Banquets des Sourds-Muets

The Banquets des Sourds-Muets were a series of annual banquets, run in Paris from 1834. They represent a space, produced (almost) entirely in sign language, that was designed as both a protest to the way that Deaf people were being treated by the hearing world, and the alternative reality that their Deaf organisers wanted to offer for examination by the hearing world.

As I’ve argued elsewhere, and plan to eventually publish, their history is by no means straightforward. They are, however, central to French Deaf history, and to the writing of that history by Anglo-culture historians.

Until now, though, other than bits of the ’34 they’ve not been available in translation. So… here are a few more bits.

These are necessarily rough. But if you want to use them, you can… just make sure that you cite the source so that when they are finally published, there is some version control in place.

The files are in pdf form, and contain both French transcriptions, and English translations.

• Banquet des sourds-muets, 1834
• Banquet des sourds-muets, 1835
• Banquet des sourds-muets, 1836

Let me know if you spot errors, have suggestions, or any comments.