Narrative, Identity, and Theory
in
Deaf Studies
Ben Bahan
H-Dirksen Bauman
Department of ASL & Deaf Studies
September 14, 2005
Goals
 To gain a greater understanding of
d/Deaf lives
 To explore the relationships between
critical theory, cultural studies and Deaf
studies
 Expand the parameters of Deaf Studies
Exploring Theoretical Lenses
 Deaf Studies Think Tank. July 5-7,
2002
 Sponsored by National Endowment for
the Humanities Focus Grant 2002
Deaf Studies Think Tank:
Topics Covered
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Ethnic Studies
Critical Gender Studies
Disability Studies
Literature, Rhetoric and Art
Place and Borderlands
Literacy and Pedagogy
Participants
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Ben Bahan
Dirksen Bauman
Doug Baynton
Frank Bechter
MJ Bienvenu
Lennard Davis
Lindsay Dunn
Jane Fernandes
Larry Fleischer
Genie Gertz
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Bob Hoffmeister
Tom Humphries
Arlene B. Kelly
Marlon Kuntze
Paddy Ladd
Harlan Lane
Carolyn McCaskill
Joseph Murray
Carol Padden
Sightings:
Explorations in Deaf Studies
Edited by H-Dirksen L. Bauman,
University of Minnesota Press,
forthcoming.
Deaf Lives:
Under Construction . . . .
Weaving Together
Narrative, Identity and Theory
“We construct our identity at the same
time as we tell our life-story” (15)
-Madan Sarup
Methodology
 Life Story Interviews
 Indexing
 Work in progress
Informant Demographics
 22 Life Story Interviewees to date
 Hearing status
 72% deaf
 14 % hard of hearing
 14% deafened in early childhood
Informant Demographics
 Gender
 54 % male
 46 % female
 Nationality
 77% US born
 23% foreign born
Informant Demographics
 Race/Ethnicity
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68% Caucasian
14% African or African American
4.5% Native American
4.5% Asian
4.5% Latina
4.5% Middle Eastern
Informant Demographics
 Informants who have attended one or
more of the following:
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63.5% residential school
36.4% mainstream school
50% oral school/program
22.7% day school
9% non-traditional schooling
Informant Demographics
 Post-Secondary Educational
Background
 68% graduated from college
 23% no college
 9% some college
Informant Demographics
 Family background
 73% hearing family
 27% deaf family
 Parents’ Communication Method
 55% parents do not sign
 27% parents sign
 18% parents sign some (i.e. fingerspell and basic
sign)
Weaving Together
Narrative, Identity and Theory
 Postmodern Deaf Identity Politics
 Identities as stable and fixed or dynamic
and evolving?
 Essentialized Deaf Identity?
Deaf “I’s”
 Narrator/Self
 Autobiographical “I”
 Ideological “I”
Recurring Pattern
 Construction
 Deconstruction
 Reconstruction
Constructing Deaf Lives
 Herded by Ideological Sheep Dogs
 Foundational Stories:
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Building the “I”
Mislabeled
Attempted cures through medicine & religion
“Speech is more important than hearing because
nobody listens anyway.”
 Analysis: Being “unhomed” (Homi Bhaba)
Deconstructing Deaf Lives
 Transitional Stories
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The “I” becomes “S”
Realization of ideological control
Journey toward a Deaf Space
Following Visual Ways of Being
“Wake Up”
“Find myself”
Reconstructing Deaf Lives
 “S” blends with other “I’s”
 Passing on to the next generation
 Deeper involvement with education / activism
 From being “unhomed” to being “at home” in
the world
Patterns and Themes
 Deaf identities, like all identities are not fixed
and permanent, but dynamic and evolving
 Issues of finding other identities
 Power of communication ideologies on deaf
lives (ideology of communication vs. need for
communication)
 Deaf lives v. Deaf Culture Rhetoric
 Survivorship
Constructing Deaf Theory
Above all Deaf lives magnify….
The Human Will to Communicate
Future Directions
 Never ending stories
 New identities, new challenges from
biomedical advances
 Shifting communication technologies
and ideologies.
Thanks
 Gallaudet Research Institute
 National Endowment for the Humanities
Focus Grant
 On-going study, Deaf Studies MA
program