Groce: Everyone Here Spoke ∗sign Language∗: Hereditary Deafness in Martha's Vineyard - Hardcover

GROCE, N

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674270401 ISBN 13: 9780674270404

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1985

Synopsis

Examines the reasons for the high rate of hereditary deafness among the population of Martha's Vineyard and discusses the place of deaf people in town life.

About this title

Review:

When is deafness neither handicap nor stigma? When, as this remarkable book recounts, the entire hearing community learns from childhood to be bilingual in conventional speech and sign language, and when the deaf are wholly integrated into the community's social, economic, religious, and recreational life...A vivid ethnography of a hearing community's full acceptance of, and adaptation to, deafness. Groce also constructs a fascinating ethnohistory of this genetic disorder.

Fascinating...Groce accomplishes much just by pointing out that "handicaps" are something a culture creates, and thus the joint responsibility of us all. That's what places this book squarely within the best tradition of anthropological writing, and makes it both moving and encouraging.

Brilliantly argued and lively...İGroce's¨ information consists of the oral history she herself garnered from some 50 witnesses, almost all more than 75 years old, and the documents in print and in manuscript that cross-check and extend their first-hand accounts. Human genetic theory, ethnographic counterparts and a clear-eyed account of social attitudes are the analytic tools that form her brief and telling work...İA¨ persuasive and compassionate investigation.

Brilliantly argued and lively...[Groce's] information consists of the oral history she herself garnered from some 50 witnesses, almost all more than 75 years old, and the documents in print and in manuscript that cross-check and extend their first-hand accounts. Human genetic theory, ethnographic counterparts and a clear-eyed account of social attitudes are the analytic tools that form her brief and telling work...[A] persuasive and compassionate investigation.

Beautiful and fascinating...I was so moved by Groce's book that the moment I finished it I jumped in the car, with only a toothbrush, a tape recorder, and a camera--I had to see this enchanted island for myself.--Oliver Sacks "New York Review of Books "

About the Author:

Nora Ellen Groce, a cultural and medical anthropologist, received her doctorate from Brown University. She is currently a Fellow at the Family Development Study, Children's Hospital, Boston, and in the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0674270401
• ISBN 13: 9780674270404
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192