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Conference on deaf culture attracts diverse audience - The Phoenix
Last Friday and Saturday, the linguistics department, in conjunction with the William J. Cooper Foundation, hosted a conference at Swarthmore on deaf culture and issues. The conference, entitled “It’s a Small World),” focused on a variety of topics concerning sign language, social issues and creativity in deaf communities around the world.
“I’m a linguist, and what defines deaf culture more than anything is language, so it is natural for us to want to study it,” professor of linguistics Donna Jo Napoli said.
The conference opened Friday night with a welcome from Vice President Maurice Eldridge ’61, followed by a lecture by Carol Padden, professor of linguistics at University of California San Diego, entitled “Sign Language Geography: Creation and Spread of Sign Language Around the World.” In the lecture, Padden spoke on the state of sign languages in different areas of the world, focusing on countries in the Middle East. Padden analyzed, among other things, select sign languages from Jordan to point out similarities between them and American Sign Language.
“In Middle Eastern countries it is very feasible and very possible to drive three hours and find a completely different sign language, because they live in dangerous places and dangerous times,” Padden said in her lecture. “But I don’t think this would be the case if we were in Paris.” In her talk, Padden indicated that the “danger” she referred to was a function of both what she believed to be limitations in the ability to traverse the geography of the Middle East, and also of political instability in certain parts of the region. With limited ability for visual contact between deaf communities, many unique sign language communities have developed.
The conference continued all day Saturday, offering lectures and panels on not only the linguistics of sign language, but also on social issues with regard to the deaf community. Saturday also featured a creative performance by students from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, as well as a lecture on and performance of British sign language poetry. The presentation included a talk by Rachel Sutton-Spence of the Centre for Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol, U.K., on what deaf poetry is and how it can be best enjoyed. The talk was followed by a demonstration by Paul Scott, one of Britain’s foremost British sign language poets. Both hearing and deaf attendees enjoyed the performance. “I came as part of a class and because we did a lot of work to set up the conference, but I probably would have come anyways since I am really interested in sign language,” linguistics major Katherine Hagan ’09 said. “It was a really beautiful conference, a beautiful celebration of the deaf community.”
Attendees came from all over the world to attend the conference, according to Napoli. “This was a true international conference; we had people from all over,” Napoli said. “We had people from Mongolia and Kenya and China and people from within the United States — people came from everywhere. It was wonderful.” Napoli attributes some of the conference’s international draw to the fact that it is the first conference of its type. According to Napoli, while there have been many other conferences on specific topics affecting the deaf community, there has never been a major conference looking at the entire situation of deaf communities around the world with respect to all aspects of life. “It got activists and scholars talking about things together,” Napoli said. “It was very holistic in a way that most conferences are not.”
The conference was made possible by the sponsorship of the William J. Cooper Foundation, a foundation set up to bring in a variety of lectures, performances and exhibitions that enrich the academic work of Swarthmore.
“The interesting thing about the Foundation, the thing I am so grateful for, is that anything funded by William J. Cooper must be free and open to the public,” Napoli said. “And it is only free things that most deaf people can come to, and for an international conference like this, most people are going to have a very high price tag already.”
Because of language constraints and the dearth of educational opportunities for deaf people, Napoli said that the deaf face especially high expenses. “As a result if you don’t have a free conference, you exclude a lot of people who would have wanted to come,” Napoli said. The college offered to find housing for anyone who needed it for the conference.
These efforts by Napoli and the linguistics department helped the conference to effectively represent the international deaf community. “Being immersed in the deaf culture, in an environment where signing is the norm, was a real culture shock,” conference attendee Joel Lemuel said. Lemuel indicated that he attended the conference more for the cultural aspect of the deaf community than the linguistic structures of sign language. “It was really fascinating, and I actually was jealous. Whenever someone laughed, I wanted to know what they were laughing about. It made me hungry to learn more. I think I’m going to go open a Signing for Dummies book.”
