All cultures continue to change and grow. Many Deaf have drawn comparisons between the death of Native American culture and Deaf culture of today. I do not deny the parallels.
Jim's article reminded me of the great whale hunt Native Americans had in Washington state back in 1999. http://jimspoliticalthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/04/accepting-changing-of-deaf-culture-like.html
From the beginning it's been written into the Makah Treaty Rights they could hunt whales off the coast near Neah Bay, Washington. However gray whales fell under protection in the 1920s after they had been hunted to near extinction. The Makah were disallowed their whale hunting rights. In 1999, the Makah fought hard to win back their hunting rights.
As you can see the Makah didn't hunt their whale like they used to in canoes made from carved tree trunks or with bone spears. They used fiberglass canoes with back-up motor boats. They wore Helly Hanson rain gear, and they killed with high-powered metal harpoons. Large round floats kept the whale from diving under or sinking after the first hit. Cell phones helped the Makah to locate and track the whale. The coast guard was dispatched to hover nearby ensuring safety in case someone fell out of a boat.
The Makah left most of their whale carcass rotting on the beach.
You see--- the Makah don't live in huts made with whale bone and skin anymore. They live in heated homes. The Makah don't eat whale blubber. They're used to a steady diet of pepperoni pizza, hamburgers and coke like most Americans, and they buy most their food at supermarkets. When the Makah party, they don't wear stinky paint made with whale blubber. The women wear Revlon eye-shadow from RiteAid or Clinique foundation from Nordstroms. The Makah all wash with deodorized Irish Spring instead of soap made from whale blubber. The Makah don't make spears with whale bone, or carve bowls or cups with it. They don't have time because they're busy working, so they buy their tableware from Macys or Sears or wherever.
That's why the carcass rotted.
Later its bones were donated to their Makah museum.
NOW the Makah want to hunt whale again because it's their "cultural right." After the last whale hunt, many people were appalled. Even some Makah were appalled. Several admitted they hated the taste of whale blubber when they tried it in 1999. Activists protested Makah whale hunting on the basis that it's senseless to kill such a magnificent creature over "cultural rights" especially considering the (still) low population count of whales, and that very little of the whale was used by the Makah in 1999. So far, the Makah haven't been granted the right to hunt another whale since. They do not need another set of bones for the museum. In September of 2007, some Makahs hunted a whale illegally. It's their ancient Treaty RIGHT!!!
Is this modernization of Makah culture the "white man's" fault?
Yes, in a way it is. Long ago in the 1920s, Makah children were torn from their parents, shipped off to boarding schools and forced to learn English and a trade. Later, White people invented technology for them to use while hunting. White people established grocery stores and restaurants near Makah reservations. White people visited Makah businesses and casinos which gave them extra money to spend on all the same things White people enjoyed. White people gave them help with education, so they could become lawyers, doctors, businessmen, museum curators, school teachers and librarians.
The Makah culture is essentially gone because of White people. Still. . .putting it in perspective White culture has changed since the early 1900s too.
Or has it?
When should cultural rights supersede national values and laws? These are very tough questions that could face Deaf culture soon.
(The very top picture is a Makah whale hunter taken in 1909.)
15 comments:
Kim,
I really enjoyed this. Thanks for putting this together and sharing it.
Awesome!
Crazy Jefe
*wink*
Interesting parallel.
If you want the culture to survive, accept the future. So you are kind of saying that Deaf Culture would be better off by AGBell's role in CI and AVT (I say this with a tongue in my cheek ;o) In other words, in order to survive, one needs to honor the past, to accept today's happenings instead of fighting and at the same time enriching the culture, and to embrace the future.
Not easy. Jim in his Jim's Deep Thoughts mentioned it also... I am not saying that Deaf Culture is dying; I am saying that it could be enriched by embracing more diversity, even some people who feel there is no need for ASL.
Awesome! This is so interesting about Makah culture!
My husband told me a lot of stories about his Deaf childhood. He grew up in a deaf family and has a lot of memories of the deaf club. (He's 16 and half years older than I) My time is so much different from his time. :(
In my state, CI users use PSE and ASL. We respect each other and I don't see any problem. I haven't met any CI users without using sign language in my state. I probably miss one. One true story in my hometown...the parents have a daughter who lost all her hearing. Her hearing aids don't work anything. She went for CI surgery, but none worked for her after the second surgery. The good thing is that they already learned to sign before the surgery.
