Audism: Exploring the Metaphysics of Oppression

Endnotes Audism: Exploring the Metaphysics of Oppression

H-Dirksen L. Bauman Gallaudet University

This article traces the development of the concept of tion, and employment (Humphries, 1975). But this Downloaded from ‘‘audism’’ from its inception in the mid-1970s by exploring newly minted term remains rarely used. The looks on three distinct dimensions of oppression: individual, in- peoples’ faces when they see or hear this word show that stitutional, and metaphysical. Although the first two aspects of audism have been identified, there is a deeply rooted it doesn’t buy much in the way of recognition. But that belief system regarding language and human identity that stands to change. http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ is yet to be explored within the context of audism. This In the four years since I’ve been teaching The article attempts to expose how our particular historical Dynamics of Oppression at Gallaudet University, I and philosophical constructions of language and being have created what French philosopher Jacques Derrida calls have noticed much greater use of term. In 2000, only phonocentrism. Although Derrida does not discuss audism, four of twenty students had seen the word before the his deconstruction of the Western notion of language pro- first day of the class; in 2002, fourteen of twenty had. vides a lens through which we can better see the orientation that has provided fertile ground out of which individual In the past two years at Gallaudet, there have been and institutional audism has flourished. panel discussions, movies, workshops, performances, by guest on January 3, 2014 and articles focusing on varieties of experiences of The term audism has been in hiding for some time now, audism. The term now appears at all levels of the Deaf lurking in the silent space between audiovisual and audit, Studies curriculum at Gallaudet University, from depending on your dictionary. What audism refers to— Introduction to Deaf Studies to Deaf Cultural Studies. the discrimination of Deaf people—is nothing new.The Although Gallaudet is a relatively small community, word to describe it, however, is. Whether being denied the fact that the term audism is beginning to be used rights to own property,to have children, or to drive a car, here is a crucial beginning, because this small group of Deaf people have rarely been treated with the dignity users can disseminate it into the rapidly growing that should come with being human. However, it was number of classrooms where American Sign Language not until 1975 when a Deaf scholar, Tom Humphries, (ASL) is taught. One of the fastest growing languages decided it was time to name the discrimination against of instruction in America’s high schools and univer- Deaf persons and to coin a term that would be part of the sities, ASL is now being taught to tens of thousands of currency of discussions on human rights, deaf educa- individuals who may most need to become acquainted with this term—hearing people who are becoming I would like to thank Ben Bahan for his contributions to this article involved with the language, culture, and lives of Deaf through ongoing discussions. We co-presented this material at the Deaf Studies VI conference. Correspondence should be sent to H-Dirksen L. people. Given the increased attention that the word has Bauman, Gallaudet University, Department of American Sign Language been and will be receiving, it will not be long before the and Deaf Studies, 800 Florida Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002 (e-mail: [email protected]) word takes its place alongside a lexicon that names

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education vol. 9 no. 2 Ó Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved. DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enh025 240 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9:2 Spring 2004 the various faces of oppression: racism, sexism, classism, Humphries then fleshes out this definition by pointing anti-Semitism, heterosexism, and ableism. Dictionary to its common manifestations: recognition is not the goal in itself, but it will be one of the many fruits of a maturing concept. [Audism] appears in the form of people who If simply appearing in the dictionary is not the continually judge deaf people’s intelligence and main goal, then what is? Clearly, the long-range goal is success on the basis of their ability in the language to diminish audist beliefs and practices. To do that, we of the hearing culture. It appears when the as- must gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of sumption is made that the deaf person’s happiness audism. To begin, we must be able to identify it. depends on acquiring fluency in the language of As a new term, audism gathers together what has the hearing culture. It appears when deaf people been there all along as isolated instances, events, and actively participate in the oppression of other deaf experiences and uniﬁes them into a single concept. As people by demanding of them the same set of such, audism functions like a basket that gathers standards, behavior, and values that they demand of disparate experiences with one thing in common: the hearing people. discrimination against individuals based on hearing ability. Once we gather these discriminatory practices As this litany of examples suggests, Humphries notes Downloaded from in a single place, we can get a handle on the phenom- that audism manifests itself in beliefs and behaviors enon. Theorists of audism then may have the beneﬁt of that assume the superiority of being hearing over being pulling these experiences out of the basket and Deaf. As this position has become a part of hearing-

