Challenge of “Serious” Scholarship 113
generation of young deaf people using an LSF-influenced vari ant (see the research
areas described in the previous section). The linguistic colonialism manifested by
the introduction of ASL and LSF is the result of ideology and politics (in the case of
Foster, maybe also of a limited knowledge of sign language linguistics in that period
of time). Ideological and political arguments, as well as the influence of dominant
spoken languages (French, English, and Cameroon Pidgin English) and the influ-
ence of gestures, must be taken into account if one is to gain a full understand ing
of the linguistic mosaic of signed languages in Cameroon and their sociolinguistic
context. Linguistic research is needed to determine whether CSL is a national lan-
guage with regional variations or whether several different sign languages are used
in Cameroon. Investigation of this issue will help advance recognition of CSL and
support the pres ervation of Cameroonian indigenous signs.
Concerning signing deaf families in Cameroon^8 —as I have noted, Cameroonian
deaf people were very surprised when they learned about the existence of deaf fami-
lies in South Africa from Ruth Morgan’s book and the notion of a “deaf family” is not
(yet) familiar in the community. This is likely to be related to negative perceptions
of deafness and deaf people in Cameroonian society and to limited transnational
contact (also see the next section “Emancipation Processes in the Cameroonian
Deaf Community”). Intergenerational transmission of sign lan guage within deaf
families seems to be beginning—some deaf parents are starting to communicate
in sign language with their hearing children. Cameroonian deaf people share sto-
ries of the marginalization and linguistic and communicative exclusion they experi-
enced before coming into contact with other deaf people: All the deaf people in my
study who made the transition from gestures to sign emphasized that they had felt
limited before and that signing helped them to “develop.”
However, the picture is different from a Western one—some rural contexts seem to
be communicatively and socially inclusive, with a commonly used gestural basis that
enables in-depth conversation. Liliane Sorin-Barreteau (1996) studied gestural com-
munication among the Mofu-Gudur in Cameroon’s North region. Her doctoral study
included deaf people’s signing. She found that the gestures used by hearing people
seem to form the basis for signed communication that is characterized by an expanded
vocabulary and enables faster communication. Further anthropological and linguistic
research on gestural communication between hearing and deaf people in Cameroon
and Sub-Saharan Africa is needed to gain a better understanding of this point of view.^9
Cameroonian collective life is organized through “deaf gatherings” (using CSL)
in cities on the weekends. In the course of the present study, a “deaf map” was pro-
duced identifying deaf schools and places where deaf people gather. Deaf adults
meet each other after church on Sunday, in deaf schools, after sports events on week-
ends, and any time deaf leaders organize meetings. CSL is a border marker distin-- A deaf woman told me that her mother and grandmother were both deaf. However, they did
not sign, and the concept of “a deaf family” did not have cultural meaning for her. I also know of the
existence of deaf siblings, which also does not have the cultural meaning it has in Europe and America,
where deaf families tend to have leadership roles in deaf communities. - Further research is needed to better understand gestures and sign language in Africa generally.