I find this very interesting. This past couple of weeks I have been researching cultures that have disappeared due to modern influences such as the aborigines and the attempts to revive their language.
I really enjoyed this!
Jeff and Abbie-- Thanks! I'm really interested in Native American cultures. My family has long ago roots in Chippewa and Huron. The Huron (Wendat) were among the first to encounter whites in the 1600s-- and it was POSITIVE as they ran a lucrative business with white men trading furs. But the encounter wiped out their culture. Too much intermarriage. Today most Huron are white. I've seen footage of a few complaining that the Whites "stole" their DNA as well as their culture. I found this all a bit fanatical and quite hilarious-- maybe because I'm a fair-skinned blonde with a Huron (Wendat) background.
Hi Karen,
I don't think Deaf culture is dying, but I DO think it's changing-- as ALL cultures change.
Yes-- we ALL need to embrace change because we risk becoming like that Mormon cult stuck in another century if we don't. Really -- the Mormons are a great example of this, as well as the Makah. The modern day Mormon church continues to thrive because they accept modern ideals.
Hi Deb Ann,
Great insight!! You're SO smart. I love your point about CI users and PSE. That's exactly what I'm talking about. All languages change over time.
The future of ASL may become polluted with PSE as more and more CI users and late-deafened people continue to learn it.
Change is a natural process. Most likely you've seen new signs invented in your lifetime-- internet, email, CI? These are all words that didn't exist in English when I was a little girl too. English has changed a lot since Shakespeare. It almost seems like reading a foreign langauge.
Change is scary for some people, but it's a fact of life.
Change is a scary thing and I don't blame the people when they get a little antsy about change.
We are constantly changing: our mind, our bodies and our surroundings whether we we realize it not. Regardless if its caused by internal or external influence, the natural progression of change is inevitable. Jobs have been eliminated and created because of change.
Technology has changed the way all of us communicate. The news has evolved from using an ink stained press to a type writer to printers to newspapers to magazines to television to websites to online videos. It is a sense of evolution.
I wish the process of adaptation would be more of an open option because its the people of today that is going to keep acculturation of the deaf alive along with the changes of society.
Speaking of keeping it alive, i'm trying to sign up for ASL classes at the local college and holy cow, it is so difficult to get your foot in the door after you fill out the financial aid and loans and this and that.
*slamming head on desk*
Great post. I especially liked how you included the statement that some of the Makah were appalled by the whale hunting experience and the photo of the Mormon women and girls boarding the bus under police escort. Very balanced approach to the subject. *thumbs up*
Sarah
I so enjoyed this. Funny because I was thinking about some research and an eventual post on Canada's aboriginal peoples and the dying language and way of life in parallel with Deaf society.
I so enjoyed this of yours
Karen,
The difference between a "dead" culture and ourselves and the Makah is that we are alive, now, and aware, and have a voice and a vote and the ability to affect the future. Say what we want, now: and make a difference? Possibly. What is valuable about Deaf culture and Deaf people? What are we fighting to save? I bet there were far more important aspects to Makah culture than what has become unnecessary killing. I bet those aspects are still alive. It's this one form that's died. Perhaps they could decide to include a ceremonial hunt instead. Perhaps one day there will be a man with a child and he will tell the story about how once the Makah were careful to, out of respect, use every part of the animals they killed, on the hunt... Perhaps the story will continue: "One day we met people from afar, who gave us such materials that the killing was no longer necessary. And, because they respected the animals they once killed, they chose as a people to stop the killing." Perhaps every year they will re-enact this decision, to re-affirm their commitment to the earth.
Culture changes and grows. We are the people of this culture. We can decide how it changes and grows.
Right now we are at a precipice. It seems deafness is no longer a necessary part of being Deaf. Do we fight for the old ways, with all the pain and suffering? Do we seek for a new way? With such a mindset, what could not be possible? What new ideas might emerge? What is important about being Deaf? What are we fighting to save? How can we save it?
I would say that one of the most valuable things to come out of Deaf history and which should influence Deaf peoples' futures is the concept of Deafhood. Something almost terrifying in scope is evident in this concept, something I as a scholar have just begun to touch. It is a process similar, in some ways, to Buddhist or Zen processes. It is a process of peeling away the layers of perception to see what is real.