examining them closely. We may discuss and debate centered ‘‘common sense,’’ Deaf people come into http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ them, analyze and explore them; ultimately, we may contact with audist attitudes, judgments, and actions begin to understand them, to see what underlies them with great frequency throughout their lives. At this all, and to locate their sources. Such increased level of analysis, Humphries’s definition of audism awareness of audism may guide resistance to audist would be roughly analogous to the notion of ‘‘in- behavior on several levels, from its sources to its daily dividual racism,’’ in which an individual holds beliefs manifestations. To that end, this article will explore the and exhibits racist behaviors ranging from jokes to hate

roots of audism, both historical and philosophical. crimes to low expectations in the classroom. This by guest on January 3, 2014 Although we may have identified instances of individual level is a logical place to begin the discussion audism above ground, once we start pulling up its of audism because we must be acquainted with its roots, we see how vast and hidden are its systems. physical manifestation before it may be identified and These roots run so deep and are so pervasive that they named. But we are quickly faced with questions about have implications not only for Deaf persons and those this individual level of oppression. Where do so many who work and live with them, but also for anyone individuals acquire their racist or audist attitudes interested in issues of language, human rights, and the and behaviors? What is the nearly invisible thread that question of human nature. To begin unearthing the weaves them together into a systematic pattern that roots of audism, we begin with the basic question, Just warrants a term to describe it? how should audism be defined? In the original essay that coined the term, Humphries (1975) also points toward larger systems of oppression as he notes that audism ‘‘appears in the A Brief History of Audism class structure of the deaf culture when those at the top In his original, still unpublished essay, Tom Humph- are those whose language is that of the hearing culture ries (1975) offers this dictionary-like definition: or closest to it.’’ Such structural oppression is difficult to see because it usually veils itself behind justifications Audism: (Oˆ ÁdizÁm) n. The notion that one is super- and rationalizations. Recognition of a wider structural ior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the context for audism gains further elucidation in Harlan manner of one who hears. Lane’s Mask of Benevolence (1992), where he deﬁnes Endnotes 241 it as ‘‘the corporate institution for dealing with deaf add up to a lifetime of privilege. Whether intentional or people. ... [It] is the hearing way of dominating, not, all white people take advantage of the systems of restructuring, and exercising authority over the deaf racism. community’’ (p. 43). Lane draws on the work of French Given the systematic nature of racism and other philosopher Michel Foucault (1975) and others to forms of oppression, the definition of audism needs to interrogate the organizations that attempt to care for be expanded from the individual to the systemic level. the Deaf but actually perpetuate the conditions of Here we may amend Wellman’s definition of racism to disability. Since the beginnings of deaf education and add a new dimension to the definition of audism as ‘‘a the science of audiology, Lane demonstrates, educa- system of advantage based on hearing ability.’’ tional and medical institutions have assumed authority This definition allows us to detect the privilege over Deaf persons, claiming to act in their best interests allotted to hearing people. Such privilege, many would while not allowing them to have a say in the matters argue, makes sense. After all, Deaf individuals make that concern them the most. From the crude and up a miniscule fraction of the world’s population. One tortuous methods of French doctor Jean-Marc Itard to can hardly expect anything but the privilege of being the surgical procedure of early childhood/infant hearing in a world where over 99% of the world’s cochlear implants and from the strict oralism of Johann population can hear. But what about those environ- Downloaded from Conrad Amman (1873) to the current trend of ments that are designed to work for the betterment of mainstreaming, Deaf people have been physically and Deaf individuals? In the three Deaf schools where I pedagogically coerced into adopting hearing norms, have worked—the Colorado School for the Deaf and whether they wanted to or not.

the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ Lane’s analysis has added this important historical Deaf, and Gallaudet University, there is no question and systemic perspective to the notion of audism. This that being hearing continues to carry immense systemic perspective coincides with definitions of struc- advantage, despite a majority of Deaf people in those tural or systematic racism. David Wellman (1993) environments. I have yet to participate in a committee defines racism as ‘‘a system of advantage based on meeting at Gallaudet University, for example, that has race’’ (cited in Tatum, 1997, p.7). been equally accessible to Deaf and hearing people. ‘‘This definition of racism,’’ writes Beverly Daniel

