- Deaf studies, Deafhood, Local Identities, Fieldwork in Anthropology, Anthropology of space, Anthropology, and 48 morePhilosophy, Sense of Place, Glocalization, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Development anthropology, DEAF space, Henri Lefebvre, Shared signing communities, Shared sign languages, Ghana, India, Mumbai, India, Adamorobe, Deaf Geographies, Qualitative Research Methods, Research Ethics, Gesture, Gesture Studies, Commuting, Public Transport, Transport Geography, Gender. space and culture, Deaf Studies, Sign Linguistics, Sign Language, Research Methodology, Disability Studies, Eugenics, Railways and trains, Lofland, Deaf utopias, Martha's Vineyard, Sociology, Urban Studies, Migration Studies, Medical Anthropology, Visual Anthropology, Visual Ant, Anthropology of Deafness, Mumbai Deaf, Deaf Women Mumbai, Gender Studies, Ethnography, Social Networks, Migration, Human Geography, Urban Anthropology, Africa, Women's Studies, and Lingua Francaedit
Cosmopolitanism theory was mostly developed separately from the study of multilingualism: while language is central to cosmopolitanism as a practice, only a few scholars focusing on cosmopolitanism have taken a language-centred approach.... more
Cosmopolitanism theory was mostly developed separately from the study of multilingualism: while language is central to cosmopolitanism as a practice, only a few scholars focusing on cosmopolitanism have taken a language-centred approach. We further theorise the relationship between cosmopolitanism and translingual practice with our focus on morality in relation to the use of the semiotic repertoire. The use of resources of the semiotic repertoire in translingual practice is infused with morality in that resources (such as languages, individual signs, mouthing, fingerspelling alphabets) are value laden and have particular associations or meanings in a given context. We explore and define deaf cosmopolitanism by offering examples from three international settings: deaf tourism in Bali, a sign language conference in Brazil, and a Bible translation centre in Kenya. Deaf people engaging in international mobilities align in communication by what they call ‘calibrating’. In this process, mobile deaf people quickly adopt new semiotic resources by engaging in rapid, immersive and informal (sign) language learning, acquiring (bits of) new sign languages, mouthing, written words, and fingerspelling alphabets, and including them in their practice of calibrating. Our analysis centres language ideologies about these practices, demonstrating moral ideas about what strategies and semiotic resources are most appropriate in specific contexts and/or with/by whom.
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Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use... more
Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use during a holiday in India in and between four deaf-hearing befriended families, and how this evolved over the twelve days of the trip (4FLP). Three of the four families are our (the authors’) own. The family members originate from the UK, Belgium, Denmark and India. All families use more than one language at home (at least one sign language and one spoken language), and all family members are fluent signers. We ask: how does intrafamilial FLP (1FLP) at home inform interfamilial FLP (xFLP) on holiday? And how does interfamilial contact on holiday inform intrafamilial FLP during that same holiday? The data discussed in the article is organised along different multilingual practices, some of them general to multilingual interactions and others specific to multilingual signers: language mixing, switching and learning, language brokering, speaking and signspeaking. The findings reveal rich complexities of interfamilial language practices which inform thinking on FLP and multilingualism.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper approaches International Sign (IS) as both a translingual practice and a contact language which is subject to language contact with American Sign Language (ASL). The perceived overuse of ASL in IS is often judged as... more
This paper approaches International Sign (IS) as both a translingual practice and a contact language which is subject to language contact with American Sign Language (ASL). The perceived overuse of ASL in IS is often judged as counterproductive for IS to flourish independently from ASL. The desire for IS and ASL to be sufficiently different leads to a desire for setting and maintaining linguistic boundaries between both. Therefore, discourses about the maintenance and vitality of IS as a collaborative translingual practice can take the form of linguistic prescriptivism aiming to curtail ASL use in IS. Crown
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Deaf anthropology is a field that exists in conversation with but is not re-ducible to the interdisciplinary field of deaf studies. Deaf anthropology is predicated upon a commitment to understanding deafnesses across time and space while... more
Deaf anthropology is a field that exists in conversation with but is not re-ducible to the interdisciplinary field of deaf studies. Deaf anthropology is predicated upon a commitment to understanding deafnesses across time and space while holding on to "deaf" as a category that does something socially, politically, morally, and methodologically. In doing so, deaf anthropology moves beyond compartmentalizing the body, the senses, and disciplinary boundaries. We analyze the close relationship between anthropology writ large and deaf studies: Deaf studies scholars have found analytics and categories from anthropology, such as the concept of culture, to be productive in analyzing deaf peoples' experiences and the sociocultural meanings of deafness. As we note, however, scholarship on deaf peoples' experiences is increasingly variegated. This review is arranged into four overlapping sections titled Socialities and Similitudes; Mobilities, Spaces, and Networks; Modalities and the Sensorium; and Technologies and Futures.
