32nd clip of DC myth - Clip Title: Return to the Feral. (08:39 m. - 3:06:31 h.)
I would like to post this clip in gratitude and homage to Harlan Lane and his book, When the Mind Hears. In 1984, in the streets of Manhattan on a bicycle, I vividly remembered the moment someone signed to me that Lane’s Clerc book was finally available at the bookstores and the mad bicycle dash there thereafter. At that time, I was in the middle two things: trying to do a biography of Clerc and my seven years itch on Clerc, enamored by his legacy and the sacred purpose his story serves to the American deaf community. Once the book was in my hands and perusing it, I became “awed-shocked” to see how Harlan used Clerc to tell the sacred story of the deaf. Lane did the biography for me, telling Clerc’s life story. This historical method/technique was criticized by some historians, rightly so, I think. I am thankful Harlan opted to use this unconventional method rather than other dry conventional ones. The story became more powerful. The impact of Harlan’s book on me is immeasurable.
This clip is about VisMa finding the Deaf Child feral. Lane’s area of specialty before entering the deaf world, if I am not wrong, was on feral children with his impressive scholastic work on Viktor on Rue St. Jacques in Paris. He was so graceful to sit down and sign with me before a videocamera. If I may say so here, the Deaf should and will be grateful for what Harlan did for them. He belongs to the place on “Mt. Olympus” of the Deaf where Heinicke, Eppe, Sicard, Massieu, Gallaudet, Bell, Clerc, Stokoe and few others now live. More on that in LATER in the myth.
Enjoy the jaw-drop of VisMa at the feral side of deaf/humanity - click away
Click here for YouTube version if above undownloadable. Thanks.
Myth/Deaf History/Deaf Studies Commentaries: please go to the previous post of 03.11.01 for elaboration on feral children.
Clip Title: Finding Dr. Hein. First clip of 4th chapter (09:02 m. - 2:57:52 h.)
This clip is posted in gratitude to Joyanne Rasmus Burdett and Marlon “Lon” Kuntze, my former CSDFremont colleagues. They, in 1992, wrote letters for my application to the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund maintained by the GUAA. It was to apply for a grant to fund my flight to Europe to visit sites of deaf history behind the myth. I look back with fondness at the memory of working with Joyanne and Lon, along with many others at CSDF. Joyanne in the museum/library discussing deaf/CSD history and children books. Lon, as the Bi-Bi coordinator, elaborating on the development of Deaf Studies courses/curriculum which I taught in the HS dept. Thank you, you two.
I have never discussed in this blog on why I include a list of gratitudes. Maybe there is no need but it feels right that I do. I am still in “shock/awe” that this story got created - a mythology! “never heard” ever before - and it might continue for the rest of my life. I am grateful for everything that had crossed my life-path contributing to the growth of this myth. The books and other printed materials, visiting “sacred” places, acquiring “sacred” deaf artifacts, the people who lent support of different kinds, and _____________. I surmise some people will find the listing of so many people to thank to something odd, I don’t know, but it just feel right to thank them “publicly”.
About the length of this clip - 9 minutes. I aim to keep each clip to around 5 minutes. That is one of the reasons why I will need to revise some clips That is why the seemingly unnecessary last appendage of three clusters of two digits for each clip, 04.01.02. I apologize for such a long clip, taxing your attention.
Click away and enjoy the first part of Hein’s Castle
Click here to go to youtube if above not working or undownloadable
Deaf history commentary: As to how the myth naturally evolved in its creation, the duo-chapters: 4 - 5 and 10 - 11 occur somehow simultaneously in deaf history (more on that in other posts - or a book). Doctor Hein is an archetypal character which represents certain people in deaf history - all hearing white men who wrote about the educability of deaf people in the 15th and 16th centuries: Rudolph Agricola, Girolamo Cardano to name a few. Click on them to to go to wiki-info on them.
