University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2012-01-01 Deaf Culture: The rC eation of Self and Socialization Through the Use of Sign Language Marisela Garcia University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Garcia, Marisela, "Deaf Culture: The rC eation of Self and Socialization Through the Use of Sign Language" (2012). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2092. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/2092 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEAF CULTURE: THE CREATION OF SELF AND SOCIALIZATION THROUGH THE USE OF SIGN LANGUAGE MARISELA GARCIA Department of Communication APPROVED: Stacey Sowards, Ph.D., Chair Eduardo Barrera, Ph.D. Robert L. Gunn, Ph.D. Benjamin C. Flores, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Marisela Garcia 2012 DEAF CULTURE: THE CREATION OF SELF AND SOCIALIZATION THROUGH THE USE OF SIGN LANGUAGE by MARISELA GARCIA, BA THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO December 2012 Acknowledgements The motivating force behind everything I do is love, my love for God, my love for others and my love for myself. My greatest accomplishments have come from my drive to live a life of influence and affect the world around me. My successes have not been accomplished on my own. I’ve had the love, support and encouragement of many. My family and friends have been my number one fans, but my primary strength has come from God. I am a woman of faith. He has blessed me in so many ways. I credit everything I do to Him. He’s given me purpose and vision and everything I need to fulfill them. I am His number one fan. To my parents, thank you for your endless love and support throughout this journey. If you were to ask my parents what motivates them to work hard every day, they would say, living the good life. I am fortunate to have experienced the growth of my family. From living in apartments in the poor side of town to owning two homes, from wearing hand-me-down clothes to donating clothes to charity, from using their legs as transportation to owning cars, my parents know what it means to work for what you want. My parents exemplify how great life can be with faith, hard work and perseverance. They have been my foundation, motivation and inspiration. To my best friend and boyfriend, Eric Ramos, thank you for traveling this journey with me. Graduate school is not only mentally challenging, but an emotional adventure. Through all the craziness of these last two years, Eric kept me grounded and continually re-energized my spirit. He eased my struggles. Whether it was driving to UTEP so I could have a little extra time to do whatever it was I needed to or spending the little time we had together helping me with this project, he continually brightened my days with his jokes and comforted me with his words. Eric has been such an influential person in my life. iv I would also like to thank a major contributor to this is project, my friend Randy Thrash. Randy is deaf. He opened my heart and eyes to the Deaf world. I met Randy through my job. He was my insider to the Deaf community in El Paso. He contacted the participants in this study and assisted me with the interpreting. When I asked for his help and guidance with this project, there was no hesitation. He was so happy and grateful to be a part of something so meaningful. Randy dedicated so much time and effort to this project. Thank you Randy for all your help and support, I hope I made you proud. Finally, I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Stacey Sowards, Dr. Eduardo Barrera and Dr. Robert Gunn. Thank you for accepting to be a part of something that is so important to me. The Deaf community, in my opinion, is the forgotten culture. You all helped me shed light and open the discussion for Deaf related research. To Dr. Sowards, thank you for allowing me to tap into my passion for this project. You have been my rock. I’m always asked why I choose communication as an area of study and my answer is always the same: communication is everywhere, without it, we are nothing. v Abstract There is a strong perception of the physicality of disabilities. The review of literature in this project shows that there is a large number of disability related studies in the field of communication that focus primarily on physical and/or visible disabilities. The purpose of this study is to incorporate research on hidden and/or invisible disabilities, specifically deafness. The literature in the field of communication relating to hidden disabilities is limited and much more limited in deaf related research. There are an estimated two thousand deaf individuals in El Paso. Their participation and integration in the community is hindered by societal barriers and attitudes. This is due in part to a lack of recognition that the Deaf culture does exist and a misunderstanding of language versus disability. Therefore, this research paves a way into the culture and specifically looks at sign language and bilingualism on the border. Through ethnography and interviews, this project addressed the following questions: 1) How does the Deaf community in the El Paso borderland region create identities and culture? The framework that supplemented this project was symbolic interactionism, the idea that through language, ourselves and identities are developed. Seven deaf participants were interviewed and based on their responses, there were four themes that emerged from this study: language as identities, situational languages, hidden culture and education as a change agent. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................................15 2.1 Disabilities in Communication Studies ........................................................................15 2.2 Language ......................................................................................................................18 2.3 Deaf Culture vs. Disabilities Community………………………………… …………21 2.4 Deaf Culture on the Border………………………………………………………… ..22 Chapter 3: Methodolgoy ................................................................................................................26 3.1 Symbolic Interactionsim ..............................................................................................26 3.2 Method .........................................................................................................................28 3.2.1 Deaf Coffee Social ......................……………………………………………...30 3.2.2 One-on-One........... ……………………………………………………………30 Chapter 4: Analysis ........................................................................................................................33 4.1 Deaf Coffee Social Observation ..................................................................................33 4.2 One-on-One Observation .............................................................................................34 4.2.1 Interview Session 1 ......................……………………………………………..35 4.2.2 Interview Session 2 ............................................................................................37 4.2.3 Interview Session 3 ............................................................................................37 4.2.4 Interview Session 4 ............................................................................................38 4.2.5 Interview Session 5 ............................................................................................39 4.3 Language Defines Identities .. ………………………………………………………40 4.4 Situational Language ...................................................................................................44 4.5 Hidden Culture .............................................................................................................47 4.6 Education, the Change Agent ......................................................................................53 vii Chapter 5: Conclusion....................................................................................................................58 References ......................................................................................................................................63 Appendix A ....................................................................................................................................69 Appendix B ....................................................................................................................................72