Culture, Deafness & Music - (Critical Deaf Studies) (Hardcover)

About the Book

This timely and thought-provoking volume is an important contribution to Deaf Studies. The contributors, most of them Deaf, critically examine Deaf culture, Deaf arts and music, the oppressive forces faced by Deaf people, the diversity within the Deaf community, and suggest critical pedagogy as a vehicle to challenge oppression.

Book Synopsis

This book is a timely and thought-provoking book and an important contribution to the expanding transdisciplinary field of Deaf Studies. Authors, most of whom are Deaf, critically examine aspects of Deaf culture, reflect on diversity within the Deaf community, and advocate for the recognition of Deaf people as a linguistic-cultural minority. Grounded in critical pedagogy as its theoretical framework, the book highlights the persistent oppressive forces faced by Deaf people and also the challenges to these oppressive forces to promote social justice through acts of resistance and affirmation, particularly expressed through the arts, including music.

Award Winner
Culture, Deafness & Music received the 2025 Critics' Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association (AESA).

Review Quotes

"Culture, Deafness & Music: Critical Pedagogy and a Path to Social Justice is an inexhaustibly fascinating and pathfinding collection; its overall message is direct, like a hammer blow on an iron girder, an indomitable force dedicated to dismantling grave injustices and nurturing the fertile ground of an inclusivity infused society. [...] This collection of works is brilliantly conceived, pleasurably unpredictable, filled with granular descriptions of the lived experiences and real-life struggles of Deaf people who are contributing to the Deaf community and to those outside the Deaf community in a myriad of ways, through theater, poetry, fiction writing, acting, music and serving as activists and advocates for Deaf people worldwide. The thematic weight of this volume is kept comfortably afloat by chapters that are beautifully written and filled with the roar of dissidence. This is not a book for the tranquil mind."- Peter McLaren (Professor Emeritus, University of California Los Angeles, USA) from the Foreword.

"This book and its authors have thus made a significant contribution towards the important task of assisting Deaf Studies and other Deaf domains to understand power relationships throughout history--including Deaf histories--in order to embrace these ongoing challenges and advance towards a more positive future."- Paddy Ladd (former Reader, Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol, UK) from the Afterword.

"Culture, Deafness & Music: Critical Pedagogy and a Path to Social Justice addresses issues that are part of the core of contemporary views of being Deaf in today's society from a Deaf perspective. Audism has always been a central part of this perspective: it has been the gist in shaping the everyday life of a Deaf person. This book, through the contributors' powerful thoughts, is a vehicle to bring this reality to us while making the Deaf consciousness of life and culture present in our views in order to break the irony of oppressions fashioned from a hearing perspective." -Ronice Müller De Quadros (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil).

"Culture, Deafness & Music: Critical Pedagogy and a Path to Social Justice is the first book of its kind to engage with the lives and liberation stories of Deaf people in education through the lenses of critical pedagogy and the arts. It is personable, powerful, and thought provoking, including chapters about music, poetry, and even humor as emancipatory forms of art and critical pedagogy in the Deaf community. It is a must read for practitioners and scholars of education."- Tricia Kress (Molloy University, USA)

"That's really very informative! I believe this book will be of great help to readers in making connections between the events described in each chapter concerning the Deaf community. All contributions to the book are organized in a manner that facilitates understanding of how the Deaf community is constructed, perceived, maintained, and preserved for the sake of younger generations. It has been challenging for members of the Deaf community to hold their ground in mainstream society in affirming their linguistic and cultural identity through not just longtime advocacy, but also through poetry and music. It is also imperative not to ignore but to recognize the diversity and differences within the Deaf community."-Anthony Chong (Monash University Malaysia)

"The frameworks presented in this edited volume provide fresh ways of critically viewing phenomena that have not been fully elucidated in Deaf Studies. The material does not just correct the lens through which the hearing view the Deaf person and, specifically, the Deaf artist; it also shows the Deaf person an insightful way to view the Deaf Self. This work calls the hearing to stand alongside the Deaf in their communities in naming their world and being radical. Together, they can end the marginalization of the Deaf and the lack of official recognition of their sign languages. This work is a valuable reader for the collection of any scholar in Deaf Studies and anyone who has an interest in the area." -Keren Cumberbatch (The University of the West Indies, Jamaica).

About the Author

Ana L. Cruz, Ph.D., is an educator and researcher with scholarly interests in critical pedagogy, the work of Paulo Freire, and music & deafness. In 2022 she was the recipient of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project Award of Social Justice.