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“Adamorobe signing is SWEET,” “The signing in Adamorobe is HARD,” “Adamorobe’s deaf people should sign in an EYE-HARD way.” These are discourses about signing in Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), a sign language used in Adamorobe, an Akan... more
“Adamorobe signing is SWEET,” “The signing in Adamorobe is HARD,” “Adamorobe’s deaf
people should sign in an EYE-HARD way.” These are discourses about signing in Adamorobe
Sign Language (AdaSL), a sign language used in Adamorobe, an Akan farmer village in
southern Ghana distinguished by a history of hereditary deafness. By calling AdaSL SWEET,
HARD and so on, deaf people in Adamorobe attribute qualia (sensuous qualities which can
include hardness, lightness, dryness, and so on) to different forms of signing. Based on
fieldwork stints in Adamorobe spread over a period of 10 years, I analyze how qualic
evaluations of AdaSL are expressed differently by deaf people from different generations who
have had different rates of exposure to Ghanaian Sign Language in addition to AdaSL. Qualic
evaluations of AdaSL are related to qualic evaluations of behavior (Gal 2013; Harkness 2015):
there are parallels in discourses about AdaSL being HARD and deaf people being hard of
character and being hardworking strong farmers. Qualic evaluations of language and social
relationships permeate discourses about intergenerational differences, constituting a recurrent
theme in the language ideological assemblage (i.e., clusters of language ideologies and other
ideologies that impact on language) (Kroskrity 2018). [generations, language ideologies,
sign language, qualia, bilingualism]
people should sign in an EYE-HARD way.” These are discourses about signing in Adamorobe
Sign Language (AdaSL), a sign language used in Adamorobe, an Akan farmer village in
southern Ghana distinguished by a history of hereditary deafness. By calling AdaSL SWEET,
HARD and so on, deaf people in Adamorobe attribute qualia (sensuous qualities which can
include hardness, lightness, dryness, and so on) to different forms of signing. Based on
fieldwork stints in Adamorobe spread over a period of 10 years, I analyze how qualic
evaluations of AdaSL are expressed differently by deaf people from different generations who
have had different rates of exposure to Ghanaian Sign Language in addition to AdaSL. Qualic
evaluations of AdaSL are related to qualic evaluations of behavior (Gal 2013; Harkness 2015):
there are parallels in discourses about AdaSL being HARD and deaf people being hard of
character and being hardworking strong farmers. Qualic evaluations of language and social
relationships permeate discourses about intergenerational differences, constituting a recurrent
theme in the language ideological assemblage (i.e., clusters of language ideologies and other
ideologies that impact on language) (Kroskrity 2018). [generations, language ideologies,
sign language, qualia, bilingualism]
In this article, we discuss the use of language portraits (LP) as a research method to investigate the embodied multilingual repertoires of people who use both spoken and signed languages. Our discussion is based on two studies in which... more
In this article, we discuss the use of language portraits (LP) as a research method to investigate the embodied multilingual repertoires of people who use both spoken and signed languages. Our discussion is based on two studies in which most participants were deaf (one study also included hearing participants). We primarily offer a methodological contribution to the discussion around LP, since we argue that the study of linguistic repertoires of signers takes the multimodal aspect of the method to a new level. Indeed, by separating modalities (speech, signing, writing), grouping languages in different ways, and mapping them on the LP, the LP discussed in this article represent multimodal languaging more explicitly than in previous studies. Furthermore, by locating particular signs on the LP, several participants literally mapped their body when signing and gesturing in their narratives, thus performing and becoming their language portrait. We suggest that the study of body language (signing/gesturing/pointing) in the verbal narrations accompanying the LP thus expands the multimodal aspect of the analysis of LP.
This article analyses how intersectionality and mobility shape each other in the case of deaf women who board the Mumbai suburban trains, which have separate compartments reserved for women and for people with disabilities. These... more
This article analyses how intersectionality and mobility shape each other in the case of deaf women who board the Mumbai suburban trains, which have separate compartments reserved for women and for people with disabilities. These compartments being adjacent, deaf women often make last-minute decisions where to board, and even happen to switch compartments at a further station. Here, intersectionality shapes mobility in that it entails a complex and changeable, context-dependent set of strategies and decisions. Mobility shapes intersectionality in that by being mobile, people assert or develop different aspects of their lived experi- ences, preferences and aspirations.
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In this article we discuss the practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers. Applying the translanguaging concept to deaf signers brings a different perspective by focusing on sensorial accessibility. While the... more
In this article we discuss the practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers. Applying the translanguaging concept to deaf signers brings a different perspective by focusing on sensorial accessibility. While the sensory orientations of deaf people are at the heart of their translanguaging practices, sensory asymmetries are often not acknowledged in translanguaging theory and research. This has led to a bias in the use of translanguaging in deaf educational settings overlooking existing power disparities conditioning individual languaging choices. We ask whether translanguaging and attending to deaf signers’ fluid language practices is compatible with on-going and necessary efforts to maintain and promote sign languages as named languages. The concept of translanguaging challenges the six decade long project of sign linguistics and by extension Deaf Studies to legitimize the status of sign languages as minority languages. We argue that the minority language paradigm is still useful in finding tools to understand deaf people’s languaging practices and close with a call for closer attention to the level of sensory conditions, and the corresponding sensory politics, in shaping languaging practices. The emancipatory potential of acknowledging deaf people’s translanguaging skills must acknowledge the historical and contemporary contexts constantly conditioning individual languaging choices.
