The Gate to Heaven: T. H. Gallaudet and the Rhetoric of the Deaf Education Movement.
Fernandes, James John
1980
Abstract
The first half of the nineteenth century was in America an era of reform. Stimulated by the intellectual currents of evangelism, nationalism and enlightenment philosophy, Americans b and ed together in collective efforts to eradicate social ills. The major instruments of reform were benevolent societies which united Christians of all denominations in some form of "doing good." While many of the reforms addressed practical social problems, they were guided largely by a religious motive, by the goals of spiritual salvation and conversion to Christianity. This led the benevolent societies to foster a rhetoric of millenialism, seeing in the growth of benevolence, the solving of social problems, the conversion of the heathen and the uniting of Christians a sure sign of the "Second Coming." One branch of the reformist trend was the collective action organized to provide education to deaf Americans. The subject of this study, the movement to secure American education for the deaf has had significant and lasting influence. Under the rhetorical leadership of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the movement, which began with a h and ful of Hartford citizens in 1815, by 1830 had established several residential schools for the deaf in the United States, won state and federal support for the schools, educated hundreds of deaf children and adults, mobilized a following of thous and s of benevolent contributors, and generated a broad public awareness of the needs and potential of deaf people. By the time Gallaudet left the active stewardship of the movement in 1830, it had become institutionalized: the schools were operating on a permanent basis, government funding was secure, a uniform system of education had been adopted, and a record of successful graduates established. The movement has left a lasting legacy in the form of the principle of governmental obligation to support deaf education, the continued existence of state residential schools for the deaf, and the use of sign language as a mode of instruction. This study focuses on how the spokesmen for the movement (particularly Gallaudet) generated and adapted their rhetoric to fit the motivational and mobilizational requirements facing them. In analyzing the discourse of the movement, I employ the innovational paradigm suggested by Ralph R. Smith and Russell Windes and the rhetorical vision approach developed by Ernest Bormann. In addition, Orrin Klapp's concept of the collective search for identity is used to illuminate Gallaudet's motives as a rhetorical leader. The analysis of Gallaudet's discourse reveals that Klapp's theory that some social movements appeal to the needs of individuals to find a new identity helps account for the motivation to join the deaf education movement and probably other contemporaneous reform movements as well. A second motivating factor was the notion of disinterested benevolence, popular in early nineteenth century America. This study shows that the movement clearly displays the characteristics of an innovational movement and reflects the rhetorical strategies predicted by Smith and Windes. These strategies are made more apparent by the application of the rhetorical vision approach, which shows that the movement portrayed itself rhetorically as a "gate to heaven," a harbinger of the new millenium. Indeed, the vision propounded by the movement spokesmen was a variation on a theme, for the millenial vision was a major motivating force behind early nineteenth century reform. This vision inspired a collective response to social problems by portraying the struggles of the deaf education movement and other benevolent organizations as a heroic drama climaxing in the new millenium.Types
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