Inside Deaf culture

Since its publication in 1988, Padden & Humphries's book Deaf in America: Voices from a culture (Harvard University Press) has been an important resource for people studying American Sign Language, Deaf studies, and the linguistics of signed languages. The book sheds light on the Deaf experience and on how American Deaf people construct themselves through stories and language play, including poetry and jokes. It is a positive, at times humorous window into Deaf culture and identity. Harvard University Press has just released the authors' much-anticipated second book, reviewed here. Although it is just as informative, engaging, and well-researched as their first book, Inside Deaf culture examines a much bleaker aspect of Deaf America: its encounter with hearing hegemony.

Padden & Humphries, who are Deaf themselves, write a Deaf State of the Union address, intermixed with history and stories about various individuals. As a starting point for discussion for most of the chapters, they establish context by examining a particular historical event. These historical moments remind readers that the existence of Deaf America and its struggle and resistance against the hegemony of English speakers is long...