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This article investigates academic and everyday perspectives on the difference between gesture and sign. A large number of language scholars have suggested that gesture is not language, that different forms of gesturing and signing exist... more
This article investigates academic and everyday perspectives on the difference between gesture and sign. A large number of language scholars have suggested that gesture is not language, that different forms of gesturing and signing exist on continua, and/or that they could be classified on a developmental cline. " Everyday " ideologies of deaf people in Mumbai showed either an analytical collapse of gesture and sign or a distinction between them, and were more focused on hearing status and on contextual factors in deciding whether something counted as gesture or sign –as compared to academic ideologies which were more focused on form. In the context of language classes and research projects, academic ideologies bleed into, are resisted, adopted or transformed in everyday contexts.
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This article is based on the analysis of customer interactions of Pradip, a deafblind man, with street sellers and shopkeepers in Mumbai. Pradip made use of visible and tactile gesturing including pointing at and tapping on objects (to... more
This article is based on the analysis of customer interactions of Pradip, a deafblind man, with street sellers and shopkeepers in Mumbai. Pradip made use of visible and tactile gesturing including pointing at and tapping on objects (to indicate them), using emblematic gestures, and tracing the shape of objects on the hand. The fact that the sensory ecology is not reciprocal for the interlocutors is crucial for our understanding of what interaction means in these contexts. The material contexts themselves exert pressure on practices because of the constraints they pose for Pradip and his interlocutors; and routine/patterned ways of interacting in those contexts also exert pressure on practice: conventionalised schemes for customer interactions do not necessarily work in interactions between a deafblind and hearing sighted person. Pradip, as an experienced customer, negotiated the lack of shared conventional mechanisms for coordinating and signalling attention by abundant repetitions and by establishing tactile contact either immediately prior to, or during the utterance, including the production of signs on the interlocutor’s hand. The study thus shows that an experienced customer can successfully initiate new participant frameworks, without naturalising the constraints that are negotiated.
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The article furthers the study of urban multilingual (i.e. metrolingual) practices, in particular the study of customer interactions, by a focus on the use of gestures in these practices. The article focuses on fluent... more
The article furthers the study of urban multilingual (i.e. metrolingual) practices, in particular the study of customer interactions, by a focus on the use of gestures in these practices. The article focuses on fluent deaf signers and hearing non-signers in Mumbai who use gestures to communicate with each other, often combined with mouthing, speaking and/or writing in different languages. The data were gathered through linguistic ethnography in markets, shops, food joints and public transport in Mumbai. Within gesture- based interactions, people with sensorial asymmetries (i.e. deaf vs. hearing) combined the visual-gestural modality and certain features of the auditory-oral modality, and/or switched between modalities. Interlocutors thus orient towards the ongoing interaction and negotiate the constraints and possibilities imposed not only by different modalities but also by different sensorial access to these modalities.
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This paper presents a critical examination of key concepts in the study of (signed and spoken) language and multimodality. It shows how shifts in conceptual understandings of language use, moving from bilingualism to multilingualism and... more
This paper presents a critical examination of key concepts in the study of (signed and spoken) language and multimodality. It shows how shifts in conceptual understandings of language use, moving from bilingualism to multilingualism and (trans)languaging, have resulted in the revitalisation of the concept of language repertoires. We discuss key assumptions and analytical developments that have shaped the sociolinguistic study of signed and spoken language multilingualism as separate from different strands of multimodality studies. In most multimodality studies, researchers focus on participants using one named spoken language within broader embodied human action. Thus while attending to multimodal communication, they do not attend to multilingual communication. In translanguaging studies the opposite has happened: scholars have attended to multilingual communication without really paying attention to multimodality and simultaneity, and hierarchies within the simultaneous combination of resources. The (socio)linguistics of sign language has paid attention to multimodality but only very recently have started to focus on multilingual contexts where multiple sign and/or multiple spoken languages are used. There is currently little transaction between these areas of research. We argue that the lens of semiotic repertoires enables synergies to be identified and provides a holistic focus on action that is both multilingual and multimodal.
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This article offers a detailed ethnographic account of how people appropriate available space in compartments for disabled people in the Mumbai suburban trains, make it their own and monitor it, in the context of a succession of recent... more
This article offers a detailed ethnographic account of how people appropriate available space in compartments for disabled people in the Mumbai suburban trains, make it their own and monitor it, in the context of a succession of recent spatial changes. These compartments have increased in size over the years, and subsequently, the body of travellers has become more diverse. Passengers produce hierarchies based on need, physical differences, age differences and physical appearance, determining who can enter the compartments and who can’t, who can sit and who should stand, and where they should sit/stand. These hierarchies are mediated, but not dominated, by medical and disability certificates which are, in addition to a valid ticket, the documents that entitle people to travel in the handicapped compartments. Hierarchies are influenced by sexism, classism and audism and partially overlap but also are competing, such as in the case of deaf people who argue for the right to occupy seats and at the same time struggle with how to balance this quest with the need to act morally towards fellow travellers who seemingly suffer.
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A relatively high number of deaf people is indigenous to Adamorobe in Ghana. I collected a wide array of explanations for its high prevalence of deafness. Inspired by Wittgenstein, I frame these explanations as being produced during... more
A relatively high number of deaf people is indigenous to Adamorobe in Ghana. I collected a wide array of explanations for its high prevalence of deafness. Inspired by Wittgenstein, I frame these explanations as being produced during language games, and bearing family resemblances. Different explanations of deafness appear in different language games with different purposes. In some of these language games, it is the primary aim to explain deafness, and in other language games, explanations of deafness appear either as element or as strategy. There are family resemblances among the content of the stories and between aspects and qualities that appear in a constellation of relevance. The study of etiology in this case gives insight in social and moral relationships of deaf and hearing people with their physical environment, relatives, ancestors, neighbours and in interactions with the researchers that recorded the stories.
