Event

The ASL Program in the Department of Linguistics and Penn Humanities Forum are pleased to announce the ASL Lecture Series event for Spring 2017.  Drs. Joseph Murray and Brian Greenwald will be presenting "Our Historical Memory: The National Deaf-Mute College and Alexander Graham Bell"on Thursday, March 16, from 5-6:30 PM in Claudia Cohen Hall, Room G-17.

Light refreshments will be served following the talk and a social hour will continue until 7:30.

This event is free and open to the public.  The talk will be presented in ASL; voice interpretation will be provided for non-signing audience members.

The abstract and bios can be found below.

For questions, please contact Jami Fisher, ASL Program Coordinator, Department of Linguistics:  jami@upenn.edu 

Please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested .

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This presentation will show how a new generation of scholars in Deaf History, as published in In Our Hands: Essays in Deaf History, 1780-1970 are taking new approaches to ideas of autonomy and citizenship.  In doing so, they are challenging some of the common assumptions about significant historical places and people. Here, we take a closer look at two important subjects in United States and Deaf history: the National Deaf-Mute College (today Gallaudet University) and Alexander Graham Bell. These two seemingly disparate subjects have a closer connection to our history. The juxtaposition of then National Deaf Mute College and Alexander Graham Bell inform us what people thought of the institution at the time and Bell's influence not only at Gallaudet but also for contemporary America.

Bios:

Joseph J. Murray is Associate Professor of ASL and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University. He is co-editor of Deaf Gain: Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity (2014, University of Minnesota Press) and In Our Own Hands: Essays in Deaf History 1780-1970 (2016, Gallaudet University Press).  He has served as guest editor of two issues of Sign Language Studies, in 2015 on sign language rights and in 2016 on Deaf history.  Dr. Murray has published in the fields of deaf history, deaf studies, and language planning and language rights.  Dr. Murray has been involved with the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) for two decades and is currently Vice President.

Brian H. Greenwald is professor of history and Director of the Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center. He is co-editor of A Fair Chance in the Race of Life: The Role of Gallaudet University in Deaf History and In Our Own Hands: Essays in Deaf History, 1780-1970 and has published articles and chapters on topics in Deaf history.