Ethnicity, ideology and political power: Our inalienable Deaf rights

I discuss Dan Aronson's conception of ethnicity as an ideology in the pursuit of political power and the different ways some minority groups have acheived their rights.

Transcript:

It is easy to argue that Deaf people are an ethnic group: we have a culture, values, norms, behaviors and artifacts, just like any other cultural or ethnic group. One of my favorite researchers, named Dan Aronson, frames ethnic groups as "political action groups" which seek to obtain power. Not power in the sense of controlling everything, but in the sense of being able to vote, have equality, money, resources, and the like. That's common to us all — power and equality.

He says that behind ethnicity are certain kinds of ideologies (belief systems). There are two kinds of ideologies: class ideology and ethnic ideology. In "class ideology", the group that holds power, the "elites", look down upon other groups and make the determination as to what "we" (the in-group) believes to be important and what the values are, and "we" decide whether "we will hold on to those values, share them, or take them away from you. That is "class ideology".

In "ethnic ideology", the group that does not hold power says "we (the out-group) do not agree with your (in-group) value system, and we want you to leave us alone, but possibly with enough resources [money, land, rights, voting] so we can pursue OUR goals without interference from outside.

There is a tension between the two types of ideologies. As an example, the American Indians lived on their lands here in America, and then the Whites came and took over their lands. Of course the Indians fought back because the Whites were trying to take over their lands. But the Whites had more power and more weapons (guns and technology) that the Indians didn't have, so the Indians lost. So the Whites decided to take away the Indians' rights, including their lands. In 1851, the "Indian Appropriations Act" was passed which set up the Indian reservations. The Indians were forced to live on these reservations, whether or not they wanted to. But the land that these reservations were established on was in areas which were felt to be undesirable by the Whites because they couldn't farm on it or use its resources, so it was given to the Indians instead.

In 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave Black people the right to live as Free men. Lincoln GAVE the right to the Blacks. But there were still a lot of Whites who didn't want to give those rights to the Blacks. This was not resolved until the 1960′s, when Martin Luther King, along with other Black people, marched and protested to gain their rights to vote, to have equality.

In 1920, America passed the 14th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. Before that, women had protested for the right to vote. They were looked down upon by men as not being capable of handling their own affairs. But by their protests, they were able to obtain their right to vote.

Back in 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with these inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

Rights are rights, no matter if they're given, earned, taken, or shared!

Category:

People & Blogs

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• DeafRights

[ASLeslie]

That does make sense! I would like to learn more about Dan Aroson's work - Thanks!

[DrDonGCSUS]

@ASLeslie It was in a book, "The New Ethnicity". Try finding it in your local university library.

[aslnikki]

Your mention of Aronson led me to an article on Guyanese society's struggle with ideology, ethnicity, and social class. Our oldest child is an Indo/Afrro-Guyanese. I do see parallels of the political struggle re class and ethnicity in Guyana with our Deaf societies in the US. Interesting.

[ASLElla]

fascinating about the two ideologies clashing each other -- class ideology vs ethnic ideology. Indeed useful information in Deafhood discourses. Thanks!

[ttirremerritt]

Hello Don,

Don't forget that our power that white men had, that they were able to give them free disease to make them weak by giving dirty blankets and alcohol. I am sure you are aware of it as well. I just wanted add this so other view may learn something new.

have a great day.

[shelpotma1]

Right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are God-given rights therefore, they are freely given to us. Since they are God-given these rights are NOT weak by any means. Good rebuttal!