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This article analyzes language ideologies with regard to sign language in Adamorobe, a “shared signing community” in southern Ghana. Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) is a “shared sign language,” used by all deaf people and a large number... more
This article analyzes language ideologies with regard to sign language in Adamorobe, a “shared signing community” in southern Ghana. Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) is a “shared sign language,” used by all deaf people and a large number of hearing Akan-speaking people. Deaf schoolchildren from Adamorobe attend a school where Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) is taught. Hearing interviewees have experiential knowledge that everything can be said in AdaSL, emphasise the shared roots of AdaSL and Akan, and called AdaSL “natural.” Deaf interlocutors describe Akan, AdaSL, and GSL as three distinct but equivalent languages. AdaSL is said to be a “hard” language, more pleasant to use, and more expressive than GSL, but sign bilingualism is highly valued. These findings are compared and con- trasted with accounts on language ideologies with regard to other shared sign languages and larger urban/national sign languages. (Language ideologies, language practices, Ghana, Ghanaian Sign Language, Adamorobe Sign Language, Akan, shared sign languages, shared signing communities, village sign languages)
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The authors argue that Deafhood (a term coined by Dr. Paddy Ladd) is an open-ended concept with an essentialist core. They describe how deaf people who have attended their Deafhood lectures and workshops have perceived different aspects... more
The authors argue that Deafhood (a term coined by Dr. Paddy Ladd) is an open-ended concept with an essentialist core. They describe how deaf people who have attended their Deafhood lectures and workshops have perceived different aspects of the Deafhood concept, and compare the basic tenets of Deafhood and criticisms on Deafhood to theories and criticisms on feminist essentialisms. The authors find that the vagueness and wideness of the Deafhood concept is one of its strengths, though they also find that it is in some respects problematic to combine and unite ontology and liberation theory in one concept. They further sug- gest that the ontological aspects of Deafhood need to be foregrounded. The question of essentialism inherent in the Deafhood concept is also briefly discussed with regard to hearing people, the use of spoken lan- guage, and the use of amplification technology and cochlear implants.
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This article provides an ethnographic analysis of “deaf sociality” in Adamorobe, a village in Ghana, where the relatively high prevalence of hereditary deafness has led to dense social and spatial connections. Deaf people are part of... more
This article provides an ethnographic analysis of “deaf sociality” in Adamorobe, a village in Ghana, where the relatively high prevalence of hereditary deafness has led to dense social and spatial connections. Deaf people are part of their hearing environment particularly through family networks, and produce deaf sociality through many informal interactive practices which take place in “deaf spaces”. In this context, efforts by the Deaf Lutheran Church to institute deaf only signed worship services and (development) projects have been unsuccessful. Deaf community members are a priori socialized into practices of deaf sociality through deaf spaces and see little or no need for this set of practices which bring them few benefits. Furthermore, collective structuring, social security, social work, interpreting and leadership rather happen in the context of lineages and extended families—where sign language is used—rather than in deafbased support networks.
Research Interests:
This is a published article following my MSc dissertation, describing the results of an ethnographic research study that I conducted in Mumbai. This study revealed that deaf people tend to travel in newly-established train compartments... more
This is a published article following my MSc dissertation, describing the results of an ethnographic research study that I conducted in Mumbai. This study revealed that deaf people tend to travel in newly-established train compartments that are reserved for people with disabilities. This article explores the reasons they do so and sheds light on several sociocultural consequences of this practice. Deaf people travel in these compartments because the general train compartments are too crowded to use sign language, in contrast to the compartments for people with disabilities. Hence these compartments became important meeting places, strengthening links in the Mumbai deaf community. In addition, the visibility of signing deaf groups in the compartments and on the train platforms has caused a growth in deaf awareness among hearing people in these ‘disabled’ compartments in particular and at the train stations in general. This research thus tells us something about how deaf people use public space in which deaf minority culture is not oppressed by or subjugated to the hearing majority. It is because of Mumbai’s peninsular geography, its resulting population density and the heavy use of two suburban train lines unique for this city, that these several different effects were strongly spread amongst both the deaf community and among hearing people
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Martha’s Vineyard—an island off the East Coast of the United States—is known as a community where ‘‘everyone signed’’ for several hundred years, a utopia in the eyes of many deaf people. Currently, there exist around the world a number of... more
Martha’s Vineyard—an island off the East Coast of the United States—is known as a community where ‘‘everyone signed’’ for several hundred years, a utopia in the eyes of many deaf people. Currently, there exist around the world a number of small similar ‘‘shared signing communities,’’ for example, in Mexico, Bali, Israel, and Ghana. A few studies about these have emerged, which give some information about the social and cultural patterns in such communities. Deaf studies researchers have begun the process of ‘‘synthesising’’ and theorising this information, and have developed typologies based on ‘‘traditional’’ Western urban deaf communities. This article critically reviews the existing literature and raises new questions regarding the study and theorising of such communities. It concludes that the study of shared signing communities is not just the study of odd, idyllic, utopian places. It argues for the need to go beyond comparisons between Western deaf communities and shared signing communities and to investigate the latter in more depth, because what the snippets of evidence about deaf-specific experiences and relationships seem to show is that we are dealing with dynamic complex realities. It concludes that the results of more sustained fieldwork and thus more reliable data, cross- compared with the existing research findings, would enable us to broaden and deepen the deaf studies field and promote an awareness of the wide range of variations between deaf-deaf and deaf-hearing interactions and of variations in deaf people’s life worlds.
