Carol A. Padden & Tom L. Humphries, Inside Deaf
culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. Pp. 224. Hb
$22.95.
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.