HIS-733 Topics in European Deaf History

Course Overview

This course will cover a variety of important topics in the history of the Deaf in Europe from the Eighteenth Century to the present, covering significant events, movements, issues, and perspectives on deafness in Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy. Topics may vary each time the course is taught, based on emerging scholarship and its availability in English translation. Specific topics may include the medieval origins of modern cultural assumptions; changing attitudes and ideas about Sign Language in the Enlightenment; Abbe de l’Epee and other early educators of the Deaf; The Congress of Milan; The Braidwoods; Eugenics and Deafness; the evolution of education for the Deaf in Europe; Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe; Modern Deaf Liberation Movements; etc.