Women and Deafness

This new collection bridges two dynamic academic fields: Women s Studies and Deaf Studies. The 14 contributors to this interdisciplinary volume apply research and methodological approaches from sociology, ethnography, literary/film studies, history, rhetoric, education, and public health to open heretofore unexplored territory.       Part One: In and Out of the Community addresses female dynamics within deaf schools; Helen Keller s identity as a deaf woman; deaf women s role in Deaf organizations; and whether or not the inequity in education and employment opportunities for deaf women is bias against gender or disability. Part Two: (Women s) Authority and Shaping Deafness explores the life of 19th-century teacher Marcelina Ruis Y Fernandez; the influence of single, hearing female instructors in deaf education; the extent of women s authority over oralist educational dictates during the 1900s; and a deaf daughter s relationship with her hearing mother in the late 20th century.       Part Three: Reading Deaf Women considers two deaf sisters exceptional creative freedom from 1885 to 1920; the depictions of deaf or mute women in two popular films; a Deaf woman s account of blending the public-private, deaf-hearing, and religious-secular worlds; how five Deaf female ASL teachers define gender, feminism, sex, and patriarchy in ASL and English; and 20th-century American Deaf beauty pageants that emphasize physicality while denying Deaf identity, yet also challenge mainstream notions of the perfect body.