Because most hearing faculty members use simulta- by guest on January 3, 2014 Tatum (1997), ‘‘is useful because it allows us to see that neous communication (speaking and signing at the racism, like other forms of oppression, is not only same time), hearing persons are rendered at a distinct a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural messages and institutional advantage. Spoken English comes across clearly, policies and practices as well as the beliefs and actions whereas the signs that accompany it are often scattered of individuals’’ (p. 7). The implications of this defini- signifiers that do not add up to intelligible communi- tion are far reaching. Suddenly, the notion of privilege cation, let alone grammatically correct language use. comes to the fore as we realize the vast beneﬁts allotted For this reason, Deaf professors and staff have to ask to white individuals within a white system of ad- for interpreters to guarantee access to communication. vantage. Consider such a simple act as going to a drug The effects of this accepted practice result in di- store to buy Band-Aids (McIntosh, 1989). White minished access to information, decision-making pro- persons may walk into the store, proceed to the Band- cesses, and power within the ‘‘only liberal arts Aid aisle, choose a ‘‘skin color’’ brand, and be on their university in the world designed exclusively for deaf way. Black persons, on the other hand, are often under and hard of hearing students’’ (Gallaudet Mission surveillance as soon as they enter the store. As they Statement). One would hope that specially designed peruse the shelves of Band-Aids, they will not be able institutions would be vigilant in preventing such perva- to ﬁnd an appropriate skin color product. This is such sive audism; the reality, however, is quite different. a minute, commonplace event that the white person Audism becomes most prevalent in the institutions would hardly be able to detect the systems of privilege that ‘‘serve’’ deaf populations, especially in medicine that underlie this and thousands of other daily acts that and education. 242 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9:2 Spring 2004

Together, Humphries and Lane’s writings repre- incomplete definition of language for several millennia sent important inroads into understanding both in- now, a fact reflected in the very word we have for dividual audism and institutional audism. Now that both language itself: Langue is Latin for ‘‘tongue.’’ As Yves levels of audism have been named, we are in a position O’Neill (1980) writes: to ask such questions as, Where do the institutions derive their audist orientations? and How is audism For centuries speech and language were confused. possible in the first place? This muddle produced a tangled web of ideas in which philosophical premises were used to estab- Unearthing the Roots of Audism lish physiological conclusions. These struggles to understand were integral to the development of Metaphysical Audism Western ideas of human beings, and at the same Admittedly, the term, metaphysical audism is not pretty. time they furnished a basis for more modern con- It is more than a mouthful, but it need not scare anyone ceptualizations, setting problems to be solved. (p. 6) away. Metaphysics is not simply an abstract branch of As O’Neill suggests, this erroneous definition of lan- philosophy reserved for the ivory-tower philosophers; guage has implications for the entire Western tradition. Downloaded from rather, metaphysics is something we do all the time. Indeed, it would take a work of enormous length ‘‘Whether we like it or not, we are all metaphysicians’’ to root out our ‘‘tangled web of ideas’’ and the ‘‘prob- (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999, p. 348). As Aristotle (1952) lems to be solved’’ caused by the confusion that opens his book, Metaphysics, ‘‘All men [sic] by nature language is speech. For our purposes, though, a few desire to know’’ (p. 499). We are impelled to un- clear problems arise. It is these problems that beget http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ derstand the world and its various inhabitants, even if an audist orientation. Perhaps the largest problem to be for such simple reasons as the desire to know what solved for deaf individuals is that once speech foods are safe to eat and what tools are the best to use. is defined as language and vice versa, the concept of Each time we ask, ‘‘What is... ?’’ we look for an what it means to be human becomes intimately tied essential character that binds a thing together. We with speech. Brenda Brueggemann (1999) sums up the create categories and sort the world accordingly. This is Western audist orientation:

