SignWriting List
May 7, 2001
James -
Thanks for this great listing of the 19 stories in Nicaraguan Sign Language....
What a document! You should be real proud of the book...The listing
below helps me with information for a web posting...Are there any
stories that I should not post on the web? Of course, we need
permission from any artists and so forth.
It will take me several months before I can get to any new web
postings anyway, but when I do get the time, I would like to make a
newer and better SW web library.....
I think the Greek stories of The Trojan War/Odysseus and the
Cyclops/Odysseus and the Cattle of the Sun are quite amazing! And the
SignWriting reads well...
Val ;-)
--------------------------------
James Kegl wrote...
>Thank you, Valerie, for your kind remarks regarding the collection of SW
>stories we just assembled for the students in Nicaragua. There are 19
>items, out of some 30 or 40 texts that we have prepared. (The next
>collection will be prepared in the fall.) Since we are talking about
>cultural issues, I will list the 19 for whatever inspirational value they
>might have for the members on this list:
>
>1) The Nicaraguan national anthem (adapted, of course, into the grammar and
>syntax of Nicaraguan Sign Language)
>
>2) La Cucuracha -- yes, it is a song, but music, like poetry, can be
>adapted to sign -- and it is a lot of fun, anyhow
>
>3) Olmo and the blue butterfly: appears to be set in San Francisco, deals
>with multiple forms of urban transportation from skateboards to rocket
>travel
>
>4) Caps for Sale: about a peddler and monkeys, presumably set in small town
>Europe, although when you think about it, one is much more likely to
>encounter peddlers and monkeys in Nicaragua
>
>5) Three Little Pigs: some students in our class actually live in stick
>and straw houses, No wolves, though
>
>6) The Mouse and the Lion: lion spares mouse; later, mouse frees lion from
>net. Was Aesop involved in this?? Anyway, this is one of those
>cross-cultural animal morality fables good anywhere. Moral: watch your step
>in the bush.
>
>7) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie -- definitely a well-off, industrialized
>country mouse, although Nicaraguan children like to draw with crayons, too.
>The format is full of conditionals, which are presented somewhat differently
>in Nicaraguan Sign Language. We like the grammar lesson.
>
>8) The Story of Babar, King of the Elephants -- okay, this is steeped in
>early twentieth century French colonial philosophy: savages encounter
>Western Civilization, then undergo transformation as old ways are abandoned.
> You just can't get more politically incorrect than this. The older Deaf
>students immediately recognize the parallel with their own lives
>(languageless waifs enter school, exit refined.) If this story keeps one
>student from chomping on poison mushrooms, then it was all worth it.
>
>9) I Want My Banana: monkeys, snakes, tigers and bananas: this story good
>BE in Nicaragua (except for the hyena)
>
>10) David and Goliath: underdog tramples giant, i.e., Sandino holds U.S.
>Marines at bay (and you thought this was about a little Jewish kid)
>
>11) Pirate Queens: a women's lib story: female pirates attempt to save
>ship while drunken macho males play poker below deck. Not wishing to be
>insulting to Nicaraguan masculinity, but, gee, sounds like day-to-day life
>here. Moreover, Bluefields was a hangout for pirates way back when.
>
>12) Louis Pasteur: French doctor fights rabies. The doctor was a white
>guy, but germs don't notice such distinctions, and Deaf kids in Nicaragua
>need to know about vaccinations, too.
>
>13/14/15) The Trojan War/Odysseus and the Cyclops/Odysseus and the Cattle
>of the Sun: The Trojan War is about a military strategy. I have never seen
>a one-eyed cannibalistic giant in Nicaragua, but I have serious doubts the
>Greeks encountered any, either. For those who do not know the cattle story,
>the Greeks, confronting starvation, cook a cow belonging to the sun god.
>They tried fishing, but as a little joke Zeus wouldn't let them catch
>anything. Infuriated by the sacrilege (eating a god's cow), Zeus drowns
>them all, save Odysseus. Great wrath of the gods stuff -- lots of insight
>into Greek theology. Why deny this to a child because he was born 3,000
>years later on the other side of the Atlantic?
>
>16) The Spirit of St. Louis: probably the best story about work exhaustion
>ever, and a terrific geography lesson to boot. On his next trip, by the
>way, Lindy headed south, overflying Nicaragua due to the ongoing civil
>hostilities below.
>
>17) Nicaragua is White: Meteorologist predicts snow; Somoza declares
>holiday and orders parade on the eventful day; winter clad soldiers and
>schoolchildren collapse while marching under Managuan sun. We performed
>this satire as a school play after a group in England donated winter
>clothing for our students -- just goes to show anything can be put to good
>use.
>
>18) The Flying Frog: boastful frog claims he can fly, then persuades ducks
>to carry him aloft -- things go quite well until ducks get cocky. The claim
>is that this is an old Nicaraguan indigenous folktale, but this plot could
>come from anywhere.
>
>19) Tailypo -- an African-American folktale, more of the ghost tale genre.
>Hermit eats tail from animal unknown, which later exacts vengeance. Half
>our students are of African descent, and all of them are Americans.
>
>
>As you can see, not one of these stories features a Deaf protagonist or
>villain. But, I don't see anything culturally insensitive in any of this.
>What would be really culturally insensitive and really "politically
>incorrect" would be to have these translations and adaptations prepared
>entirely by non-native signers. You would end up with a pidgin.
>
>-- James Shepard-Kegl
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