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This article qualitatively analyzes the ways that the discourse of "deaf universalism" circulates within two common deaf practices: tourism and engaging in interventions. Arguing that the largely Northern-situated discipline of Deaf... more
This article qualitatively analyzes the ways that the discourse of "deaf universalism" circulates within two common deaf practices: tourism and engaging in interventions. Arguing that the largely Northern-situated discipline of Deaf Studies does not adequately examine how deaf bodies and discourses travel, ethnographic data compiled in India and Ghana during transnational encounters is employed to examine how claims of "sameness" and "difference" are enacted and negotiated. Similarly, this article examines how deaf individuals and groups deploy the concepts of deaf "heavens" and "hells" to analyze their travel experiences and justify interventions. We argue that deaf travelers and those engaging in interventions, mostly from Northern countries, employ teleological concepts that they attempt to impose on deaf "others." Adopting a critical approach, this article argues for the importance of carving out a space within Deaf Studies for allowing non-Northern concepts to come to the fore.
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Die Konzepte „Diversität“ und „Inklusion“ werden im Hinblick auf ihre Verwendung in Bezug auf taube Menschen untersucht, die wir als Sign Language Peoples (SLPs) bezeichnen, insbesondere im politischen Diskurs (wie beim Weltverband... more
Die Konzepte „Diversität“ und „Inklusion“
werden im Hinblick auf
ihre Verwendung in Bezug auf taube
Menschen untersucht, die wir
als Sign Language Peoples (SLPs) bezeichnen,
insbesondere im politischen
Diskurs (wie beim Weltverband
der Gehörlosen oder in der
UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention
(BRK)) und dem akademischen Diskurs
(insbesondere das Konzept des
„Deaf Gain“). In der Erörterung dieser
Diskurse bewerten wir Chancen
und Risiken von „Diversität“ und
„Inklusion“ in politischen Standortbestimmungen
und wissenschaftlichen
Analysen. Unserer Ansicht
nach müssen wir, wenn diese Konzepte
für SLPs bei der Erstreitung
ihrer Rechte einen Nutzen bringen
sollen, ein bestimmtes Verständnis
von Inklusion als gesellschaftlicher
Inklusion in den Vordergrund stellen
und deutlich machen, dass Diversität
eine auf Gruppenrechten basierende
Grundlage braucht. So erforschen
wir unterschiedliche Paradigmen
für ein Verständnis davon,
auf welche Art und Weise SLPs
Teil der Diversität sind und wie sie
inkludiert werden können. Damit
leisten wir über den speziellen Fall
der SLPs hinaus einen Beitrag zur
wissenschaftlichen wie auch allgemeinen
Debatte über Inklusion und
Diversität.
werden im Hinblick auf
ihre Verwendung in Bezug auf taube
Menschen untersucht, die wir
als Sign Language Peoples (SLPs) bezeichnen,
insbesondere im politischen
Diskurs (wie beim Weltverband
der Gehörlosen oder in der
UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention
(BRK)) und dem akademischen Diskurs
(insbesondere das Konzept des
„Deaf Gain“). In der Erörterung dieser
Diskurse bewerten wir Chancen
und Risiken von „Diversität“ und
„Inklusion“ in politischen Standortbestimmungen
und wissenschaftlichen
Analysen. Unserer Ansicht
nach müssen wir, wenn diese Konzepte
für SLPs bei der Erstreitung
ihrer Rechte einen Nutzen bringen
sollen, ein bestimmtes Verständnis
von Inklusion als gesellschaftlicher
Inklusion in den Vordergrund stellen
und deutlich machen, dass Diversität
eine auf Gruppenrechten basierende
Grundlage braucht. So erforschen
wir unterschiedliche Paradigmen
für ein Verständnis davon,
auf welche Art und Weise SLPs
Teil der Diversität sind und wie sie
inkludiert werden können. Damit
leisten wir über den speziellen Fall
der SLPs hinaus einen Beitrag zur
wissenschaftlichen wie auch allgemeinen
Debatte über Inklusion und
Diversität.
Research Interests:
Adamorobe is a village in Ghana where the historical presence of a hereditary form of deafness resulted in a high number of deaf inhabitants. Over the centuries, a local sign language emerged, which is used between deaf and hearing people... more
Adamorobe is a village in Ghana where the historical presence of a hereditary form of deafness resulted in a high number of deaf inhabitants. Over the centuries, a local sign language emerged, which is used between deaf and hearing people in everyday life, rendering Adamorobe into an unique place of inclusion of deaf people. However, in 1975 a law was introduced to reduce the number of deaf people in Adamorobe: deaf people cannot marry each other in order to avoid deaf offspring. In the long term, this law threatens the linguistic and cultural diversity in this village where the use of sign language is omnipresent and where deaf people are perceived as fully productive and worthy members of society. This article is structured around two sets of tensions in the village: firstly, hearing people’s acceptance and inclusion of the deaf inhabitants, versus the wish to live in a village with no (or less) deaf people. Secondly, there is a tension between deaf people’s subjection to, and resistance against the law, a tension that can be observed in the existence of relationships between deaf partners, and abortions when these unions lead to pregnancies.
