oppressive practices inflicted upon Deaf people, whilst visions of the future
are depicted through models of invasive operations and genetic engineering to remove
the ‘genetic mutations of deafness’. At the back of the hall is a room marked ‘Deaf
Culture’, containing beautiful artwork depicting communities across the world experi-
encing joy in their collective existence and defiant pride in their beautifully varied sign
languages and rich culture (Ladd, 2003).

Corresponding author:
Sara Louise Wheeler, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building (Room 1.96), Bedford Street
South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK.
Email: s.wheeler@glyndwr.ac.uk

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Book Review Essay 839

As a researcher with a personal connection to the Deaf community, including just

such a ‘genetic mutation’, I found this metaphor very appealing and felt it was a useful
backdrop within which to frame a review of three books that continue this conceptualisa-
tion, mapping the beauty and diversity of Deaf culture throughout the globe, adding their
own colourful paintings, tapestries and sculptures to Ladd’s metaphorical ‘Deaf culture
gallery’.

Deaf around the World: The Impact of Language

Editors Gaurav Mathur and Donna Jo Napoli present a collection of work in the field of
Deaf studies, stating that, whilst the collection is multidisciplinary in scope, the language
throughout is accessible and that the volume provides a forum for the exchange of ideas
between academics and activists, thus reaching a wide audience. This was an ambitious
brief, nevertheless I feel they pretty much achieved it – although one or two contribu-
tions were so specialised that, as a multidisciplinary researcher with an interest in Deaf
studies, I still found them a little challenging; however this book certainly contains
something for everyone. Structured as 12 chapters, each consisting of a paper and a
‘response’, contributions are further compartmentalised into two parts: Part I is entitled
‘Sign languages: creation, context, form’, whilst Part II is entitled ‘Social issues/Civil
rights’. I felt this division was slightly artificial and unnecessary since these themes were
present throughout and intrinsically linked.
The editors open the volume with an introduction which concisely locates the field
of enquiry, including notes on terminology, historical backdrop and the importance of
the research contained within. The baton is then passed to Carol A Padden who provides
a clear and interesting insight into ‘Sign Language Geography’, highlighting the intrica-
cies of such a mapping exercise, including the notions of ‘language family’ and ‘genetic
relationships’, and the plethora of social conditions influencing their evolution and
transmission. In his response, James Woodward highlights different approaches to the
classification of languages into language families, problematising some of the work in
this field and analysing how these issues can be rectified. I was immensely impressed
by this author’s ability to convey complex research methodologies in such an accessible
manner.
In the next chapter editor Gaurav Mathur teams up with Christian Rathmann and Paul
G Dudis, who handles the response, to explore sign language morphology and syntax.
There are some interesting discussions here about aspects of morphology unique to
signed languages through their location in gestural space; however, this is quite a techni-
cal chapter and my lack of expertise in the field somewhat limited my comprehension.
Chapter 3 is also quite technical, although well explained by both contributors; Deborah
Chen Pichler presents research on handshape error in first-time signers of American Sign
Language (ASL) and I found her discussions about language learning in unfamiliar
modalities and potential for a ‘sign accent’ intriguing. I did, however, find myself scrib-
bling on the side of the page where she explains terminology, thus a glossary would have
been useful. Russell S Rosen provides a clever and useful response, placing Pichler’s
work within the broader context of second language acquisition (SLA), emphasising the
need for research on language as a whole.

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840 Sociology 48(4)

