Monday, July 19, 2010

Baldo, Acculturation and Deafhood

(click to enlarge)

Greetings, folks! I think this comic strip above is applicable to our deaf community and the issue of deafhood. My friend Don Grushkin had posted it on his Facebook page and it has been generating a great deal of comments since yesterday. Yes, this is the same Don Grushkin that Mike McConnell dissed, mocked and misconstrued in some ways in one of his blogs.

A bit about Baldo: it was created by two Latino cartoonists, Hector D. Cantu and Carlos Castellanos, who are fellow Americans like you and me. Cantu was previously Production Director at Quick in Dallas, TX, and Managing Editor at award-winning Hispanic Business magazine in Santa Barbara, CA. He wrote articles for the Los Angeles Times Magazine and Hollywood Reporter. Castellanos, a free-lance illustrator since 1981, lives in south Florida with his wife and family. According to their website, the premise of the strip is Baldo "is a teenager who lives between the influences of his U.S. and Latin American cultures. And while the strip has a strong father figure, there is no mom."

I can relate to this comic strip in a few ways: I came from a multi-cultural background. My father, a Latino, was born in Europe to an U.S. diplomat and a Chilean socialite and daughter of a senator. My mother is a full American of Irish-English heritage. My stepfather, likewise a full American, is a third generation of Swedish and Italian immigrants. I grew up in a hearing family, being the only one who is deaf. Cantu remarks on his website,"Growing up Latino in the United States can be a great experience....it can be hard. It can be an exciting experience. It can be rewarding. It can be funny. We hope that through Baldo we can share some of the humorous part with people everywhere."

The same can be said for my experience growing up as Deaf in a multi-cultural family. It is quite very complex. I know three languages - English, ASL and Spanish. My life has been one big interesting experience for me that I hope to convey through my comic strips and art. I see myself as living in two worlds, one deaf and the other hearing. In regards to the issue brought up in this comic strip, I see myself as somewhat acculturated. I am not all "Deaf Power, ASL only, no-speak Deafhood with the capital 'D'." I can speak and lipread a little, but I prefer to sign in ASL, the language that I feel comfortable communicating in. I have deaf, hard of hearing and hearing friends that I hang out with. I am tolerant of various aspects of our Deaf Culture. I see ourselves as one big Family. Aren't we?

Folks, where do you see yourself as - acculturated or assimilated?

P.S. - I have just joined Facebook. If you'd like to visit my page and become my friend, you can click on this link here. Other news: I will be going to Las Vegas this week for DeafNation Expo, so if you're going there, see you there!

5 comments:

Dianrez said...

Thanks, Dan, for posting this comic! I follow it daily and love it although not Latina myself, and it often is apropos to the Deaf community. Have fun in Las Vegas!

Deaf Cinema said...

Dan - thanks for all the info on the creators of Baldo as well as ur background

RE: assimilation vs. acculturation - hmmmmm smile

acculturation all da way

re: Deafhood - my understanding of the construct, idea, praxis is that its incompasses the whole gamut

those who are assimilated 100% and dont know of the others and those who are acculturated as well as those who are enculturated

really havent honestly meet any Deaf folks who refuse to associate with Hearing folks or non-signing Deaf folks

But i have met some folks who won't associate with Deaf ASL folks and who equate being signing people as being dependent and clannish

peace
patti

Don G. said...

Hey Dan!

I'm definitely acculturated!

Just one thing -- your portrayal of Deafhood as all "Deaf power", "no voicing" is not what Deafhood is about.

It's about taking pride in being Deaf, in viewing Deaf people as positive, healthy, whole human beings who do NOT need "fixing".

An aspect of Deafhood is about understanding how the SYSTEM has worked to deprive us of our culture, language, identity, self-esteem, etc. And, hopefully, engaging in activism to help our community and culture toward a more positive, healthy future. Not all of us need to be activists, but we hope to see more Deaf people uniting behind the common cause of culture and language.

Oh, another thing -- if you use your voice, are HH, even if you have a CI, doesn't mean that you're going to be rejected by those who support the concept of Deafhood. Deafhood is about finding our commonalities -- we're all Deaf (i.e., NOT HEARING!) and we all share the common experiences of being Deaf no matter what other abilities we might have (voicing, hearing, English skill, etc.)

RLM said...

Dan,

Many thanks for posting this particular "Baldo" cartoon and pay the true appreciation to Dr. Don Grunskin (YES, DON GRUNSKIN DO HAVE A DOCTORAL DEGREE unlike BARRY SEWELL AND MIKE MCCONNELL AND GINA SUTTON AKA CANDY AS AN OPEN MESSAGE FOR ANYONE DEAF AND HEARING WHOSE SKEPTICAL OF DON GRUNSKIN'S ACADEMIC CREDITINALS.

I truly appreciate that you have done courageously denounce Mike McConnell's belittlement and disrespectful stances toward Dr. Don Grunskin.

Same thing to Dianrez for her rational thinkings. :)

RLM

RLM said...

Dan,

We ought to do the letter of appreciation to the "Baldo" comic strip creators.

The individuals involved with "Baldo" have more sense than another South Florida resident, Rush Limbaugh (Mike McConnell's favorite idol).

RLM