How Deaf Women Construct Teaching, Language & Culture, and Gender

This ethnographic study looks at how five Deaf women who teach American Sign Language (ASL) come to construct teaching, language & culture, and gender. This study also examines how these five women bridge two cultures, that of the dominant mainstream and of the Deaf, through their teaching ASL & Deaf Culture. These issues were explored through videotaped interviews and participant-observations in their ASL classes. Interviews and observations reveal their unique experiences as Deaf individuals living as daughters, students, mothers, teachers, and partners in social relationships. These roles are both at once similar & dissimilar. Their lived experiences as Deaf women affect how they teach, how they perceive hearing people, and how they understand language, culture, and gender.

Autorentext

Born Deaf in Baltimore to Deaf parents, Arlene B. Kelly has beenteaching at Gallaudet University's Department of ASL and DeafStudies since 1995.Her works have been published, including WOMEN AND DEAFNESS:DOUBLE VISIONS (2006) and OPEN YOUR EYES: DEAF STUDIES TALKING(2008).She lives in western Maryland with her husband Jim and their pets.

Klappentext

This ethnographic study looks at how five Deaf womenwho teach American Sign Language (ASL) come toconstruct teaching, language & culture, and gender. This study also examines how these five women bridgetwo cultures, that of the dominant mainstream and ofthe Deaf, through their teaching ASL & Deaf Culture. These issues were explored through videotapedinterviews and participant-observations in their ASLclasses. Interviews and observations reveal theirunique experiences as Deaf individuals living asdaughters, students, mothers, teachers, and partnersin social relationships. These roles are both atonce similar & dissimilar. Their lived experiencesas Deaf women affect how they teach, how theyperceive hearing people, and how they understandlanguage, culture, and gender.