our perennial search for the nature of something, for its by guest on January 3, 2014 essence. Metaphysics, then, involves our basic desire Language is human; get at the nature of life and the world, and the human speech is language; place within it. Metaphysical exploration begins when therefore deaf people are inhuman and deafness is we ask questions such as, What is life? What is nature? a problem. (p. 11) What is God? What is human? It is the last of these questions that opens up the By metaphysical audism then, I mean simply ‘‘the conditions that ultimately beget audism. What is it orientation that links human identity and being with that binds all things human into one human kind? In- language defined as speech.’’ Historically, we humans variably, the most divisive differences betweens human have identified ourselves as the speaking animal; if one and animal is traditionally thought to be language. cannot speak, then he or she is akin to human in body Although bees may dance and parrots talk, it is often but to animal in mind. In this orientation, we see our- assumed that there is a qualitative difference be- selves as becoming human through speech. tween these systems of communication and the highly Now we can trace the thread of metaphysical- developed grammatical systems of human languages. institutional-individual audism that has silently in- In itself, saying that language is a distinctly human trait formed the very categories that determine the limits does not lead to audism. Yet once language is elevated of our existence and draw the porous line between to the status of a principle defining the human charac- the human and nonhuman, between civilized and teristic, how we define language has enormous im- savage, and between hearing and deaf. It is within this plications. As it happens, we have been operating on an orientation (language is human/speech is language) Endnotes 243 that Deaf people have frequently been described as may be seen not as the only but as one of the modalities animals, especially by those who have taught them. of human language. One of the earliest practitioners of audism, Johann Derrida and the Critique of Phonocentrism Conrad Amman writes in 1700 about uneducated Deaf persons: ‘‘How dull they are in general. How little do Fortunately, such a Herculean task has been already they differ from animals’’ (Amman, 1873, p. 2). A undertaken in the work of French philosopher Jacques century and a half later, American oralist Lewis Dudley Derrida. It is Derrida (1974) who has brought these writes that the Deaf students are ‘‘human in shape, but issues to the forefront of postmodern contemporary only half-human in attributes’’ (Baynton, 1996, p. 52). thought by exploring the notion of ‘‘phonocentrism,’’ The metaphorics of deaf-as-animal became especially the historical assumption that speech is the most fully widespread in the aftermath of Darwin’s Theory of human form of language. Phonocentrism has such Evolution. For many educators of the Deaf in the late a thorough grasp on the Western tradition that we nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Doug Bayn- cannot see all the ways that speech has constructed the ton explains, ‘‘To be human was to speak. To sign was world as we know it. Early on in his Of Grammatology a step downward in the scale of being’’ (p. 55). Yet it (1974), Derrida writes, ‘‘The system of ‘hearing Downloaded from was not only the oralists who constructed their Deaf (understanding)-oneself-speak’ through the phonic substance ... has necessarily dominated the history pupils as animals. The esteemed Abbe Roch-Ambrose of the world during an entire epoch, and has Sicard (1984) asserted even more vehemently that the even produced the idea of the world, the idea of Deaf were even lower than animals prior to education.

world-origin’’ (pp. 7–8). One would have to read Of http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ He referred to the uneducated Deaf pupil as ‘‘a perfect Grammatology to fully explore such a grandiose claim nonentity, a living automaton.... The deaf person lacks but for our purposes, it is enough to note that although even that unfailing instinct directing animals destined speech has clearly produced the idea of what it means only to have that as their guide’’ (p. 84).1 to be fully human, there is nothing intrinsically ‘‘more If Deaf people are inhuman, the logical conse- human’’ about nonphonetic forms of communication quence is that deafness becomes a problem of immense such as sign or writing. Throughout Of Grammatology, proportions. If poor deaf creatures are to be included in

