American Sign Language literature
American Sign Language literature is one of the most important shared cultural experiences in the American deaf community. Literary genres initially developed in residential Deaf institutes, such as American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, which is where American Sign Language developed as a language in the early 19th century. There are many genres of ASL literature, such as narratives of personal experience, poetry, cinematographic stories, folktales, translated works, original fiction and stories with handshape constraints. Authors of ASL literature use their body as the text of their work, which is visually read and comprehended by their audience viewers. In the early development of ASL literary genres, the works were generally not analyzed as written texts are, but the increased dissemination of ASL literature on video has led to greater analysis of these genres.
Many cultural communities develop their own folk traditions, and the Deaf community is no exception. Such traditions help to solidify the cultural identity of the group, and help educate each subsequent generation of the community's shared cultural values. Susan Rutherford notes that these types of shared stories are especially important to minority communities who have faced oppression from the majority culture, as the Deaf community has. Through folklore and other forms of storytelling, the Deaf community is able to both establish and affirm its cultural identity so its members are able to develop their sense of self. ASL literature often emphasizes experiences common to the Deaf community, both in regard to their Deaf identity and to their status as a minority group.
Origins and history
Influence of Deaf institutes on ASL literature
American Sign Language is the shared language of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community in North America. Membership to this community is based primarily on shared cultural values, including a shared signed language. Those who are physically deaf or hard of hearing but do not share the same language and cultural values are not considered to be members of the Deaf community. Around 95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who are unfamiliar with the Deaf community, so deaf children are often not exposed to the cultures and traditions of the Deaf community in their home environment. Schools for Deaf children, known as Deaf institutes, are typically the environment in which Deaf children are introduced to their community's culture, including ASL literature.The first such institute, the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, was established in 1817 by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. Since ASD was established as a residential school, the Deaf students who lived there created a new linguistic community as local, regional sign languages from around the country mixed with the French Sign Language taught by Clerc and led to the development of ASL as a language in its own right. The community that formed at ASD was such a successful intellectual community that other Deaf institutes began to open around the country anywhere there was a large enough Deaf population. This allowed the Deaf community to establish its own subculture, separate from the mainstream hearing culture, and develop as a linguistic minority.
The rise in Deaf institutes around the country led to an increased number of educated and literate Deaf individuals. This led to the development of ASL storytelling traditions in Deaf institutes. During the early days of Deaf education, ASL had not yet been recognized as a fully developed language, and therefore was not considered a suitable language modality for literary composition. This resulted in many Deaf individuals writing works in written English, which was the primary language of instruction at the time. At the same time, ASL literary forms were beginning to develop as the Deaf community began to tell each other stories in their own vernacular. This includes works translated from English into ASL as well as original narratives.ASL stories spread across different regions in America when different Deaf institutes gathered for events, such as sports. This process allows budding storytellers to practice their craft in front of new audiences. Following their school years, Deaf community members from different schools may see each other again at Deaf community gatherings, where storytellers may be called on to perform their narratives.
Earliest film recordings of ASL literature
Despite the success of Deaf education during the first part of the 19th century, by the 1860s the education system saw a shift in which the hearing community began to introduce the Oral method of educating Deaf students, which emphasized a speech-only approach to education and did not allow ASL in the classroom. The primary belief at the time is that this would help Deaf individuals integrate into society more easily. In 1880, a conference was held in Milan in which educators made a final decision that speech was to be the primary teaching method in the classroom. From then through the mid-20th century Deaf students would be punished to discourage communication through sign. Despite the suppression of ASL in Deaf education, it was still a common means of communication in dormitories, playgrounds and Deaf families. Following the introduction of the Oral method, the National Association of the Deaf recorded a film project from 1913 through 1920 out of fear that ASL would not survive. George Veditz oversaw the project and recorded the first film,. The project sought to record and preserve the words of Deaf individuals who had a strong sense of Deaf cultural identity. The film recordings included lectures, poems, stories and songs all of which comprise ASL literary genres. One of documented storytellers, John B. Hotchkiss, filmed a series of stories called about his time as a student at ASD in the 1860s. From his recorded memories, we know that ASL storytellers, and therefore at least some modern ASL literary genres, date back to at least the 1860s.Influence of Deaf community on ASL literature
As the Deaf community developed in Deaf institutes, families and clubs, the community's cultural traditions and stories have been passed from one generation to the next through something akin to the "oral" traditions of spoken languages. In this context, "oral" refers to the sharing of culture through interactions with other members of a cultural community. Folklore and narrative traditions are included in the types of cultural interactions that are passed from person to person in the Deaf community. There is also a high value placed on an open exchange of information, since Deaf individuals cannot incidentally overhear information the way that hearing individuals are able to. Therefore, storytellers may be selected for their ability to share knowledge in addition to their storytelling abilities. Individuals who have been approved by the community as performers are who Ben Bahan refers to as "Smooth Signers", which he defines as "someone who as a language artist can weave a story so smoothly that even complex utterances appear simple, yet beautiful". These storytellers provide a sense of community for their Deaf peers and help perpetuate common cultural values.Large gatherings of the Deaf community are common in modern-day Deaf culture, such as conventions or festivals, and they are required for ASL literature to take form. If the Deaf community gathers in small groups, it is very rarely a productive means of creating and perpetuating ASL literature. One example of a successful gathering of the Deaf community was the Deaf Way: An International Festival and Conference on the Language, Culture, and History of Deaf People. It was hosted by Gallaudet University from 9–14 July 1989, included more than 500 presentations, workshops, artistic events and performances, and had over 5,000 attendees from a total of 76 countries, including the United States. Gatherings such as these allow for the proliferation of ASL literature and the "oral" dissemination of new works. Members of the Deaf community often leave the festival and share the new works with their own friends and family, and each shared iteration of a work may differ slightly from the original, which results in multiple versions of stories being passed through the community. It is common for Deaf community members to gather socially in their everyday lives, outside of large festival gatherings, sharing and dispersing their own personal narrative stories and traditional or popular ASL stories.