174 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
developments in sign communities, and by arguing for hope in meeting contem-
porary challenges. While completing the research for this book, I was also working
in continental Europe, which is currently in search of identity and self-confidence
(see also Chapter 6); in the United States, which was taking a reflexive stance toward
its role in the world when I was there and is currently trying to find responses to
the crisis of the American dream (described by Moïsi as “the continuing capacity
to integrate others and personify the land of hope” [p. 122]; see also Chapter 4 of
the present volume); and on the African continent, which is moving between hope
and hopelessness in times of (post)modernity (see also Chapter 5 and Chapter 8).
I want to take a humble position in light of the global injustice and inequality peo-
ple face around the globe; I remain reluctant to juxtapose my own personal struggle
and privileged position with the diverse lives of people elsewhere in the world.^3 On
a personal and emotional level, my own experience of breaking through the glass
ceiling included moving through these emotions and feelings in an attempt to prac-
tice what Moïsi calls “the transcendence of fear and humiliation and the rekindling
of hope” (p. 159).
Reflecting on my personal trajectory of moving between what was and what could
be, which was also a journey of social mobility, was like looking in a mirror of my
own research questions. As Dr. Donald F. Moores described this process in his feed-
back on a draft of the present chapter, I was “dealing with the ideal of empower-
ment while living through the intermittent reality of disempowerment caused by
the ignorance of others” (personal communication, January 24, 2013) while also
engaging in anthropological research on deaf flourishing. In addition to helping
me build a better understanding of the complexities of this long-term process of
personal empowerment, which developed cross-culturally, reflection allowed me to
gain further insight into the methodological trajectory I had developed.
In this chapter, I interweave my own biography with memories and observations
from the deaf people I interviewed throughout the course of my research and the
relevant anthropological and ethnographic literature. I reflect on the links between
turning points in my biography and perspectives in my work, and I examine how
recollections of personal experiences over time have grown into useful anthropo-
logical resources. Analyzing my life story, and the relationship between my study
topic and participants, has enabled me to reflect on the research process.
The thread of this chapter consists of interactions among (a) my own biogra-
phy; (b) the development of my research in contexts where historical, social, and
cultural selves of deaf people differ and where they face various power inequalities
and have varying positions and educational opportunities; and (c) the evolving and
context-dependent discipline of deaf studies.
In the first section of the chapter, I discuss how the ethnographic self can become a
resource. Using an interdisciplinary stance of anthropology, gender studies, deaf stud-
ies, philosophy, and counseling, I set out lines for a self-conscious methodological- For critical reflection, see also Behar’s 1996 book, The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks
Your Heart.