Derrida engages in radical critiques of phonocentric by guest on January 3, 2014 the human family, they must be made to be more fully moments in the Western tradition when speech con- human, that is, a speaking animal. At this point, the solidated its power over alternative forms of language. metaphysics of audism give way to the systemic level Perhaps most relevant to a theory of audism is where institutions of education, medicine, and law Derrida’s critique of the so-called father of modern work to make the deaf creature a more normal, fully linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure’s assumption that speaking human being. sound is an internal, intrinsic element to language. Since the 1970s, we have discovered that all humans According to Saussure (1959), the ‘‘nature’’ of the (whether hearing or deaf) are born with the equal capa- linguistic signifier is governed by two principles: the city to receive and produce manual as well as spoken ‘‘arbitrary nature of the signifier’’ (p. 67) and the ‘‘linear language. Indeed, if this is true of humans born today, nature of the signifier’’ (p. 70). Because Saussure and we must assume that we have always had the potential others were unable to see that manual signifiers could to be the signing as well as the speaking animal. This be just as arbitrary as spoken signifiers, it became insight, afforded by the works of ASL linguists and assumed that only sound could be fully arbitrary and neurolinguists, now enables us to assert that our that any visual sign would be a ‘‘natural’’ or ‘‘iconic’’ Western tradition has been operating on incomplete sign, relegated to the study of semiology rather than definition of language and hence of human identity. A linguistics. Thus Derrida (1974) notes the phonocen- theory of audism, then, may work toward the de- tric move in Saussurian linguistics when he substitutes construction of this presumed natural status of speech the term sound-image for linguistic signifier. As these in the Western metaphysical heritage so that speech become interchangeable, other forms of language are 244 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9:2 Spring 2004 cast aside, and speech governs the internal workings of of language, was bound up with it. Writing in the narrow linguistics. The consolidation of the power of speech in sense—and phonetic writing above all—is rooted in the first principle then leads to the total exclusion of a past of nonlinear writing. ...A war was declared, and other forms of language in the second, which states, a suppression of all that resisted linearization was "The signifier, being auditory, is unfolded solely in time installed’’ (p. 85). from which it gets the following characteristics: a) it If phonocentrism led to a ‘‘suppression of all that represents a span, and b) the span is measurable in resisted linearization,’’ clearly sign would have been a single dimension; it is a line" [italics added] (p. 70). Any suppressed along with nonphonetic writing. Although form of language that does not unfold in a ‘‘single sign takes place in time just as does speech, it also dimension’’ is not linear and therefore is not a linguistic unfolds in a three-dimensional grammar that is not sign per se. As a result, Derrida notes that forms linear in the same way as speech and phonetic writing. of nonphonetic communication such as alternative The assumption that the signifier must take a linear writing systems are ‘‘chased off limits’’ to become the form has led toward a whole structure of thinking that ‘‘wandering outcasts of linguistics’’ (p. 44). has resulted in linear constructions of time, logic, The visual-kinetic-spatial modality of sign is and thought. At this level, Derrida has raised the obviously not included in the ‘‘nature’’ of the linguistic implications of phonocentrism to a level of enormous Downloaded from sign. As a result, sign becomes the ‘‘other’’ of language, proportions. Bound up with the supremacy of speech helping to determine what language is not. Consider its and the repression of nonphonetic forms of commu- role in Mario Pei’s The Story of Language (1949), where nication is the very construction of being itself.

manual languages are discussed exclusively in the To right the imbalance caused by our phonocentric http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ ﬁrst chapter, ‘‘Non-Linguistic Communication,’’ heritage, Derrida redefines writing to mean more than whose purpose is to commence the story of language the physical act and product of handwriting or by saying what language is not. Linguists could not see typewriting. Throughout Of Grammatology, Derrida this because their vision was occluded by the intrinsic (1974) strives to bring nonphonocentric forms of and ‘‘natural bond’’ of sound to thought. Our ears got in language and thinking to the fore, to recover them from the way of our eyes, disturbing and distorting our the past, and to ‘‘desediment four thousand years of

