Deaf Culture Book Report

Thomas K. Holcomb’s book, Introduction to American Deaf Culture, shines a light on the deaf community and the culture they experience. The intended audience, however, is the hearing. It gives the reader insight on deaf experiences and how the atmosphere is different, even though the environment is the same. All aspects of culture are covered. The book starts off with how the culture is formed through the 5 hallmarks (p. 17). Next, the book focuses on the identity of a deaf person. This is not only limited to, labeling from the rest of the world, but also by how the person sees himself. After, the book discusses the core values the deaf community has. These values are much different when compared to the hearing community. They focus on the person engaging as a full member of society. This is done through communication, interacting, and having a sense of self-worth in the community (104-107). Eventually, literature and art are mentioned. The classifications are difficult to place. There are American works, but with the growing awareness in the recent year they have earned their own Deaf category. This is important to the deaf community because it allows “Deaf people’s lives to be better
There are, of course, Deaf people who produce masterpieces in English that would compare to many other great American writers. However, the real fascination lies with the other side of Deaf Literature. This comes from the so-called “oral” tradition of the culture. This term is used to describe ASL literature that is passed down from generation to generation through signing. It’s not that the opportunity to write it wasn’t around, but that in doing so some of the content will be lost in translation. This is because ASL and English are two different languages. In the ASL class, I learned about this difference. However, I did not entirely understand it until reading the book. More specifically the section on ASL autobiographies and