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This chapter discusses the importance of using visual methods in the field of Deaf Studies, and suggests and evaluates different pathways to utilise these methods. It argues that when using visual research methods, researchers not only... more
This chapter discusses the importance of using visual methods in the field of Deaf Studies, and suggests and evaluates different pathways to utilise these methods. It argues that when using visual research methods, researchers not only respect the use of sign languages, but also provide ways to deepen the understanding of the uniquely visual deaf experience of the world. This chapter provides a literature review of the major forms of visual research methods currently used in Deaf Studies research and in other fields. The remainder of the chapter deal with two case studies taken from the authors’ own experiences: auto-driven photo-elicitation interviews in the UK and the creation of an ethnographic film in Mumbai; including an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods that were used.
In this introductory chapter, the editors critically map the field of Deaf Studies. Central in this discussion is an exploration of themes that have been investigated in the field and a critical examination of the theoretical frameworks... more
In this introductory chapter, the editors critically map the field of Deaf Studies. Central in this discussion is an exploration of themes that have been investigated in the field and a critical examination of the theoretical frameworks and concepts that have been used including the deaf culture concept and the d/D writing convention. The editors then flag up current theoretical trends in the field and consider how the field can be strengthened. Subsequently, they discuss the hegemony of hearing scholars in Deaf Studies, and collaboration between deaf and hearing scholars. They explore experiences of deaf researchers within research contexts and within academia, followed by a discussion of ethical research practice. Having thus established the theoretical and socio-political context of the current state of the field of Deaf Studies, the editors introduce the main themes of the current volume and explicate the unifying threads that run through the following chapters.
Innovations in Deaf Studies: Critically Mapping the Field. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316878605_Innovations_in_Deaf_Studies_Critically_Mapping_the_Field [accessed May 12, 2017].
Innovations in Deaf Studies: Critically Mapping the Field. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316878605_Innovations_in_Deaf_Studies_Critically_Mapping_the_Field [accessed May 12, 2017].
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This is the intro of my book "Deaf Space in Adamorobe: An Ethnographic Study in a Village in Ghana" - published by Gallaudet University Press in 2015.
Research Interests:
This is the introduction to the book "It's a Small World: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters". We start this introductory chapter with an analysis and discussion of the different kinds of international deaf spaces. In doing so, we... more
This is the introduction to the book "It's a Small World: International Deaf Spaces and Encounters".
We start this introductory chapter with an analysis and discussion of the different kinds of international deaf spaces. In doing so, we argue for the importance and timeliness of this book. We discuss previous writing in Deaf Studies that analyzed international deaf experiences and encounters and we will discuss how this book builds upon these works and makes needed interventions. We give a general explanation of key concepts including deaf universalism, deaf similitude,” deaf geographies, and deaf space. Most importantly, we explore the concept of “DEAF-SAME”. We define the concepts “international” versus “transnational” – as both concepts are used in the book.
From there, we set out the book structure, summarising key trends in each of the sections. The most general conclusion is that deaf universalism has both potential and limits, and our introduction defines and analyses these in more depth.
We start this introductory chapter with an analysis and discussion of the different kinds of international deaf spaces. In doing so, we argue for the importance and timeliness of this book. We discuss previous writing in Deaf Studies that analyzed international deaf experiences and encounters and we will discuss how this book builds upon these works and makes needed interventions. We give a general explanation of key concepts including deaf universalism, deaf similitude,” deaf geographies, and deaf space. Most importantly, we explore the concept of “DEAF-SAME”. We define the concepts “international” versus “transnational” – as both concepts are used in the book.
From there, we set out the book structure, summarising key trends in each of the sections. The most general conclusion is that deaf universalism has both potential and limits, and our introduction defines and analyses these in more depth.
Research Interests:
This chapter is based upon a conversation with Outi Toura-Jensen, Filip Verhelst, and Ole Vestergaard, deaf teachers in the well-known and influential Denmark- based Frontrunners program (http://frontrunners.dk), an international deaf... more
This chapter is based upon a conversation with Outi Toura-Jensen, Filip Verhelst,
and Ole Vestergaard, deaf teachers in the well-known and influential Denmark-
based Frontrunners program (http://frontrunners.dk), an international deaf
youth leadership training program (though its focus has recently changed and it
is now a deaf international education program). The idea for Frontrunners came
from a think tank in which Danish deaf youth participated and the initial goal of
the program was to educate deaf participants to be leaders, lobbyists and activists
in order to create a better world for deaf people (hence the name “Frontrunners”).