Last Friday and Saturday, the linguistics department, in conjunction with the William J. Cooper Foundation, hosted a conference at Swarthmore on deaf culture and issues. The conference, entitled “It’s a Small World),” focused on a variety of topics concerning sign language, social issues and creativity in deaf communities around the world.
“I’m a linguist, and what defines deaf culture more than anything is language, so it is natural for us to want to study it,” professor of linguistics Donna Jo Napoli said.
The conference opened Friday night with a welcome from Vice President Maurice Eldridge ’61, followed by a lecture by Carol Padden, professor of linguistics at University of California San Diego, entitled “Sign Language Geography: Creation and Spread of Sign Language Around the World.” In the lecture, Padden spoke on the state of sign languages in different areas of the world, focusing on countries in the Middle East. Padden analyzed, among other things, select sign languages from Jordan to point out similarities between them and American Sign Language.
“In Middle Eastern countries it is very feasible and very possible to drive three hours and find a completely different sign language, because they live in dangerous places and dangerous times,” Padden said in her lecture. “But I don’t think this would be the case if we were in Paris.” In her talk, Padden indicated that the “danger” she referred to was a function of both what she believed to be limitations in the ability to traverse the geography of the Middle East, and also of political instability in certain parts of the region. With limited ability for visual contact between deaf communities, many unique sign language communities have developed.
The conference continued all day Saturday, offering lectures and panels on not only the linguistics of sign language, but also on social issues with regard to the deaf community. Saturday also featured a creative performance by students from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, as well as a lecture on and performance of British sign language poetry. The presentation included a talk by Rachel Sutton-Spence of the Centre for Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol, U.K., on what deaf poetry is and how it can be best enjoyed. The talk was followed by a demonstration by Paul Scott, one of Britain’s foremost British sign language poets. Both hearing and deaf attendees enjoyed the performance. “I came as part of a class and because we did a lot of work to set up the conference, but I probably would have come anyways since I am really interested in sign language,” linguistics major Katherine Hagan ’09 said. “It was a really beautiful conference, a beautiful celebration of the deaf community.”
Attendees came from all over the world to attend the conference, according to Napoli. “This was a true international conference; we had people from all over,” Napoli said. “We had people from Mongolia and Kenya and China and people from within the United States — people came from everywhere. It was wonderful.” Napoli attributes some of the conference’s international draw to the fact that it is the first conference of its type. According to Napoli, while there have been many other conferences on specific topics affecting the deaf community, there has never been a major conference looking at the entire situation of deaf communities around the world with respect to all aspects of life. “It got activists and scholars talking about things together,” Napoli said. “It was very holistic in a way that most conferences are not.”
The conference was made possible by the sponsorship of the William J. Cooper Foundation, a foundation set up to bring in a variety of lectures, performances and exhibitions that enrich the academic work of Swarthmore.
“The interesting thing about the Foundation, the thing I am so grateful for, is that anything funded by William J. Cooper must be free and open to the public,” Napoli said. “And it is only free things that most deaf people can come to, and for an international conference like this, most people are going to have a very high price tag already.”
Because of language constraints and the dearth of educational opportunities for deaf people, Napoli said that the deaf face especially high expenses. “As a result if you don’t have a free conference, you exclude a lot of people who would have wanted to come,” Napoli said. The college offered to find housing for anyone who needed it for the conference.
These efforts by Napoli and the linguistics department helped the conference to effectively represent the international deaf community. “Being immersed in the deaf culture, in an environment where signing is the norm, was a real culture shock,” conference attendee Joel Lemuel said. Lemuel indicated that he attended the conference more for the cultural aspect of the deaf community than the linguistic structures of sign language. “It was really fascinating, and I actually was jealous. Whenever someone laughed, I wanted to know what they were laughing about. It made me hungry to learn more. I think I’m going to go open a Signing for Dummies book.”