vision. linear writing’’ (p. 86). For him, writing refers to the by guest on January 3, 2014 Although Derrida (1974) does not discuss signed wider notion of recording ideas and impulses symbol- languages to any great extent, he notes that phonocen- ically: We may use writing to refer to ‘‘all that gives rise trism has caused an unnecessary reverence for phonetic to inscription in general, whether it is literal or not and writing (because of its intimate relation with speech) at even if what it distributes in space is alien to the order of the exclusion of other nonphonetic forms of writing. the voice: cinematography, choreography, of course, but He writes, ‘‘the metaphysics of writing (for example, also pictorial, musical, sculptural ‘writing’’’ [emphasis the alphabet) which was fundamentally ...nothing but added] (p. 9]. By dethroning speech, we may free our- the most original and powerful ethnocentrism’’ (p. 3). selves to entertain alternative constructions of language If one first wonders how something as ‘‘natural’’ as and human nature. phonetic writing could be ethnocentric, think about the Derrida’s deconstruction of the natural supremacy imposition of linear, phonetic writing on the Meso- of speech and phonetic writing has obvious implica- american cultures that had already developed sophis- tions for a theory of audism. Even though he does ticated economic, scientific, and literary texts without not directly discuss sign and the repression of deaf recourse to phonetic script (Boone & Mignolo, 1994). individuals, one can read Derrida through a deaf The imposition of linear writing has implications that lens: This lens would often substitute Derrida’s use of extend beyond the political and verge into the very writing with signed languages or more succinctly, sign.In construction of our ideas of time and being. ‘‘We have so doing, we see that the destabilizing of phonocen- seen that the traditional concept of time,’’ Derrida trism through recognition of sign as equal to speech (1974) writes, ‘‘an entire organization of the world and has implications that critique Western constructions of Endnotes 245 language and human identity. As a theory of audism to build their physical space, curriculum, assessment, joins in a wider critique of phonocentrism, it may gain and overall environment based on a Deaf, visually cen- a wider audience and recognition of the crucial role tered paradigm. Imagine a campus where the human that audism, phonocentrism, and Deaf Studies play in voice was rendered irrelevant so that the full force of contemporary thought. Although such lofty goals as human potential for signed languages could be un- the deconstruction of Western phonocentrism may leashed among hearing and Deaf individuals alike. be outside the daily experiences of audism and Deaf Imagine an institution designed by and for those individuals, a theory of audism may use Derridean intimately acquainted with a Deaf epistemology. Only perspectives to assert its importance to all individuals, then could deaf education try to engage in antiaudist noting that full recognition of sign and the human practices. rights of Deaf individuals is not simply a good thing to do but that it also gives us a more complete picture of Conclusion the human potential for language and being. Further, incorporating phonocentrism into discus- Three Faces of Audism sions of audism allows us to see what is usually an

Having a word for the complexities of oppression of Downloaded from invisible orientation within which institutions (i.e., Deaf communities and their languages will help to medicine, education, psychology, governments, etc.) arrive at a more Deaf-centered paradigm. One step derive their construction of deafness-as-pathology. in this long path is validation of the word audism. Although the metaphysical question of what is human Dictionary acceptance is only one form of validation. may appear to be outside of the purview of audism, http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ Having that goal, however, will keep the newly coined I contend that the ongoing debates around human term in currency.Sowe must be prepared when the time identity are actually participants in the sources of comes to arrive at the appropriate deﬁnition. Below audism. We may say that phonocentrism not only are three possible dictionary entries. begets but also saturates institutional arrangements that privilege speech and phonetic writing as the norm. Audism:(Oˆ ÁdizÁm)n. Educational practices such as oralism, Total Commu- 1. The notion that one is superior based on one’s

