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Open Your Eyes

Deaf Studies Talking

2007
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H-Dirksen L. Bauman, editor

Open Your Eyes

A landmark work on the history, future, and implications of deaf studies

Moving beyond proving the existence of deaf culture, Open Your Eyes shows how the culture contributes vital insights on issues of identity, language, and power, and, ultimately, challenges our culture’s obsession with normalcy.

Contributors: Benjamin Bahan, Douglas C. Baynton, Frank Bechter, MJ Bienvenu, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Lennard J. Davis, Lindsay Dunn, Lawrence Fleischer, Genie Gertz, Hilde Haualand, Robert Hoffmeister, Tom Humphries, Arlene Blumenthal Kelly, Marlon Kuntze, Paddy Ladd, Harlan Lane, Joseph J. Murray, Carol Padden.

Open Your Eyes is amazingly cohesive in the ways the essays foreshadow and postilluminate (to coin a phrase) issues raised by the others despite the diverse nature of the authors and their essays. Open Your Eyes is a thought-provoking book that Deaf Studies scholars and students should all have in their libraries.

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Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education

This groundbreaking volume introduces readers to the key concepts and debates in deaf studies, offering perspectives on the relevance and richness of deaf ways of being in the world. In Open Your Eyes, leading and emerging scholars, the majority of whom are deaf, consider physical and cultural boundaries of deaf places and probe the complex intersections of deaf identities with gender, sexuality, disability, family, and race. Together, they explore the role of sensory perception in constructing community, redefine literacy in light of signed languages, and delve into the profound medical, social, and political dimensions of the disability label often assigned to deafness.

Moving beyond proving the existence of deaf culture, Open Your Eyes shows how the culture contributes vital insights on issues of identity, language, and power, and, ultimately, challenges our culture’s obsession with normalcy.

Contributors: Benjamin Bahan, Gallaudet U; Douglas C. Baynton, U of Iowa; Frank Bechter, U of Chicago; MJ Bienvenu, Gallaudet U; Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Ohio State U; Lennard J. Davis, U of Illinois, Chicago; Lindsay Dunn, Gallaudet U; Lawrence Fleischer, California State U, Northridge; Genie Gertz, California State U, Northridge; Hilde Haualand, FAFO Institute; Robert Hoffmeister, Boston U; Tom Humphries, U of California, San Diego; Arlene Blumenthal Kelly, Gallaudet U; Marlon Kuntze, U of California, Berkeley; Paddy Ladd, U of Bristol; Harlan Lane, Northeastern U; Joseph J. Murray, U of Iowa; Carol Padden, U of California, San Diego.

Open Your Eyes

H-Dirksen L. Bauman is professor of Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University, where he directs the graduate program. He is coeditor of the DVD and book project Signing the Body Poetic: Essays in American Sign Language Literature, executive editor of Deaf Studies Digital Journal, and executive producer and codirector of the documentary film Audism Unveiled.

Open Your Eyes

Open Your Eyes is amazingly cohesive in the ways the essays foreshadow and postilluminate (to coin a phrase) issues raised by the others despite the diverse nature of the authors and their essays. Open Your Eyes is a thought-provoking book that Deaf Studies scholars and students should all have in their libraries.

—

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education