Description
Book SynopsisA groundbreaking study of deaf identity, minority politics, and sign language, traces the history of the deaf community in Japan.
Trade ReviewNakamura's methodology combines the field techniques of anthropology, archival research, and the political analysis of social movements to gather information on deaf movements in Japan in the postwar era, with the goal of understanding what it means to subscribe to 'deaf identity' in Japan. She frequently includes cross-cultural perspectives from international deaf movements and language systems to contextualize the Japanese case, as well as poses thoughtful and provocative questions about personal and communal identities by comparing the Japanese deaf community to other minority groups in Japan. Nakamura's monograph is extremely important because it explores disability in a wider context—as deafness cuts across all class, ethnic, and gender lines—and explores disability as a social construct for identity formation.
-- Carolyn S. Stevens * Journal of Japanese Studies *