nication, and mainstreaming are the institutionaliza- by guest on January 3, 2014 ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who tion of our phonocentric and audist metaphysical hears. orientation; the practices of these institutions then 2. A system of advantage based on hearing ability. beget individual audist attitudes through daily practi- 3. A metaphysical orientation that links human ces, rituals, and disciplining Deaf bodies into becoming identity with speech. closer to normal hearing bodies.2 Yet if we continually remind ourselves that we now know that humans The first is the initial seed planted by Tom Humphries are just as equally the signing animal as the speaking (1975). The second is adapted from Wellman’s (1993) animal, we may more fully delegitimize the power and definition of racism and is mindful of Lane’s (1992) authority that medical and educational institutions discussion of institutionalized audism. The third have over the lives of Deaf persons. definition was presented at the Deaf Studies VI Such an ambitious project may gain momentum conference by Bahan and Bauman (2000). with the increased awareness of audism. As we explore A theory of audism may serve to link these particular the roots of audism, we may see ways to avoid a future definitions, aspects, or ‘‘sites’’ of audism together to see of audism. Educational institutions for the Deaf, for the relay from metaphysical, systemic, and individual example, may be aligned so that phonocentric orienta- audism. Phonocentrism provides an overriding orien- tions give way to ocularcentric paradigms where the eye tation in which the systems of advantage (education and and not the ear is placed as the central receptive organ medicine) form and consolidate power by enforcing for language. Imagine educational institutions from a normalcy that privileges speech over sign and hearing preschool to graduate school that could be bold enough over deafness. As the system maintains hegemony over 246 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 9:2 Spring 2004 the construction and representation of deafness, Aristotle. (1952). Metaphysics. In W. D. Ross (Ed. and Trans.), individuals acquire ‘‘the notion that one is superior Works of Aristotle. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. Bahan, B. & Bauman, H-D. L. (March 2000). Audism: Toward based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of a postmodern theory of deaf studies. Deaf Studies VI con- one who hears’’ (Humphries, 1975). ference. Orlando, Florida. Because dictionary definitions are necessarily Baynton, D. (1996). Forbidden signs: American culture and the compact, the points in this article are only signposts campaign against sign language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. along the theoretical journey toward understanding Boone, E., & Mignolo, W. D. (Eds.). (1994). Writing without audism. They do not take up residence at these points words: Alternative literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes. for any extended period of time. The points mapped Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Brueggemann, B. (1999). Lend me your ear: Rhetorical con- out here will require an enormous amount of attention structions of deafness. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University and energy—a massive project ahead for Deaf Studies. Press. But herein lies its promise—the recovery of a history Derrida, J. (1974). Of Grammatology (G. Spivak, Trans.). that might have been, the specular history of what if we Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Desloges, P. (1989). A deaf person’s observations about an had not only identified ourselves as the speaking animal elementary course of education for the deaf (F. Philip, but also as the signing animal? How has the absence of Trans). In H. Lane (Ed.), The deaf experience: Classics in sign shaped our ideas, categories, thinking, experience, language and education (pp. 28-48). Cambridge, MA: Downloaded from and being? The map of audism, therefore, is not a local Harvard University Press. Foucault, M. (1975). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of map to be read only by the Deaf community; it is rather medical perception. Trans. A. M. S. Smith. New York: the beginning of an atlas of sorts, wrapping around the Vintage Books. Humphries, T. (1975). Audism: The making of a word. Unpub- whole of what it means to be human. http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/ lished essay. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The Notes embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books. 1. Despite these extreme words, Sicard did recognize that Lane, H. (1992). Masks of benevolence: Disabling the deaf humans may just as easily communicate manually as orally. What community. New York: Alfred Knopf. he did miss, however, was the crucial insight afforded by Pierre McIntosh, P. (1989). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible Desloges (1989), a deaf bookbinder who was the first Deaf person knapsack. Peace and Freedom. (July/August): 10-12. to publish a book in defense of a Deaf community and its native O’Neill, Y. V. (1980). Speech and speech disorders in Western sign language. Desloges gives us valuable insight into the Parisian by guest on January 3, 2014 thought before 1600. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Deaf community prior to the Abbe de l’Epee, which had Pei, M. (1949). The story of language. Philadelphia: J.B. developed its own body of knowledge, social and religious Lippincott. practices, and most importantly, its own fully human manual Saussure, F. de. (1959). In C. Bally, A. Sechehaye, & A. language. Sicard may have been accentuating the plight of the Riedlinger (Eds.), Course in general linguistics (W. Baskin, Deaf individual to make a cause for governmental support of his Trans.). New York: McGraw-Hill. school. He had to demonstrate the dependence of the Deaf pupil Sicard, R.-A. (1984). Course of instruction for a congenitally on education in order to become a fully human French citizen. deaf person (F. Philip, Trans.). In H. Lane (Ed.), The deaf 2. Here is where Derrida’s (1974) critique of phonocentrism experience: Classics in language and education Philip (pp. may link with Michel Foucault’s (1975) critique of enlighten- 81-26). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ment institutions and the rise of biopower that controls Tatum, B. D. (1997). ‘‘Why are all the black kids sitting together in pathological bodies. the cafeteria?’’ New York: Basic Books. Wellman, D. (1993). Portraits of white racism. Cambridge, References England: Cambridge University Press.

Amman, J. C. (1873). A dissertation on speech. London: S. Low, Received September 9, 2003; revisions received November 7, Marston, Low and Searle. (Original work published 1700). 2003; accepted November 10, 2003.