My good friend, Rachel Knopf, gave me “the unheard: a memoir of deafness and africa” (words in the title uncapitalized in respect to how it was printed on the cover of the book) by Josh Swiller for a birthday present a few weeks ago. When I pulled the book out of the gift bag, I knew immediately what it was. The book was about a man, born deaf but raised orally, who went to Africa (Zambia) with the Peace Corps in the 1990’s. Rachel, who had visited me in Kenya when I was there for my Peace Corps service from 2002 to 2004, thought I would find it interesting. After all, we were both deaf and we both went to Africa as Peace Corps Volunteers! I had picked up the book precisely for this reason but didn’t buy it.
I don’t know why I resisted it at first. I had read Josh’s blogs and liked his style of writing. But to read his book… I held it off for a while, saying it’d be my treat for winter break, reading a non-school-related-book at last! But I think there was something else holding me back. The book’s gonna be about a guy who couldn’t accept he was deaf and through the Africans who are beset by poverty, disease, and everything-bad-you-can-ever-imagine found he was really lucky anyway to have received a good American education and blah blah blah. I wasn’t in the mood for a predictable tale where the complaining schmuck realizes how lucky he really is.
But, yesterday, Josh came to Gallaudet to give a presentation and meet all the bigwigs at Gallaudet. Watching him share stories with the audience, I found myself nodding spiritedly. I know it was quite spirited because Josh noticed me in the audience. “Were you in the Peace Corps?” “Yes,” I replied, feeling my face turn red. “Where?” he asks good-naturedly. “Kenya” I reply meekly. He nods and continues sharing his tales and includes me every now and then. “Julie, was this the same for you?” I’d nod and smile.
It wasn’t completely true. Josh was telling stories about a violent village where there was mob justice (they dragged a man for miles on Christmas day), where a third of the children under five died everyday during the rain season, where he lived in a mud hut with no running water or electricity. That wasn’t my Peace Corps experience. I lived on a school compound in a house with electricity and running water (although the electricity wasn’t very consistent and the water didn’t really run, it dripped), I didn’t see children dying (I only saw how deaf children were cruelly treated), I didn’t see the locals dragging bodies (I heard stories though about putting car tires on people and setting them on fire for theft).
But there was an element of familiarity in Josh’s words. That’s why I was such a spirited nodder. So last night, I went home and started to read his book. “Just one chapter!” I told myself, “Then you have to finish your Optimality Theory reading!” I agreed and turned the first page. I didn’t stop until page 265, the last page. I kept on reading despite the nagging voice in my head. “Read your Optimality Theory! Read your Optimality Theory!” Optimality Schmoptimality! It couldn’t compare to Josh’s book. To his story which pulled me in and forced me to walk aside him. To meet the people he met. To feel the anger, confusion, solitude, happiness, and peace (sometimes all in the course of a day and for me mere minutes) he felt. To see a world he saw.
When I finished the last page, I got that feeling you only get from reading really good books. A feeling of peace. A feeling of sadness at having finished it already. A feeling of understanding. It gave me words, metaphors, stories that helped me understand my own experiences. And showed me much more. “the unheard” wasn’t just about being deaf or being in Africa, it was about being human. That was what the familiarity was. Josh’s Peace Corps experience wasn’t exactly my experience. Josh’s experience with deafness wasn’t exactly my experience. But it didn’t matter. Josh knew how to beautifully capture what it’s like to be alive in this world. And that is why it’s a great book.
(NB: There is little mention of the plot of the book because (subtext) you should go out and get it for yourself!)
© Copyrighted material. This article cannot be copied, reproduced or redistributed without the express written consent of the author. As with every blog on this website, this blog does not reflect the opinion of DeafDC.com.
29 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Agreed! Josh was here in NYC before Thanksgiving for his reading. I bought the book and when he signed it, I told him I’d lived in another country just not as violent. He said the same thing to me, that the experiences are the same. I had the same initial reaction like you did.
After I read the book (less than a day) I emailed him about my feelings and experiences of living in another country in addition to my mainstreamed upbringing. He replied and said that it’s finding yourself in another part of the world. that was what the common experience he meant. I recommend this book also! It’s a great post and review, Julie.
That’s fantastic! I’m glad you enjoyed it too. It really should become a national bestseller, don’t you think??
indeed. and for the nonsigning readers as well.
