14 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
in relation to citizenship in Europe and West Africa; and Crewe and Axelby (2013,
p. 1) have provided an anthropological perspective on the “emotional geography of
development.” Similarly, in her books Not For Profit (2010) and Why Love Matters For
Justice (2014), philosopher Martha nussbaum emphasizes the roles of empathy and
love in education and political thinking, where they lead toward global citizenship
and democracy and inspire citizens to work for social justice. In the book Rage and
Time: A Psychopolitical Investigation, Peter Sloterdijk (2012) looks at the role of rage
in historical and recent conflict situations, arguing that even this extreme emotion
needs to have a place in order for political movements to be constructive.
Concerning the need for a deeper understanding of how diverse people around
the globe (have come to) understand, view, and experience the world, Appadurai
expresses concern about epistemological exclusion:Running through these debates [about globalization in the public spheres] is
the sense that social exclusion is ever more tied to epistemological exclusion
and concern that the discourses of expertise that are setting the rules for
global transactions, even in the progressive parts of the international system,
have left ordinary people outside and behind. The discourse of globaliza-
tion is itself growing dangerously dispersed, with the language of epistemic
communities, the discourse of the states and interstate fora, and the everyday
understanding of global forces by the poor growing steadily apart. (2001, p. 2)The emancipation movement of deaf communities, the formation of deaf identities,
and the practice of deaf citizenship should be seen as performances against the
backdrop of this transnational scene. Guided by civil and human rights movements
that began in the United States in the 1960s and the rise of the notion of “identity”
in that period (Descombes, 2016), people who are deaf have found room to develop
diverse, alternative life trajectories. A continuation of sign language and deaf com-
munity studies in some countries and incipient research in others have positively
contributed to this, as has the global distribution of emancipatory discourses (i.e.,
the various rhetorical concepts that have emerged in the last few decades referring
to deaf culture, deaf identity, deaf people’s capabilities, and sign languages as bona
fide languages).
With these communities’ rising consciousness, a worldwide politicization of deaf
identities can be noticed: Deaf signers “wake up” by coming into contact with infor-
mation on the unique linguistic and cultural characteristics and rights of their com-
munity; positive constructions of identity; “empowered” deaf role models; and the
concept of minimizing barriers so that they can take more equal positions. Awaken-
ing leads them to explore alternative paths for their lives and impels them to advo-
cate for equality and more expansive use of sign language in different realms. Inten-
sive transnational interaction, made possible by increased travel and virtual contact,
has fueled this emancipation (also see Chapter 3). Sign languages have increasingly
received some form of legal recognition, become more visible through the use of
media, and been acquired by greater numbers of people, including those who are
not deaf (Wheatley & Pabsch, 2012). This has resulted in a transition from “deaf
communities” to “sign (language) communities” in some contexts (Blume, 2012).