Dr. Matt Malzkuhn is an alum of the Cultural Studies Program at George Mason University, and his dissertation research on deaf home video filmmaking has turned into a book that has been picked up by Oxford University Press. Dr. Malzkuhn’s book, co-authored with Dr. Ted Supalla, Home Movies Hardly Silent: Unlocking Our Deaf Folklife Films represents a much needed documentation on the folklore and folklife of the deaf community. Dr. Malzkuhn was gracious enough to take the time to answer some questions about his upcoming book and how his experiences at George Mason ultimately led him to publish a book on Deaf Folklore.
What is your upcoming book about?
This book takes a first real look into the filmmaking exploits of Deaf amateurs during the advent of home movie making (1925-1970’s). These often forgotten, hidden or stored away cultural artifacts are authentic time capsules preserving the linguistic evolution of sign language and the lived experiences of the Deaf communities.
In these films sign language effectively became text as they were captured and embedded on film along with the community and family life experiences which allows us to examine the language and events in their exact time in history.
Our book also provides some literary and historical context behind the growing cinema technology of their time and how we constructed our methodology to effectively preserve, digitize, and catalog the content. This book should be of interest to the scholarship of history, film studies, deaf studies, linguistics, and anthropology to mention a few. This also can be beneficial to people outside of the academic forum such as archivists, hobbyists, advocates, and the ever curious minds.
How did you get the idea to write a book about deaf home video filmmaking?
When I was in the process of determining my dissertation research focus I was juggling a few ideas but they felt quite forced and perhaps less beneficial from a community and contribution standpoint. Fortunately, my co-author and former boss, Ted Supalla, suggested I could take a look at his early work on Deaf folklife film which was done in the early 1990’s. I read a few things and felt that this project is an important one to take further.
My intuition was confirmed shortly after when I was viewing some old films given to Ted by a family some years before I started on this project. I was viewing an old clip titled “1945 Picnic at CSD” which was shot by Leo Jacobs, a teacher at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley. In that scene was a group of deaf young men conversing and a gentleman entered the scene and to my surprise it was my grandfather. I was shocked and intrigued at the same time so this became my own personal impact story.
How did you come to George Mason/get into Cultural Studies?
I wanted to continue my academic career, as an educator and a researcher so pursuing a PhD seemed a reasonable endeavor. My deaf grandmother also wanted me to earn a PhD just like she did so this was also a promise I made to her.
I was searching for a program that would fit my expertise in Deaf Studies and American Sign Language so this was how the George Mason Cultural Studies program got on my radar. I loved what it offered and felt its interdisciplinary nature will definitely support my process of becoming a better scholar so I applied and was blessed to be accepted into the program. It also didn’t hurt that it was one of a kind type of program being a standalone PhD program in CS.
Are there any people or experiences in particular that helped you become the scholar that you are today? (Particularly at George Mason)
In terms of people there are clearly two; Drs. Debra Lattanzi Shutika and Roger Lancaster. Dr. Lattanzi Shutika (Deb) was my Dissertation advisor with Dr. Lancaster also serving on my committee. Deb provided me with the necessary guidance to tap into the proper lens to prepare me for my project such as further studying folklore and performance theory which became one of my field statements. Roger as the CS program lead thoroughly supported me and provided me with essential feedback so that I would pursue the right information and results. Their patience and faith in me were proved right and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
As for experience, I think pursuing a terminal degree outside of the comfort zone of my community and deaf environment forever changed me as a thinker and scholar. I essentially expanded my views and was able to shape them in an empirical way.
How did you meet your co-author, Dr. Ted Supalla?
My family knew him for years and I eventually got to know him better and on a professional level when he was a visiting professor in the Deaf Studies department at Gallaudet where I was a faculty member at that time. He eventually moved to Georgetown and started his Sign Language Research Lab so I saw this as an opportunity to expand my craft and experience so I joined him at Georgetown as a Research Specialist and the rest is history.
What was the process for writing this book like? What was it like writing with your co-author?
A healthy part of the book was based on my dissertation project so I already have gone through the motions and shaped my ideas. And it was quite effortless to combine this with Ted’s years of research on Sign Language and deaf folklife as he brought his own expertise to this book as well to give it a perfect Cultural and Scientific balance.
It was a learning experience for me and it was a blessing having Ted as a co-author as he already had previously published a book so he knew the process and was able to advise me wisely. This whole process probably took us around two years to complete, from the initial get go to receiving the actual copies.
What do you want people to take away from your book?
That our work only has begun. This book is a proof of how important this work can be to the field of Deaf Studies and Deaf Epistemology. It also can help reshape preexisting understanding or acceptance of the Deaf experience as largely pathological and disabling based by showing the Deaf agency for what they truly are, independent and self-sustaining.
It shows the deftness of Deaf throughout history and how they are able to capitalize on an emerging technology to document their culture and language for future generations to appreciate, value and learn from.
What are some next steps for you and your research?
Building and keep on building. There are some potential directions we can go in. Most importantly are cultivating and fostering a special interest group of stakeholders so this project can continue to grow. And in order to further protect these films.
Establishing a nonprofit to assist with the education and training of preserving these historical films and build a platform or access point to share these resources.
Maybe a new volume that further explores the unexplored topics, etc.
The sky's the limit.
You can purchase Dr. Malzkuhn’s book from Oxford Press here.
October 13, 2025