The second valuable thing is - not ASL, but all signed languages...
The third valuable thing is our community and its customs and norms. These differ from country to country, but the sense of camaraderie is not all that there is to Deaf culture. There are also habits of openness - of interest in each other, of open conversation - which seem very similar to traits from European or African cultures. These are incredible and should be preserved.
But, as I say, we're standing on a brink. We have excellent arguments for the problems and issues Deaf people face in the new century: the right of choice, freedom of determination, language rights, etc. etc. The question isn't "do we give in or keep fighting" but "how do we change how we fight so that we win?" We are not going to win an argument with hearing people that being deaf is NOT equivalent to being disabled. There are more of them, and they can restructure the world if they so choose. (They have done this with women and black people, too. And gay people. We have a much smaller population.)
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm a fighter, but I don't see us winning all of this fight. I don't think changing is necessarily the same as losing, though. And I do think a re-evaluation might be in order. We are afraid of change, but as long as we are afraid, we can't control change or be part of it.
Of course, some might say it's better not to go gentle into that good night, and wake to see the new day. Such is life. The Deaf Nation has many tribes...
Joseph,
WOW What a wonderful commentary! You've given me so much to think about. I loved what you said about gaining control of our Deaf destiny through acceptance of change. Once we clarify our community values as deaf/Deaf/HH people, we'll have better control over our direction.
I agree the Makah are not completely dead. I purposely tried to provoke with my title.
I was planning to blog more about that this weekend.
But let's say the Makah have changed, just as American culture has changed in the past 150 years. Does that mean American culture is dead? NO-- but pioneer life is DEAD. What lingers on from that pioneer way of life?
How did the pioneers influence who we are today?
What about cowboys?
Thanks for stopping by.
Kim :-)
"Right now we are at a precipice. It seems deafness is no longer a necessary part of being Deaf. Do we fight for the old ways, with all the pain and suffering? Do we seek for a new way? With such a mindset, what could not be possible? What new ideas might emerge? What is important about being Deaf? What are we fighting to save? How can we save it?
. . .But, as I say, we're standing on a brink. We have excellent arguments for the problems and issues Deaf people face in the new century: the right of choice, freedom of determination, language rights, etc. etc. The question isn't "do we give in or keep fighting" but "how do we change how we fight so that we win?" . . .
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm a fighter, but I don't see us winning all of this fight. I don't think changing is necessarily the same as losing, though. And I do think a re-evaluation might be in order. We are afraid of change, but as long as we are afraid, we can't control change or be part of it."
David and Sarah,
Thanks-- I'm glad you both enjoyed it.
Loved the way Joseph put it, "We are afraid of change, but as long as we are afraid, we can't control change or be part of it."
I understand how the Deaf community wants to have "a place it can call its own", in order to hold onto its heritage and a beautiful, unique language, but it is afraid of change occurring in the community. That it prefers separation or apartness from the rest of the world may give it temporary respite, but as history has proven, it will get swept up in the current of change whether Deaf culture likes it or not.
Like Joseph said, changing is not necessarily the same as "losing", it in fact may strengthen us as a d/Deaf community.
Change may force some leaders in the Deaf community to learn how to "market", for lack of a better word, the positive advantages of their language for an upcoming generation brought up on CI's or other assistive technology, whatever that may be. To convey the concept that being deaf or "different" is not a negative thing in a dominantly hearing world.
I know that these concepts are contrary to what the hearing world regards us d/Deaf and that it has been an uphill battle. Think of what Martin Luther King Jr. was up against-- it was amazing his words had the power to move people, but the times were also catching up with him and African-Americans in the '60's.
Change has a way of improving or destroying cultures. It has to do with how a culture itself looks at change...
Ann_C
Ann_C-- I couldn't help but think of the Amish community. They have separated themselves, shunned modern developments, anyone who isn't Amish, and also speak a different language. Their culture has survived beautifully by pulling away from the outside world.
Still we must face the fact that the majority of Deaf children born to hearing parents (which constitutes the majority of ALL Deaf childre) are being implanted and raised orally, without ASL or knowledge of Deaf culture.
Would Amish children raised on the outside happily join the Amish community at 18???
Do the benefits of a closed community outweigh the benefits of staying open to change?
It's all hypothetical, I know.
Interesting turn of events here on DeafRead, hmmm? We will see what happens.
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