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Introduction to American Deaf Culture, by Thomas K. Holcomb (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 386 pp., paperback, $49.99, ISBN-13: 9780199777549)
IN FIFTEEN CHAPTERS comprising 386 pages, the author, Thomas K. Holcomb, presents a comprehensive exploration of American Deaf culture. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the book, includes a summary of the authors credentials, and explains how he strives to portray a balanced perspective of the diverse constituencies of the Deaf community.
Chapter 2 addresses the crux of this book: the definition of culture and how it applies to Deaf people and their community. The author emphasizes the relationship between culture and language, and what he has to say could not be more true for Deaf people and their signed languages. Holcomb delves further into his topic by comparing and contrasting American culture, more specifically, middle-class, white, hearing Americans, with Deaf American culture. This juxtaposition of cultures is beneficial in particular for people familiar with one or the other, as Holcomb shares specific characteristics of American culture, such as individualism and independence, which are in stark contrast to Deaf American culture, with its emphasis on collectivism and interdependence.
The third chapter explores demographic data, deaf people's backgrounds and experiences, membership in the community, and labels used to describe Deaf and hearing people, including the disability label, which is often erroneously attributed to Deaf people and their culture; it closes with a proposal to describe Deaf people and Deaf culture as a linguistic minority. Chapter 4 focuses on the journey of cultural awareness, which comprises several stages on the way to achieving a positive sense of self and Deaf identity. Chapters 5 and 6 explore early definitions of Deaf culture and current attempts to reffame it as the Deaf experience based on values stemming from a visual orientation.
Chapter 7 focuses on American Sign Language (ASL), clarifying misconceptions and presenting linguistic information about focal ASL vocabulary, which is strongly associated with cultural values. For instance, ASL has only one sign for music, song, sing, and concert-yet more than a dozen signs for different types of deaf and hearing people. Bilingualism and the history of ASL are briefly touched upon, including prescriptive and descriptive perspectives of the language.
Literature and the arts, pivotal areas of...