Ann Senghas and Marie Coppola discuss how common gestures become linguistic
elements, with meaning and linguistic function changing over time. They then focus on
one particular gesture, ‘the point’, within Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), demonstrat-
ing how it moved from a universal, locative meaning, to a more symbolic, nominal func-
tion. The context is the exciting emergence of NSL itself, as educational institutions
unwittingly provided the necessary community contact for previously isolated home-
signers to create a single common system of signed communication. The response format
works brilliantly here as Roland Pfau discusses the findings, placing them in the wider
cultural, linguistic and gestural context – which makes for enjoyable reading.
Sandra K Wood explores the degree of competency homesigners can achieve when
they acquire sign language late, drawing on her empirical research on Brazilian Libras.
She elegantly introduces key concepts and is very clear that the implications of her find-
ings reveal late language mastery is achievable if appropriate care is given to providing
support and high-quality input. Cyril Courtin’s response explores the issue from the per-
spective of language in cognitive development and ‘Theory of Mind’, concluding that
more research into aspects of cognition is needed.
Angela M Nonaka introduces us to the relatively new Ban Khor Sign Language
(BKSL) of rural Thailand, focusing on interrogatives; this is then placed in the wider
context of Village Sign Languages in a commentary by Ulrike Zashan, who highlights
the importance of documenting such endangered languages and comments that studying
these will help answer deep philosophical questions about human language. I look for-
ward to reading more from these authors in the future.
Editor Donna Jo Napoli and Rachel Sutton-Spence examine the arguments surround-
ing the idea that sign languages may have preceded spoken languages, drawing on their
previous work on human singularities demonstrated in sign language creativity, includ-
ing humorous stories in British Sign Language (BSL) to illustrate their points. Adam
Kendon provides a nicely analytical response, in which he suggests that the ‘either or’
dilemma, regarding which modality of language came first, is partly shaped by the
monomodalic notions which emanate from language in its written form. He concludes by
proposing a third perception, envisaging the origin of language as having been most
probably multimodal.
Amy Wilson and Nickson Kakiri adopt the pleasant first person format to describe
their experiences of working with Deaf communities in developing countries, conclud-
ing that future work must be conducted within a comprehensive social framework, focus-
ing on the empowerment of Deaf people. In response, Yerker Andersson draws on his
personal experiences of working on deafness and development internationally, and also
on reports of foreign aid activities, making comparisons over time to enrich the readers’
general understanding of the issues raised by Wilson and Kakiri.
Leila Monaghan and Deborah Karp discuss HIV/AIDS in the United States Deaf
community context; using the intriguing format of their ongoing conversation, they con-
vey the complexities surrounding HIV/AIDS and the Deaf community, citing a lack of
ASL-accessible services and failure to deliver information regarding the disease as
underlying problems of the Deaf community being ignored with regards to the epidemic.
Following the same format, authors John Meletse and Ruth Morgan convey their conver-
sation in South African Sign Language (SASL), mirroring the concerns regarding the

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Book Review Essay 841

lack of access to proper health information and consequent misinformation, even amongst
some outreach workers.
Karen Nakamura problematises ideas of coherent national sign languages, in the con-
text of Japanese Sign Language – Nihon Shuwa, explaining debates regarding the coin-
ing of contemporary terms and fragmentation resulting from the ensuing struggle for
control by various groups in Japan. Soya Mori responds with a discussion about stand-
ardisation and hegemony, making the point that in the presence of the traditional, single
authority of the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, smaller entities have emerged with
some power; this he explains is ‘pluralization’, distinct from ‘plurality’ which merely
describes a static situation of several entities in place.
Jun Hui Yang conveys positive changes in social situations and educational opportu-
nities for Deaf children in China, offering fascinating insights into conceptualisations
and context, from interpretation of written Chinese to international collaboration in
developing Deaf education. Whilst Madan M Vasishta begins his response saying there
are many similarities between China and India with regards to Deaf education, the situ-
ation he presents is somewhat bleaker in terms of school attendance rates and educational
opportunities; strikingly, whilst the importance of Deaf teachers as role models is recog-
nised in China, Deaf people are still not allowed to teach in India.
The final chapter offers fascinating insights into actual processes of educating Deaf
children, including helping them to build a sense of Deaf identity by ‘demystifying the
wall’. Paul Scott draws on his experiences of working with Deaf children in the UK,
sharing illustrations and techniques which help Deaf children to recognise and normalise
aspects of their lives emanating from being Deaf in specifically Hearing situations.
Donna West’s response draws on ethnographic research she undertook with Deaf educa-
tors and children. Her work complements Scott’s as she shares delightful vignettes, dem-
onstrating how Deaf children experience this education, gaining pride in their heritage
through learning Deaf history. A second response is provided by Paddy Ladd, who mas-
terfully sets Scott’s work in the wider context of Deaf pedagogies, highlighting the pau-
city of texts in this field and closing the volume with a summary of the main findings
from his forthcoming book on the topic.
Biographies of all contributors are provided and this is very useful. However, a glos-
sary for the volume, or else for each chapter, would also have been useful. Other minor
quibbles include the fact that some of the diagrams were baffling or else simply badly
drawn. Also, unfortunately, many of the photographs used were small and too blurred or
grainy to be decipherable – although this might have been a result of technical matters
such as paper quality and thus not observable by authors prior to publication. Finally, this
is an extremely valuable publication which certainly delivers a global perspective on
Deafhood and is indeed, as the editors say, ‘a whirlwind tour’ (p. 15).