He and I had the same speech therapist–Adele Markwitz. She really helped my mom out when she was trying to figure out how to deal with my deafness. Mom brought me to Manhattan when I was two years old, and I still have memories of that visit, of Central Park in the autumn, and Adele Markwitz. I went back to her for speech therapy when I was in college, and shortly thereafter, Adele passed away.
It’s funny finding out how much you have in common with a deaf person even though you’ve never met that deaf person, like sharing a speech therapist. The deaf world is funny that way :-)
I attended the same talk, and I shared your feelings of resistance to buying the book. I’ve seen it in bookstores, picked it up and run my fingers across the cover but always put it back. After meeting Josh yesterday, I have it on my to-buy list. I checked out his blog and his writing is AMAZING.
Off to the bookstore in a few minutes…thanks!
Deaf Education PCV-Philippines, ‘82-’84 here.
Happy B-Day, Julie!
=======
Non-fiction isn’t my thing…but maybe I’ll pick up a copy….
Thanks :)
And, it doesn’t really read as non-fiction. It has a great plot.
hey there, Julie. :) Happy belated birthday. I was wondering in which part of Kenya was this fellow stationed? Out in the west in Homa Bay area? Definitely not the coast! :)
Josh Swiller was in Zambia (in a village called Mununga). So no part of Kenya :)
It’s an excellent book, albeit heartbreaking, especially with the deaf African children at the end and his friend with whom he lost contact. All in all, it’s a tale of a young man who grows up, with the exception of the fact that he is deaf. I’m glad that Josh wrote this story.
I hate to “break the mold here” but I didn’t really like the book. He IS an amazing writer- I agree with that part. I was a bit turned off by what I felt was his ‘arrogance’ during some parts of the novel. But then again, it IS a book on “growing up”…
I’m not one for subscribing to popular opinion either. I don’t expect everyone to like this book.
I am curious what you mean by “arrogance.” Which parts?
There’s a lot of arrogance when you’re young and think you know it all. Yep, we’ve all been there.
I DO know everything! ;)
In all seriosity, it seemed that while Swiller may have talked about his arrogance (as being a young know-it-all who could save a village), he knew it. Isn’t recognition of one’s arrogance actually humility?
I think that the recognition on Swiller’s part came only after the events of the book. It is probably the catharsis of writing the book might have helped him grow.
But then again, it’s rather presumptuous of me to say what is behind the authorial thought process. All we can do is go by what he has written, and, possibly, attend one of his lectures like you did. All I can say is that this is a genre that desperately needs to grow. I enjoyed the sense of self-identification I had with Swiller although I could guess where it was going. There need to be more deaf authors, either fiction or non-fiction.
Self-identification. That’s a great phrase. I was struggling with how to characterize Swiller’s work. That’s a nice one to use.
I’m still struggling to see the arrogance in his story. What precisely gave that sense? Was there a particular passage or turn of events or dialogue that was arrogant? Or was it just the overall tone?
And beautifully said, we can only go by what is written. I wholeheartedly agree. Also with the wish for more deaf authors.
I wasn’t the person who said he was arrogant. That was someone else, although I could see parts of the “know it all” attitude in the book. Nothing specific though.
:) if it sounds like I’m challenging you. I’m really not. I’m just curious because I really didn’t get that sense and I’m trying to figure out if I missed something or if I’m construing it a different way. Or if I’m just way overanalyzing here.
No worries here. It’s good to meet another literature fan.
I hope you get a response to your question. It’s always good to ask questions since it’s a way to learn, grow, and hopefully change!
Absolutely! Readers are the best.
Paul Auster’s latest book is next on the agenda for me. Of course, after I finally finish my Optimality Theory readings (yes, I just love saying it!).
I have been putting off this book too, though I’ve a growing list of “recommended reads” in my own blog written by or about deaf/Deaf people. I haven’t been wanting to read anything depressing. But what you wrote here about the human experience being more than the Deaf experience– that gives me so much HOPE. Aren’t we ALL caught up in our own little worlds? You’ve inspired me to read the book. Thanks!
