DEAF HERITAGE IN CANADA
Reviewed by Laurie C.C. Stanley-Blackwell
Canadian Book Review Annual 1996, pp. 358-359 (#4251).
During the past decade in the United States, there has been a remarkable growth of literature that depathologizes deafness and examines its sociocultural implications. Canadian writers are just beginning to explore this distinctive subculture. Until recently, histories of Canadian Deaf culture have consisted largely of florid tributes to the genius of Alexander Graham Bell. This substantial and well-documented volume, sponsored by the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, provides an important corrective.
Based on personal interviews and 10 years of extensive research into primary and secondary sources, and modeled after Jack Gannon's Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America, this book celebrates the courage, vitality, and achievements of Deaf Canadians striving for acceptance and power within mainstream society. In 21 chapters that are replete with photographs, Carbin examines a broad spectrum of topics, including the role of residential schools, religion, law, organizations, sports, visual arts, publishing, business, technology, sign language, and political activism in the lives of 19th- and 20th-century Deaf Canadians. The book is primarily descriptive, offering few interpretive insights into the politics and meaning of Deafness, the daily life experiences of Deaf people, and their struggle against cultural dominance and linguistic imperialism. Nevertheless, Deaf Heritage in Canada is destined to be a classic. It will inform Deaf Canadians, special educators, and social historians, and has laid a firm foundation for more analytical scholarship in this field.