Forbidden Signs : American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language

Forbidden Signs Explores American Culture From The Mid-nineteenth Century To 1920 Through The Lens Of One Striking Episode: The Campaign Led By Alexander Graham Bell And Other Prominent Americans To Suppress The Use Of Sign Language Among Deaf People. The Metaphors And Images Used To Describe The Deaf - Outsiders; Beings Of Silence, Innocence, And Mystery; Users Of A Language Alternately Seen As Ancient And Noble Or Primitive And Animal-like - Offer A Unique Perspective For Examining American Thought And Culture. The Debate Over Sign Language Invoked Such Fundamental Questions As What Distinguished Americans From Non-americans, Civilized People From Savages, Humans From Animals, Men From Women, The Natural From The Unnatural, And The Normal From The Abnormal. An Advocate Of The Return To Sign Language, Baynton Finds That Although The Grounds Of The Debate Have Shifted, Educators Still Base Decisions On Many Of The Same Metaphors And Images That Led To The Misguided Efforts To Eradicate Sign Language. Ending With A Discussion Of Recent Changes In The Images Of Deafness And Sign Language And A Critique Of The Current State Of Deaf Education, Forbidden Signs Will Benefit Historians And Those Interested In The Study Of Gesture And Human Movement, Disability, Sign Language, And The American Deaf Community. 1. Foreigners In Their Own Land: Community -- 2. Savages And Deaf Mutes: Species And Race -- 3. Without Voices: Gender -- 4. From Refinement To Efficiency: Culture -- 5. The Natural Language Of Signs: Nature -- 6. The Unnatural Language Of Signs: Normality -- Epilogue: The Trap Of Paternalism. Douglas C. Baynton. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 164-215) And Index. Forbidden Signs explores American culture from the mid-nineteenth century to 1920 through the lens of one striking episode: the campaign led by Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans to suppress the use of sign language among deaf people. The metaphors and images used to describe the deaf - outsiders; beings of silence, innocence, and mystery; users of a language alternately seen as ancient and noble or primitive and animal-like - offer a unique perspective for examining American thought and culture. The debate over sign language invoked such fundamental questions as what distinguished Americans from non-Americans, civilized people from "savages," humans from animals, men from women, the natural from the unnatural, and the normal from the abnormal. An advocate of the return to sign language, Baynton finds that although the grounds of the debate have shifted, educators still base decisions on many of the same metaphors and images that led to the misguided efforts to eradicate sign language. Ending with a discussion of recent changes in the images of deafness and sign language and a critique of the current state of deaf education, Forbidden Signs will benefit historians and those interested in the study of gesture and human movement, disability, sign language, and the American deaf community NL-ZmNBD Forbidden Signs explores American culture from the mid-nineteenth century to 1920 through the lens of one striking episode: the campaign led by Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans to suppress the use of sign language among deaf people. The ensuing debate over sign language invoked such fundamental questions as what distinguished Americans from non-Americans, civilized people from "savages," humans from animals, men from women, the natural from the unnatural, and the normal from the abnormal. An advocate of the return to sign language, Baynton found that although the grounds of the debate have shifted, educators still base decisions on many of the same metaphors and images that led to the misguided efforts to eradicate sign language. "Baynton's brilliant and detailed history, Forbidden Signs, reminds us that debates over the use of dialects or languages are really the linguistic tip of a mostly submerged argument about power, social control, nationalism, who has the right to speak and who has the right to control modes of speech."--Lennard J. Davis, The Nation "Forbidden Signs is replete with good things."--Hugh Kenner, New York Times Book Review Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) Introduction (page 1) ONE Foreigners in Their Own Land: Community (page 15) TWO Savages and Deaf Mutes: Species and Race (page 36) THREE Without Voices: Gender (page 56) FOUR From Refinement to Efficiency: Culture (page 83) FIVE The Natural Language of Signs: Nature (page 108) SIX The Unnatural Language of Signs: Normality (page 132) Epilogue: The Trap of Paternalism (page 149) Notes (page 164) Index (page 217) This text explores American culture from the mid 19th-century to 1920 through the perspective of one episode: the campaign led by Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans to suppress the use of sign language among deaf people. The meaning of deafness changed during the course of the nineteenth century for educators of the deaf, and the kind of education deaf people received changed along with it.