The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry

This is a slim and powerful volume, representing a decade of research by the authors,
which draws on multidisciplinary sources to make the case that Americans whose pri-
mary language is American Sign Language (ASL) are an unrecognised ethnic group,
within the otherwise multi-ethnic recognising United States. The book is divided into

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842 Sociology 48(4)

five parts, with the first part being devoted to examining the appropriateness of the con-
cept of ethnicity with regards to ‘Deaf-world’ (Deaf culture as expressed in ASL).
The authors begin by presenting a fascinating examination of culturally cohesive
forces, replete with ‘Deaf-world’ examples and illuminating discussions, such as those
on ‘ethnocentrism’ and management of language by Deaf bilinguals. Next there is an
exploration of ethnic boundaries which demonstrates the context-specific and fluid nature
of the concept. Chapter 3, ‘Yes, But’, is an excellent way to conclude Part I by consider-
ing countervailing arguments to the concept of Deaf ethnicity and appropriate responses;
this provides a valuable and accessible resource on the central, complex debates.
The next three parts of the volume address what the authors feel is the central issue of
Deaf ethnicity – ancestry. Here we are treated to the results of the tracing research con-
ducted by the authors into ‘Deaf-world ancestry’, mapping the Deaf enclaves of Henniker,
New Hampshire, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and Southern and Northern Maine.
Historical context and personal histories of founding families are presented and issues
such as genetic transmission are discussed; readers can access further information regard-
ing pedigrees via the accompanying website. Part V provides a summary and reflections,
which include some useful information regarding contemporary debates.
Many central and contentious issues are boldly tackled in this volume, which is
thought provoking, analytical and an excellent reference point for anyone engaging in
this field. Whilst some aspects of the book appear to have been openly challenged and
criticised, its impact in terms of eliciting debate is irrefutable. The title is a nice doff of
the hat to George Veditz’s legendary speech, and this is a most enjoyable text; I live in
hope that a UK version is on its way!

Discourse in Signed Languages

This volume is structured as four parts, with two papers in each (except for Part IV). In
the introduction, editor Cynthia B Roy unpicks the concept of discourse in its various
guises, explaining that all contributions in this volume focus on language, specifically
signed languages, as they are used in the conceptualisation of meaning in everyday lives,
rather than as abstract systems.
Part I focuses on ‘depiction in discourse’ and is opened by Paul Dudis, who discusses
use made of the body and space in depictions in ASL, including some helpful notes on
terminology and definitions used. Mary Thumann follows, exploring the importance of
constructed action and constructed dialogue (CACD) in ASL presentations. These papers
sit nicely together as Dudis discusses relevant theory and literature, whilst Thumann
draws on data from commercially produced videos.
Part II is concerned with ‘cohesion in discourse’ and begins with Jack Hoza’s fascinat-
ing discussion of the multiple functions of ‘HEY’ and ‘WELL’ signs in ASL, which is well
explained and nicely illustrated with good, clear photographs and has an appendix on the
glossing conventions referred to in the text. Laurie Swabey then discusses referring expres-
sions in ASL and English, drawing on narrative retelling data and using the ‘Givenness
hierarchy’ as a theoretical framework to examine distribution of forms in both languages.
Part III presents two clearly written and interesting papers under the rubric of ‘coher-
ence in discourse’. Christopher Stone draws together theories regarding ‘register’ in

