Signs and wonders : religious rhetoric and the preservation of sign language / Tracy Ann Morse.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morse, Tracy Ann, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Sign Language--Religious aspects.

American Sign Language.

Church work with deaf people--United States.

Church work with deaf people.

Deaf people--Religious life--United States.

Deaf people.

Deaf people--Religious life.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 156 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press, [2014]

Summary:

Current academic discourse frequently understates the role of religion in the development of the American Deaf community. In this new study, Tracy Ann Morse effects a sharp course correction by tracing the frequent use over time of religious rhetoric by members of the Deaf community to preserve and support sign language. In chapter one, Morse analyzes Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet's use of religious references in his 1817 maiden address at the first American school for deaf students. She examines his and other speeches as examples of the intersection of education for deaf Americans and Protestant missionary efforts to convert them. In the second chapter, she presents the different religious perspectives of the two deaf education camps: manualists argued that sign language was a gift from God, while oralists viewed hand gestures as animal-like, indicative of lower evolutionary development. Chapter three explores the religious rhetoric in churches, sanctuaries where sign language flourished and deaf members formed relationships. In the fourth chapter, Morse shows how deaf activist George Veditz and other master signers in the early 20th century used religious themes in the NAD Film series. She also comments on the impact of the bilingual staging of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which began to change the hearing world's opinion about the value of sign language. Morse concludes with speculation on the shifting terrain for deaf people due to technological innovations that might supplant religious rhetoric as a tool to support the Deaf community. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Intersections of Deafness, Religion, and Rhetoric 9

2 Protestant Ideology and the Arguments for Sign Language in Late Nineteenth-Century Schools for Deaf Children 35

3 Saved by Signs: The Role of the Sanctuary, in the Preservation of Sign Language 66

4 Religious Rhetoric in Deaf Community V Activism and Advocacy 86

5 Conclusion and Implications 130.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781563686016

1563686015

OCLC:

864097603