Thank you to Julie and Random Stranger for not biting my head off for my not-so-positive opinion :-)! I have to say this is one of the nicer blogs, with able to have a constructive discussion. Anyway to the point…
I think both of you had excellent responses to my comment…I think the part that I wasn’t sure about was- did he ever recognize his arrogance? I felt like he hadn’t really recognized it- but then again like Random Stranger said, “I think that the recognition on Swiller’s part came only after the events of the book.” I think one part of the book I would have liked to see more was after he came back to the US and how he views his experience now, in terms of his “attitude.” I guess the issue with the book for me was how it was written in the past- so I wasn’t sure if he was writing it as “I was right to do certain things then” or if it was “this was what I did…and how I view things now…”
The one part that really bothered me (in terms of arrogance) was when he wrote about how he physically treated the mentally (?) disabled hearing boy at the school for the deaf.
Also the other part that I didn’t like was how he had the discussion with the school teachers, I felt like his response was a bit “temper tantrum” and very one-sided with his American views. BUT, I can understand how the discussion may have gone that way, since it takes a lot to be in another country and I’m sure that is what one must go through with cultural adaptation and so forth… But the part I still didn’t like was about how he was with the first example—but then again, maybe he was doing what others do in Kenya with disabled students?
I think the whole “I’m-going-to-save-the-village” part I can understand. I think it was just a few of the “other things” that I couldn’t get past.
On the flip side, I read the book just after coming back from being in Ghana for a month, with a deaf school. So I may have gone into the book VERY biased and “with my own agenda?” And I’m SURE I wrote things that were probably arrogant and ethnocentric, but I am trying to (and hopefully am) learning from those experiences…
That’s where I would have liked to hear about Josh’s “transition” from the old to the new perspectives…but maybe that’s for the sequel? (Smiles).
reader,
i don’t blame you replying from a very fresh mind set from arriving from another country. I miss having that kind of thinking (been five years for me) when you come back home and you realize things that seemed so familiar doesn’t appear the same way they used to.
anyways - I think Josh has a lot of guts to document his initial reaction to how things were done in Zambia. What he did, the international community professionals would’ve frowned on his conduct and there were few parts where I winced thinking “dang why did you do that??”. He’s never been out of the States and he was in a vulnerable position where the Peace Corps (top down type of organization) gave him a mission that he felt he should undertake. And it’s part of his personality (confronting people) and he admitted he made a mistake with that deaf boy in the school leading him to think america is this and that. And he peppered some retrospective here and there after some situations. That’s my impression from reading the book.
I probably wouldn’t have the guts to admit the similar initial reactions I had when I first travelled, because I’m too seasoned a traveller now with a background in international studies. In a way, it was refreshing for me to read the book to remind me of my origins in travel.
Kate b, good comments!
Reader, I understand what you mean better now by “arrogance.” It’s funny, I don’t think I construe such as arrogance, but as honesty no matter how painful it may be to write or hear. I think that’s quite the opposite of arrogance. I do know how hard it is to maintain one’s ideals in such a hard and foreign place. For myself, I’m not proud of how I handled quite a few situations in Kenya but they happened. And I think that could and would be true for anyone. Josh also shared another saying during his talk at Gallaudet, “Peace Corps is where idealism goes to die.”
And, reader, you expressed a wish for how you wished Josh were more reflective on how his perspectives may have changed afterwards and how you wished he chronicled more about his after-experience in the states. I’m not sure that would have been honest :)
I think that his tale should be taken the way it was because it’s his. And it’s told well. Of course, you don’t have to agree with him (or me :) ).
Interesting blog. You make me want to buy a copy tomorrow!
Swiller says in the closing of a book review: “There was a saying in the Peace Corps around the time of my service. Volunteers who go to South America come back to the States politically active, volunteers who go to Southeast Asia return spiritually aware and curious, and volunteers who go to Africa? — they come back drunk and laughing.”
I’ve a question to ask you what Swiller really means by “come back drunk and laughing.” Did you feel the same when you returned from Africa? If so, why or if not, why? I’m trying to understand about the group of the volunteers.
Hope you like it!
Swiller meant that in Africa, in the face of such poverty and disease and general hardship, Africans deal however they can, through drink or laughter or both. And Peace Corps volunteers stationed there take a bit of this coping strategy home with them.
Julie,
I was recommended this book by a hearing co-worker of mine about a month ago. After being somewhat skeptical, thinking it was another “deaf” literature book, I was happy to say I could not put it down. I even bought my co-worker her own copy. I was amazed at how enjoyable it was. Not only was it funny and interesting, but the whole “humaness” factor was there as well.
I couldn’t be more pleased you chose to write about this book. Kudos
A very well written and poignant reflection. I haven’t read this book, or even heard of the work or the author, but I can add it to my list.
Thanks.