jillio

Dartmouth News > News Releases > 2008 > April > Screen | Print Preview


Mellon New Directions Fellowship awarded to Dartmouth professor
Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 04/11/08 • Media Contact: Susan Knapp • (603) 646-3661


Larry Polansky (photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
Larry Polansky, the Jacob H. Strauss Professor in Music, has been awarded a New Directions Fellowship by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support his emerging interest in American Sign Language (ASL) poetry and performance. This type of award, according to the Mellon Foundation, is for advanced training in pursuit of a specific research agenda outside the recipient's own discipline, and as a long-term investment in his intellectual range and productivity.

As a musician and a composer, Polansky has always been fascinated by the relationship between sound and meaning. "While music may be said to be sound without meaning, ASL is the opposite, meaning without sound," he says.

Polansky will use the award from Mellon to immerse himself in ASL training to become a more proficient signer. He will merge that skill with his profession to explore Deaf poetry and Deaf performance art. In his proposal, he states that he will research ASL poetry and integrate ASL arts and performance into his teaching at Dartmouth.

"It might sound unconventional, but I think it makes sense to examine ASL poetry in terms of rhythm and formal structure, not just semantics, and bring my musical expertise to the consideration of ASL poetry and performance."

Polansky began taking ASL courses and involving himself with signing culture about five years ago, simply because it intrigued him. As he learned ASL and as he connected with more signers, his interests deepened. He hopes his research will contribute to the nascent body of work examining ASL poetry, which until now, according to Polansky, has mostly dealt with a literary examination of this beautiful art form. His research will be a part of the next level of scholarly work, taking a look at the poetry from a musical perspective.

Dartmouth News - Mellon New Directions Fellowship awarded to Dartmouth professor - 04/11/08

Deafness

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deafbajagal

Cool!

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"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." ~Quote by William Arthur Ward

shel90

ASL poetry or art is beautiful and I am sure this man will enjoy it.

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~Shel~

jillio

And I think its great that a hearing professor gives it the credibility it deserves.

deafskeptic

Oh yes. I much prefer it to English poetry.

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Left ear implanted with Med-El on April 24 2007.
Activated on May 9th.