The slogan during its early iterations was “Wanna change the world?!” The conversation in this chapter focused on the teachers’ experience of the
program over the years; their perspectives on what to teach, how to teach, how
to mentor and guide deaf youth on their journey to “discover themselves” within
international contexts, and the dilemmas the teachers face in their pedagogical
practices in their international class groups with regard to module 2 and the
study visits abroad, particularly the one in Ghana.
and Ole Vestergaard, deaf teachers in the well-known and influential Denmark-
based Frontrunners program (http://frontrunners.dk), an international deaf
youth leadership training program (though its focus has recently changed and it
is now a deaf international education program). The idea for Frontrunners came
from a think tank in which Danish deaf youth participated and the initial goal of
the program was to educate deaf participants to be leaders, lobbyists and activists
in order to create a better world for deaf people (hence the name “Frontrunners”).
The slogan during its early iterations was “Wanna change the world?!” The conversation in this chapter focused on the teachers’ experience of the
program over the years; their perspectives on what to teach, how to teach, how
to mentor and guide deaf youth on their journey to “discover themselves” within
international contexts, and the dilemmas the teachers face in their pedagogical
practices in their international class groups with regard to module 2 and the
study visits abroad, particularly the one in Ghana.
Research Interests:
Adamorobe is a village in South-Ghana with a population of about 3500 people, whereof 41 are deaf. This high rate of deafness is hereditary and resulted in the spontaneous development of a local sign language that is used by both deaf and... more
Adamorobe is a village in South-Ghana with a population of about 3500 people, whereof 41 are deaf. This high rate of deafness is hereditary and resulted in the spontaneous development of a local sign language that is used by both deaf and hearing people on an everyday basis. During the past decennia there have been several attempts to formally educate the deaf people from Adamorobe, ranging from education in a residential school for the deaf and the establishment of a school for the deaf in the village itself, to vocational training in the capital city and literacy training in the village. All those attempts failed for various reasons. The chapter will shed light on deaf adults’ views on the failure of their schooling and subsequently their present state of being limited to the occupation of farming. Farming is regarded as a honorable occupation and deaf people are regarded as especially skilled and hard-working farmers. However, at the same time, it is a profession that does not yield enough income nowadays, in the increasingly capitalist society of peri-urban Ghana. Today, farmers are marginalised: the farmlands in Adamorobe’s vicinity are sold to estate developers, and farmers need to work lands which are located on a considerable distance from the village.
In response to poverty resulting from the failure of schooling and the limitation to farming, Adamorobe knows a long history of donations and a limited number of small developing projects aimed at deaf people were set up. Church workers and deaf organisations from outside Adamorobe have initiated collective development projects aimed at the deaf people from Adamorobe, including the set up of financial support networks aimed at social security for the deaf people. These ideas clash with local understandings of deaf-deaf social relationships and of relationships with hearing family. In response to the failure of collective projects, the author attempted to set up individual businesses following the logic of microfinance, which also failed to various reasons. As such the deaf people from Adamorobe remain to be limited to full-time farming.
In response to poverty resulting from the failure of schooling and the limitation to farming, Adamorobe knows a long history of donations and a limited number of small developing projects aimed at deaf people were set up. Church workers and deaf organisations from outside Adamorobe have initiated collective development projects aimed at the deaf people from Adamorobe, including the set up of financial support networks aimed at social security for the deaf people. These ideas clash with local understandings of deaf-deaf social relationships and of relationships with hearing family. In response to the failure of collective projects, the author attempted to set up individual businesses following the logic of microfinance, which also failed to various reasons. As such the deaf people from Adamorobe remain to be limited to full-time farming.
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In this chapter, I discuss shared signing communities such as Martha's Vineyard and Adamorobe in the light of their contribution to human diversity and diversity between human communities—and thus to Deaf Gain. I fluctuate between... more
In this chapter, I discuss shared signing communities such as Martha's Vineyard and Adamorobe in the light of their contribution to human diversity and diversity between human communities—and thus to Deaf Gain. I fluctuate between descriptions of internal and external perspectives, the former being the perspectives and practices of the inhabitants of shared signing communities, and the latter being the perspectives of people living or originating “outside” the communities, who are typically situated in an environment that is less deaf-friendly and where sign-language use is less pervasive. I first lay down the main features that seem to define shared signing communities, outlining sociocultural patterns that they seem to have in common. Next, I discuss shared sign languages as languages existing on a continuum of signing. Subsequently, I set out on internal ambivalent discourses about deaf people and deafness in shared signing communities, which seem to include both Deaf Gain perspectives and more “negative” perspectives. From there, I focus on the aforementioned view of deaf people as strong fighters and workers. In the conclusion, I summarize how the Deaf Gain concept can be applied to practices and discourses in shared signing communities. Ambiguity seems to be the key idea, and shared signing communities exist on a continuum with similar or surrounding (as well as all other human) societies. Naturally, these communities do not exist in a cultural or historical vacuum; they are places subjected to the very same trends that have spurred Bauman and Murray to coin the term Deaf Gain. There is a need to recognize and study the complex, ambiguous contexts in which practices and discourses that could be described as Deaf Gain appear.