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Book Review Essay 843

English, and existing comparable work on BSL, to identify useful tools for the study of
context-specific linguistic outcome in BSL, and demonstrates multilayered analysis of
his empirical data. Daniel Roush follows with an exploration of ‘The conduit metaphor’
in English, its applicability to ASL, and potential challenges for translation – including
some interesting points about the blanching of imagery from ASL to English. Both chap-
ters make appropriate use of excellent diagrams and tables.
Part IV was by far my favourite contribution from all three texts and I enviously pored
over Jeffrey E Davis’ account of his ethnographic fieldwork, spanning two decades,
working with North American Indian communities, documenting, preserving and study-
ing their traditional and contemporary varieties of indigenous sign languages, collec-
tively known as American Indian Sign Language (AISL). My particular highlights
include: the ‘signed lingua franca’ used by the culturally and linguistically distinct Native
American groups – Hearing and Deaf members alike; the Navajo (Diné) clan reminiscent
of the Martha’s Vineyard community; the interesting observations on sign language
acquisition in industrialised societies in contrast with indigenous societies; and reflec-
tions on whether documented cases of AISL constitute one language with a variety of
dialects, or a variety of distinct languages. This chapter is a real treat, within an excel-
lently presented collection of studies on a diversity of topics.

Concluding Comments
At a time when ‘deafness’ is very much in the spotlight with regards to ‘cures’ and treat-
ments through cochlear implants and stem cell research, it is imperative that we remind
ourselves of the distinction between the variety of audiological conditions encapsulated
by this label, and the cultural position of ‘Deafhood’, which is not. For many hearing
impaired and deaf people, such breakthroughs in science and technology promise the
welcome restoration of their diminished audiological abilities, enabling them to partici-
pate fully in ‘Hearing’ culture and community. Meanwhile, the Deaf community has
raised concerns regarding the ethics of performing unnecessary surgery on healthy babies
who are not in a position to consider its implications or give their consent; additionally,
the eradication of ‘deafness’ in this manner may lead to the systematic extinction of sign
languages and Deaf culture, or ‘ethnocide’, as discussed by the authors of The People of
the Eye (p. 167).
Each of these books makes a unique contribution to this important debate, by directly
engaging with it or by demonstrating the beauty and power of this under-recognised, little
understood and nevertheless magnificent collection of cultures, languages and communi-
ties worldwide. However, viewing these texts together, one is struck by the resilience
already demonstrated by Deaf people in that their culture and languages have already
endured much prejudice and persecution, yet are flourishing and evolving worldwide. As a
collection therefore, these texts showcase the world’s sign languages and their associated
arts, cultures and heritage, demonstrating that Deafhood is to be celebrated and enjoyed.

Note
1. A lower case ‘d’ is used to refer to the audiological condition, whilst a capital ‘D’ is used when
referring to the Deaf community and people who culturally identify as ‘Deaf’; this is in keep-
ing with other ethnic groups, for example the use of a capital ‘W’ for Welsh (Baker, 2010).

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844 Sociology 48(4)

References
Baker C (2010) Sign language and the deaf community. In: Fishman AJ and Garcia O (eds)
Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 153–71.
Ladd P (2003) Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.

Sara Louise Wheeler is a Research Assistant at the Health and Community Care Research Unit
(HaCCRU), University of Liverpool. She is currently working on a project about ‘Habilitation’
(mobility and independent living skills) training for children and young people with vision impair-
ment. Sara is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Health, Medical Sciences and
Society, Glyndŵr University, Wrecsam. Whilst Sara is herself ‘h/Hearing’, her interest in Deaf
studies research stems from the hereditary deafness in her family caused by Waardenburg syn-
drome. Sara is also from the Welsh-speaking community in North Wales and her current research
interests include exploring the navigation of multiple-minority space and plural identity by Deaf
individuals who are from minority communities within their family contexts. Sara’s future plans
include obtaining funding to conduct an ethnographic study of Deaf Welsh identity, including the
perspectives of Deafhearing, Welsh-speaking families such as her own.

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