Bibliography:
Bender, Scouten, Lane, and more to be added. (Decided to add a new page above - biblio, so I dont have to type out the whole citation. Making a book in ASL is fun here.)
(30th and last clip of 3rd C. Title: Becoming Feral, 03:26 min, 2:48:50 hrs)
Posted on the day we honor our fallen human being we chose to symbolize our still ongoing fight for equal rights, first for the blacks but now for all, MLK, Jr. Click into this vidclip to discover the dark feral side of the deaf (and human) experience the Deaf Child underwent. Posted in blessed memory of those deaf people who almost (maybe some did) went feral in their lives on earth.
New additions here - blogroll of cnkatz’s vblogs - more coming, devilish grin here AND update of the toc (Table of Contents) - see above bar.
Please wait to download if computer older or go to youtube below.
Please click here if you prefer to go to youtube or if above video doesn’t work.
Deafhood questions: (for deaf person) Were you once abandoned in the “forest” or in anywhere just because you were deaf? Were you abandoned by your birth parents and gave you up for adoption just because they found out that you were deaf?
Deaf Studies commentaries: The feral element in deaf history is interesting to discuss and ponder upon. Probably Harlan Lane was the person who was the first to spotlight on feral children and deafness. He was instrumental in giving attention to feral children through his work on the wild child of Aveyron and of Burundi. See bibliography below for more references. It appears to me that most documented cases of feral children who lived in the wild were not deaf. Harlan did mention that to me in my interview with him years back. The problems posed by feral children such as no language, lack of communication within society, isolation from other people bear relevancy to the “problems” deaf people pose to the hearing society. Click here to go to unique website on feral children.
Bibliography
ITARD, J. (1932). The Wild Boy of Aveyron. G. Humphrey, ed. and trans. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hal
CURTISS, S. (1977). Genie: A Psycholinguistic Story of a Modern `Wild Child’. New York: Academic Press
Lane, Harlan. (1976). The Wild Boy of Aveyron. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Lane. H. (1979) The Wild Boy of Burundi: Psychological Catastrophes of Childhood. New York:Random House.
RYMER, R. (1993). Genie: An Abused Child’s Flight From Silence. New York: Harper Collins
http://www.feralchildren.com/
29th Clip Title: Into the Forest - 10th of 3rd chp - 05:34 min - 2:45:24 hrs
This clip is posted with good wishes of a new year to all. The DeafRead, AGBell, NAD conferences, the Olympics, and the presidential elections in the year of 2008. In this clip, find out what VisMa had to do with the Deaf Child on its’ back and what happened to the Temple of Aris.
Click above, and wait to download hi-def if computer is slow
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Myth Commentary: The destruction of the Temple of Aris symbolizes the destruction of the classic fallacy that language and speech are connected. VisMa bringing the Deaf Child into the forest symbolizes the retreat into the deep forest of our humanity in form of feralness. More on that in the next clip.
Deaf history commentary: The destruction of the temple of Aris symbolizes the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe. Girolamo Cardano, an Italian physician, wrote in the 16th century on the emerging idea that deafness and speechlessness are not connected. At least by 16th century, some scholars such as Cardano, Alberti, and Camerarius began to realize the deaf are “educable”. For more information, go to pages in the books listed below.
Bibliography:
Bender, Ruth. (1981) The Conquest of Deafness. Danville,IL:The Interstate Publishers. p. 30 and 31.
Davis and Silverman (1978) Hearing and Deafness. Fourth Edition. Holt, Winehart and Winston. page 423 and 424.
Eriksson, Per. (1998) The History of Deaf People. Orebro, Sweden: Daufr. page 23 and 24.
Lang, Harry. (1994) Silence of the Spheres: The Deaf Experience in the History of Science. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey. page 1.
Scouten, Edward. (1984) Turning Points in the Education of Deaf People. Danville, IL: The Interstate Publishers. page 15.
Van Cleve and Crouch. (1989) A Place of Their Own. Washinton, DC: Gallaudet University Press. page 8 and 9.