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Une recherche que j’ai menée à Mumbai révèle que les personnes Sourdes ont tendance à y voyager dans les compartiments de trains spécifiquement réservés aux personnes à capacités réduites. Ceci a entraîné des résultats... more
Une recherche que j’ai menée à Mumbai révèle que les personnes Sourdes ont tendance à y voyager dans les compartiments de trains spécifiquement réservés aux personnes à capacités réduites. Ceci a entraîné des résultats inattendus : une consolidation de la communauté Sourde de Mumbai, doublée d’une prise de conscience plus forte de la part des personnes entendantes.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this paper I describe how, as an anthropologist in Adamorobe, my being deaf played a role in building a (research) relationship with the deaf villagers in Adamorobe: “we deaf same” was the discourse employed by them when discussing... more
In this paper I describe how, as an anthropologist in Adamorobe, my being deaf played a role in building a (research) relationship with the deaf villagers in Adamorobe: “we deaf same” was the discourse employed by them when discussing informed consent during the fellow’s pilot visit, and one of the discourses that was prevalent during the remainder of the research. My research centred around the experience of being deaf, and my own deafness was incorporated into the ‘constructive negotiation’ of recurring themes of conversation. Not only were conversations ‘affected’ by my deafness (which proved to be an asset), but my presence as deaf white anthropologist in Adamorobe also caused researcher effects such as deaf people in the village being drawn to me as a magnet and apparently being more social and friendly with each other than usual. My deafness and whiteness, and my status as the deaf people’s visitor, also caused difficulties in connecting with hearing people in Adamorobe, both practically (auditorily) and ideologically (I was ‘owned’ by the deaf people). Furthermore, being white played an important role in requests for reciprocity (to myself as well as to other visitors), deafness being pointed at as a meaningful factor for expecting more and requesting more, but, paradoxically, also for expecting less. In short, my being deaf and my being white were factors that were strategically and ambiguously utilised in discourses. These factors sometimes reinforced each other, sometimes worked in opposite directions, and were used in a complex interplay that was often impossible to disentangle.
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This working paper documents the process of using video within a research project that documents communicative strategies used during customer interactions and informal conversations between deaf and hearing interlocutors in Mumbai. Since... more
This working paper documents the process of using video within a research project that documents communicative strategies used during customer interactions and informal conversations between deaf and hearing interlocutors in Mumbai. Since these interactions involve the use of spontaneous and conventional gestures, a visual form of communicating, the use of video was central to the project, including the production of a 80-minute ethnographic ethnographic film called ‘Ishaare: Gestures and Signs in Mumbai’. The aim of producing Ishaare was two-fold: firstly, the film was part of the methodology since it was used as a discussion tool, and secondly, the film is key to the project’s dissemination strategy. In addition to the ethnographic film, three more videos were produced within the framework of this project to document the process of creating Ishaare. In this working paper, the main investigator and the two research assistants discuss the research process and the process of producing the ethnographic film, including reflection on project aims; positionality of the researchers; selection of research participants; training of cameramen; cooperation of the team; conduction of interviews; transcribing, translating, and analysing data; and structuring, editing, and subtitling Ishaare. In the last section, the paper discusses the way Ishaare was received by different discussion groups in Mumbai.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The use of the concepts “diversity” and “inclusion” are analyzed with regard to deaf people, whom we call Sign Language Peoples (SLPs), specifically in policy discourses (as used by the World Federation of the Deaf and in the UN... more
The use of the concepts “diversity” and “inclusion” are analyzed with regard to deaf people, whom we call Sign Language Peoples (SLPs), specifically in policy discourses (as used by the World Federation of the Deaf and in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and academic discourses (particularly the con- cept of Deaf Gain). Discussing such discourses, we evaluate the promises and perils of “diversity” and “inclusion” in policy positions and scholarly analysis. We argue that in order for these concepts to be useful for SLPs in the achievement of rights, we need to foreground a specific understanding of inclusion as societal inclusion, and diversity as needing a group rights-based foundation. As such, we explore different paradigms for understanding how SLPs are part of diversity and how they can be included. As such, we contribute to scholarship and debate on inclusion and diver- sity beyond the particular case of SLPs.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The documentary I Sign, I Live, directed by Anja Hiddinga and Jascha Blume has won several prizes and was screened at ethnographic, disability and deaf film festivals.
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What does it mean to engage in Deaf Studies and who gets to define the field? What would a truly deaf-led Deaf Studies research program look like? What are the research practices of deaf scholars in Deaf Studies, and how do they relate to... more
What does it mean to engage in Deaf Studies and who gets to define the field? What would a truly deaf-led Deaf Studies research program look like? What are the research practices of deaf scholars in Deaf Studies, and how do they relate to deaf research participants and communities? What innovations do deaf scholars deem necessary in the field of Deaf Studies? In Innovation in Deaf Studies: The Role of Deaf Scholars, volume editors Annelies Kusters, Maartje De Meulder, and Dai O'Brien and their contributing authors tackle these questions and more. Spurred by a gradual increase in the number of Deaf Studies scholars who are deaf, and by new theoretical trends in Deaf Studies, this book creates an important space for contributions from deaf researchers, to see what happens when they enter into the conversation. Innovation in Deaf Studies expertly foregrounds deaf ontologies (defined as "deaf ways of being") and how the experience of being deaf is central not only to deaf research participants' own ontologies, but also to the positionality and framework of the study as a whole. Further, this book demonstrates that the research and methodology built around those ontologies offer suggestions for new ways for the discipline to meet the challenges of the present, which includes productive and ongoing collaboration with hearing researchers. Providing fascinating perspective and insight, Kusters, De Meulder, O'Brien, and their contributors all focus on the underdeveloped strands within Deaf Studies, particularly on areas around deaf people's communities, ideologies, literature, religion, language practices, and political aspirations.