SASL Newsletter - Spring 2018 Issue Issue 9 - Spring 2018 | Page 4

“The Hitchhiker”
by David Rivera
(2014)
“Courtesy of DawnSignPress,
excerpted from the
DawnSignPress Facebook
page, June 3, 2017”
hearing child of deaf parents, ends up catching the hitchhiker's fraudulent action, thus vindicating deaf
people. Although most deaf people may never encounter a police officer who knows ASL, such a
circumstance would be welcomed. The Hitchhiker represents many aspects of Deaf culture and how
mainstream society interacts with deaf people (see Rutherford, 1993 for more insights on this classic
story of the deaf community).
For purposes of classroom literary study, I find it important for both deaf and hearing students to
view more than one version of The Hitchhiker. Middle school or high school deaf students may know
ASL, but they can learn why different storytellers add or delete a segment or expand or de-emphasize
an idea within the same narrative. “Having students tell stories and describe the different ways they
have [seen] or told what seems to be the ‘same’ story leads to a discussion of rhetoric” (Haut, 1994, p.
48). The same benefit holds true for hearing students who study ASL as foreign/second language. The
cultural value of the narrative and its coverage of the relationship between mainstream society and the
deaf community will make an important contribution to the curriculum. The literary study of The
Hitchhiker will bring deeper and more meaningful perspectives to the narrative, as well as leading
students to a greater understanding of the nature of folklore in general.
References
Bahan, B., & Klein, B. (2009). The hitchhiker. Deaf Studies Digital Journal, 1. Retrieved from http://dsdj.gallaudet.edu/index.php?issue=1§ion_id=4&entry_id=62
Byrne, A. P. J. (2017, Winter). Editor’s corner: American Sign Language literature database now has a home! The Power of ASL: A Newsletter of the Society for
American Sign Language, 8, 2-3. Retrieved from https://joom.ag/P4eY
Carmel, S. (1981). American folklore in the deaf community. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/6y_b3BEj5HI
Habel, N. C. (1988). The two flood stories in Genesis. In A. Dundes (Ed.), The flood myth (pp. 13 – 28). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Haut, J. E. (1994). How can acting like a fieldworker enrich pluralistic education? In M. O. Jones (Ed.), Putting folklore to use (pp. 45 – 61). Lexington, KY: The
University Press of Kentucky.
Kuntze, M. (1984). American culture: The deaf perspective: Deaf folklore [DVD]. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Public Library.
Millios, W. (2015, September 15). The hitchhiker. Salt Lake City, UT: Sorenson Communications. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzcSPreybD4
Morrow, D. (2017, March 27). The hearing hitchhiker. Unknown location: Pink Dippers. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Facl95Jc48
Pineda, D. (1994, 2006). ASL funny bones: Favorite deaf jokes told in ASL: Tape 6H [DVD]. Salem, OR: Sign Enhancers, Inc.
Rivera, D. (2017, June 3). The hitchhiker. San Diego, CA: DawnSignPress, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/DawnSign/videos/1693294197366345/
Rutherford, S. (1993). A study of American deaf folklore. Burtonsville, MD: Linstok Press, Inc.
Weiss,
N.
(2017,
September
16).
The
hitchhiker.
https://www.facebook.com/DawnSign/videos/1812704435425320/
The Power of ASL
San
4
Diego,
CA:
DawnSignPress,
Inc.
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