Kannapell’s 1993 Paper Revisited
Hi All,
This blog entry is to follow up with Ann_C’s i.Reflections blog entry that was posted today. Ann_C used one of the commenters’ comment from my blog discussing about the published papers by Dr. Jane K. Fernandes and Dr. Shirley Shultz Myers.
Hope this isn’t getting too long, but I want to share one story. Twenty years ago almost to the day, I attended a deaf culture workshop at Gallaudet. A famous Deaf presenter showed a pyramid of the hierarchy of Deaf culture, with ASL-using Deaf of Deaf at the top, then deaf of hearing who use ASL, then oral deaf, and then hearing. The Deaf of Deaf at the top, of course, are the most valued by the Deaf community because they are presumed to transmit Deaf cultural values from one generation to the next.
Another pyramid showed the hierarchy of hearing people, with hearing at the top, then oral deaf who speak and hear pretty well, then signing deaf who speak somewhat but don’t hear, and last, deaf who don’t sign or speak. At the time, I accepted that information as God’s honest truth. But now, I’m rethinking that whole concept. Deaf of Deaf on top — says who? Says them. I never even questioned it! Now, especially after working in the field for 20+ years, and seeing the diversity of deaf people, I have lots of questions. And I see those Deaf of Deaf people on the vlogs every day, and I have to wonder if they are really representing *my* best interests, or if they are more interested in preserving their positions of authority at the top of the hierarchy.
The presentation was from Dr. Barbara Kannapell in early 1990’s.
I wanted to give you an opportunity to revisit the paper done by Dr. Barbara Kannapell. Dr. Kannapell is one of the earliest scholars focusing on the area of Deaf Studies. Kannapell earned a doctorate degree in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University in 1985. Kannapell’s dissertation title was “Language Choice Reflects Identity Choice: A Sociolinguistic Study of Deaf College Students”
I consider Kannapell as one of the most important pioneers in Deaf Studies.
In 1993, Dr. Kannapell wrote a paper, “The Power Structure in the Deaf Community” that was published in Deaf Studies III: Bridging Cultures in the 21st Century, Conference Proceedings (Washington, DC: College of Continuing Education, Gallaudet University, 1993).
My thoughts about this paper:
This paper was very controversial at that time, and some people think this paper can cause division within the Deaf Community. Remember, it was in 1993, and it was 16 years ago.
A lot of things had happened within 16 years, and several factors may cause significant changes within our Deaf community which are different educational opportunities, access to early intervention programs, general acceptance of American Sign Language as a bona-fide language, and technological advances provided for Deaf people.
Right now, we need to let go of so-called hierarchy within our Deaf community, and allow us work together to focus on the value of American Sign Language as signing community.
This paper, “Power Structure In The Deaf Community” is published on Seattle Central Community College’s website. The link is here. Please go to this website to read the whole paper.
Here are the excerpts:
To work together successfully at the political level in the American mainstream society, we first need to understand ourselves in relation to the power structure in society and in the Deaf community.
Who has more power in the Deaf community: native ASL users or signed English users? Deaf adults with Deaf parents or hearing parents? Deaf people from mainstream schools or Deaf schools? Those who choose to use speech or those who don’t choose to use speech? Born-deaf or deafened people?
I propose that there are two hierarchies of status and power in the Deaf community. One hierarchy represents status in the community of hearing people from the educators’ point of view; the other hierarchy represents status in and access to the Deaf community. The second hierarchy is the direct opposite of the first one.
The hierarchy to get into the Deaf community is quite the opposite of the hierarchy to get into the hearing community. To be successful in the Deaf community, you must know ASL and Deaf culture and have experiences of growing up in Deaf School.
Deaf people in America face a competition between two languages and two cultures. Once we understand why this happens in the Deaf community, we begin to break away from old definitions of ourselves. If we succeed, we experience a paradigm shift.
To understand Deaf people as an oppressed group, we must look at the historical development of the dominant paradigm used to define Deaf people. Once conscious of our oppression, we can redefine ourselves and shift to an alternate paradigm.
The understanding of the hierarchies of status and social identity and the dynamics of power and oppression gives Deaf people tools for self-understanding and community building. With a clearer and stronger sense of their individual and community identity, they can go far in empowering other Deaf people. They can take control of the education of Deaf children and create a system that eliminates the ambivalence and power struggle between the two hierarchies. That’s why it is very important to place the study of the power structure in the Deaf community in Deaf Studies programs.
Amy Cohen Efron here:
I understood about hierarchies of status and social identity, and my question is what kind of tools that will help for community building?
Talking about taking control of the education of Deaf children, is one of the tools?
That is going to be very difficult because…
Many schools are struggling to recruit highly qualified Deaf teachers and administrators, and the job market are very competitive for a Deaf person. Some Deaf people did not want to become educators, and they want to become entrepreneurs (i.e. VRS industry). The pool of qualified Deaf teachers and administrators are shrinking and the population of Deaf children are very different compared to Deaf children in 1970’s and 1980’s. Current education laws which made difficult for ANY teacher to maintain their certification with so many hoops to jump across throughout their career. Generally, educators are underpaid, under-appreciated and overworked. Job turnover is quite high too.
Then, the tool is to market American Sign Language? Yes. That’s something we, as the Deaf community, can do.
Best,
Amy Cohen Efron
