Deaf Flourishing 13
hardly been spoken when the next presidential race exposed the country to a wide
range of possible responses to these questions, which included anti-establishment
representations of Bernard Sanders (Democrat) and Donald Trump (Republican),
who both appealed to the growing inequality of daily life that has increasingly chal-
lenged the American dream (vos, 2016).
Around this same time, I attended a presentation by oxfam International Exec-
utive Director Winnie Byanyima at the University of Manchester, who mentioned
their Davos report finding that half of the world’s poorest citizens earn 38% less than
they had 5 years ago, while the wealth of the 62 people who earn as much as this
entire population combined has actually increased (oxfam, 2016). Having gradu-
ated from the University of Manchester, Director Byanyima made reference to her
own background, having grown up in a Ugandan village with other girls who had
extensive responsibilities at home and did not have much opportunity for advanced
education. She recalled how she transformed her anger about inequality into activ-
ism during her early years at university, an inspiring message that received a warm
and enthusiastic response from a full and diverse audience.
The research on deaf emancipation in this book was developed in these fast-chang-
ing times, over a period of more than 10 years that has encompassed growing inter-
national support for human rights; the values of dignity, compassion, and solidarity;
and an appreciation of human and non-human diversity in an approach centered
on capabilities and sustainable development (Armstrong, 2011; Hessel, 2010, 2011,
2012; nussbaum, 2006, 2010; Pinxten, 2011; Sen, 2009). However, these changing
times have increasingly appeared to be rather ephemeral “liquid times” (Bauman,
2007) curtailed by short-term thinking in all realms of life, which is a drawback
when confronted with mounting steep challenges and economic, ecological, social,
cultural, and political conflicts. For example, the humanitarian crisis surrounding
Syria and the hotly-debated response of Europe to its conundrums of refugees and
immigration illustrate how difficult it has been for the international community
to comprehend the complex relationships among different ethnic and religious
groups and devise a future perspective (Fisk, 2016a, 2016b).
The responses of Eastern European countries to the refugee crisis have become
increasingly divergent, which can be understood in reference to their different cul-
tural histories and trajectories of nation-building, while negotiations with Turkey,
a “bridge country” between Europe and Asia, illustrate the need for further reflec-
tion on the European project (interviews with Geert Mak in Woussen, 2016; Goris,
2016) and on democratic decision making and the protection of minorities (Bu-
ruma, 2016). This current state of global affairs calls for a cognizance of different
worldviews and identities, along with the emotions involved. It is this conundrum to
which this book intends to contribute.
Given this global interplay, it is perhaps not surprising that the role of emotions
has increasingly received attention in different scholarly disciplines. For example,
when looking at increased violence in the flow of globalization, Arjan Appadurai
(2003) has examined the involvement of emotions when “large-scale identities”
(p. 154) become tied to “local imagination” (p. 156); Geschiere (2009, p.18) has
discussed the “emotional chord” in collating the ambiguous notion of autochthony