(This is the content of a short reaction paper for SLG 102, the sign language class Jodi and I are taking at Chandler-Gilbert Community College).
Sound And Fury: A Cross Cultural Crisis
Introduction
In watching Sound and Fury, I found myself often perplexed and frustrated at the inability of participants on either side of the debate to really engage the other in a way that did not degenerate into frustration, anger, or superiority. Part of the problem seemed to be attitudes of exclusivity on both sides that simply antagonized the other.
I know that this is not a simple “intra-family” struggle. It’s a struggle between two cultures to make sense of a paradigm-changing technology. The ability to significantly improve a deaf person’s hearing through surgery raises questions that are being vigorously debated in both the Deaf and hearing communities. These debates, captured in microcosm in Sound and Fury, are handicapped by the tensions of two cultures meeting head-on.
Cross-Cultural Communication
From the Online Training Program on Intractable Conflict , Cultural Barriers to Effective Communication:
Stella Ting-Toomey describes three ways in which culture interferes with effective cross-cultural understanding. First is what she calls “cognitive constraints.” These are the frames of reference or world views that provide a backdrop that all new information is compared to or inserted into.
Second are “behavior constraints.” Each culture has its own rules about proper behavior which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. Whether one looks the other person in the eye-or not; whether one says what one means overtly or talks around the issue; how close the people stand to each other when they are talking—all of these and many more are rules of politeness which differ from culture to culture.
Ting-Toomey’s third factor is “emotional constraints.” Different cultures regulate the display of emotion differently. Some cultures get very emotional when they are debating an issue. They yell, they cry, they exhibit their anger, fear, frustration, and other feelings openly. Other cultures try to keep their emotions hidden, exhibiting or sharing only the “rational” or factual aspects of the situation.
These constraints are evident in the Artinian family’s struggle.
Cognitive Constraints
“…frames of reference or world views that provide a backdrop that all new information is compared to or inserted into.”
The CI debate as portrayed in Sound and Fury is complicated by two world-views coming into conflict. On one side, Deaf culture has been formed over centuries (and especially in America over the last 100 years) in reaction to the systematic attempts of the majority hearing population to integrate the deaf population into their world by means of coordinated oral education, the denial of a unique Deaf identity, and the suppression of visual forms of communication that were natural to the Deaf world. (Peter - “…finally I learned sign language, and that’s when my life really began”) Out of this oppression was formed a culture with an extremely tight-knit community, a highly valued shared language, and a suspicion of anyone from the hearing world with claims that they want to “help” deaf people.
Even after raising a deaf child, the elder Artinians seem incapable of fully appreciating why their son Pater is torn over the idea of allowing Heather to get the implant, and why he and Nita are ultimately completely turned off by the exclusive attitudes of Shelby’s family. In these attitudes, their worldview, their understanding, of what the hearing world is like is confirmed. This worldview frames every other aspect of the debate.
Behavioral Constraints
Each culture has its own rules about proper behavior which affect verbal and nonverbal communication.
During their decision process, Nita and Heather visit an oral school while researching what life is like for the implanted students. One thing I noticed was that while there, a teacher tells one of the students to get Heather’s attention: “Take her by the hand”. To a deaf girl, this would have been a surprise and confusing. The teacher knew nothing of Deaf culture and how to get a Deaf person’s attention.
Later on, Peter’s mother is trying to tell Peter and Nita that they are forcing their kids to live only in a deaf world. But her sign is sloppy and she signs “oppress” instead of “force” and Nita reacts violently - telling her it’s not true. Well of course it’s not true that she is “oppressing” her children, and especially from her Deaf culture perspective to say so is highly insulting.
Again, the lack of understanding is driving cultural wedges between the members of this family.
Emotional Constraints
Some cultures get very emotional when they are debating an issue. They yell, they cry, they exhibit their anger, fear, frustration, and other feelings openly. Other cultures try to keep their emotions hidden, exhibiting or sharing only the “rational” or factual aspects of the situation.
It’s a minor aspect in this case, but it’s evident in the confrontations that there were competing emotional constraints — Deaf people express themselves enthusiastically, both positively and negatively - I believe the hearing participants got even more wound up as they reacted to this. In the same way, I think that Pater and Nita were reacting to the way that the various hearing people framed their arguments as the “logical” or “obvious” decision, therefore implying that the Deaf community was being irrational about the issues involved.
Epilogue
Every time I watch this documentary I notice and react to something different. My hope is that I can learn from what I’m seeing and bring some understanding to my own interactions with members of both cultures on this controversial issue.
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