Intersecting discourses : deaf institutions and communities in Montreal, 1850-1920

Before 1920, the deaf of Montreal share with their counterparts elsewhere a common experience of residential schooling and training in manual trades, which introduced them to other deaf people and led to their socialising. In countries such as France and the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the deaf were encouraged to be active members of political and social movements. There was no such activism evident in the deaf of Montreal. At the end of the nineteenth century, a deaf culture was visible in the U.S. and France, but despite the presence of three schools for the deaf in Montreal, no such culture seems to have existed at that time. Deaf education in Montreal was carried out according to recognised teaching methods, and its teachers were part of a network of educators of the deaf abroad. Local influences unique to Montreal, such as religion and budding national and linguistic pride, however, changed the experience of both educators and the deaf. The bilingual character of the city, as well as the existence of two main Christian religions gave deaf life a different flavour. Historical narratives of deaf oppression at the hands of hearing educators common in France and the United States do not apply to the Montreal experience. In many ways, deaf associative life in Montreal depended on the involvement of hearing educators. Experiences were different for Catholics and for Protestants, as well as for men and for women. The most prominent deaf association was made up of Catholic men, who joined an alumni association, the Cercle Saint-Francois-de-Sales, and started a newspaper destined not only for deaf Catholic men and women, but also for a readership consisting of the hearing. Their association also developed support networks for those deaf who suffered from economic and social disadvantage. This association took on much of the ideological character of French-Canadian society, and was supported by the Catholic clergy. Its national and religious character was paramount and welcomed all members of the deaf family, which extended beyond audiological deafness to anyone interested in the deaf. Rather than participating in the deaf discourse in the United States or France, this association took on characteristics of the greater French-Canadian Catholic cultural group of which it was a part. This thesis examines the conditions that led to these differences in the Montreal deaf experience between 1880 and 1920. It is concerned with the emergence of deaf networks of sociability and solidarity connected with Montreal's schools for the deaf and how such networks were made possible by the involvement of their educators. By examining the intellectual, religious, and national elements that gave rise to these deaf networks, this work aims at understanding the social dynamics steering Quebec society at the turn of the twentieth century.

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