Deaf Subjects: Between Identities and Places

Brenda Jo Brueggemann

Open Access Published by New York University Press 2009

Deaf Subjects

Between Identities and Places

Brenda Jo Brueggemann

Volume 12 in the series Cultural Front

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814799666.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this probing exploration of what it means to be deaf, Brenda Brueggemann goes beyond any simple notion of identity politics to explore the very nature of identity itself. Looking at a variety of cultural texts, she brings her fascination with borders and between-places to expose and enrich our understanding of how deafness embodies itself in the world, in the visual, and in language.
Taking on the creation of the modern deaf subject, Brueggemann ranges from the intersections of gender and deafness in the work of photographers Mary and Frances Allen at the turn of the last century, to the state of the field of Deaf Studies at the beginning of our new century. She explores the power and potential of American Sign Language—wedged, as she sees it, between letter-bound language and visual ways of learning—and argues for a rhetorical approach and digital future for ASL literature.
The narration of deaf lives through writing becomes a pivot around which to imagine how digital media and documentary can be used to convey deaf life stories. Finally, she expands our notion of diversity within the deaf identity itself, takes on the complex relationship between deaf and hearing people, and offers compelling illustrations of the intertwined, and sometimes knotted, nature of individual and collective identities within Deaf culture.

Author / Editor information

Brueggemann Brenda Jo :

Brenda Jo Brueggemann is Professor of English and Disability Studies at The Ohio State University where she coordinates the Disability Studies program and serves as a Faculty Leader for the American Sign Language Program. She has authored, edited, or co-edited seven books.

Reviews

Lennard Davis,author of Obsession: A History:
At times serious, funny, irreverent, and always thoughtful, this is the most challenging book yet written about deafnesschallenging in making us think better and in breaking new ground. Clearly a must-read.

Anne Ruggles Gere,University of Michigan:
Both rhetoric and disability studies are enhanced by Brueggemanns juxtapositions in Deaf Subjects by, for instance, using rhetorical theory to illuminate the performative dimensions of American Sign Language and the Nazi T-4 project. Fascinating and essential reading for students and scholars in both fields.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction The Deaf Subject Places Herself Open Access Download PDF	1
1. Between: A Commonplace Book for the Modern Deaf Subject Open Access Download PDF	9
2. American Sign Language and the Academy The Little Language That Could Open Access Download PDF	25
3. Approaching American Sign Language Literature Rhetorically and Digitally Open Access Download PDF	38
4. Narrating Deaf Lives Placing Deaf Autobiography, Biography, and Documentary Open Access Download PDF	72
5. Deaf Eyes The Allen Sisters’ Pictorial Photography, 1885–1920 Open Access Download PDF	98
6. Posting Mabel Open Access Download PDF	117
7. Economics, Euthanasia, Eugenics Rhetorical Commonplaces of Disability in the Nazi T-4 Program Open Access Download PDF	141
Notes Open Access Download PDF	163
Works Cited Open Access Download PDF	179
Index Open Access Download PDF	191
About the Author Open Access Download PDF	203

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 30 black and white illustrations
Keywords: beyond; Brenda; Brueggeman; deaf; exploration; explore; goes; identity; itself; means; nature; notion; politics; probing; simple; this; very; what

eBook

Published: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780814739006