by Paul M. Preston (Author)
Mother father deaf is the phrase commonly used within the Deaf community to refer to hearing children of deaf parents. These children grow up between two cultures, the Hearing and the Deaf, forever balancing the worlds of sound and silence. Paul Preston, one of these children, takes us to the place where Deaf and Hearing cultures meet, where families like his own embody the conflicts and resolutions of two often opposing world views. Based on 150 interviews with adult hearing children of deaf parents throughout the United States, Mother Father Deaf examines the process of assimilation and cultural affiliation among a population whose lives incorporate the paradox of being culturally Deaf yet functionally hearing. It is rich in anecdote and analysis, remarkable for its insights into a family life normally closed to outsiders.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Edition: Revised ed.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 05 Sep 1995
ISBN 10: 0674587480
ISBN 13: 9780674587489
Book Overview: I have no doubt that Preston's work is now the major study on this topic and will be so regarded by researchers in deafness and anyone interested in the study of culture and its transmission through the family... Preston's interviews will lay to rest many of the stereotypes and myths that exist in both the media and the literature of deafness. -- John S. Schuchman, Gallaudet University