Deaf Flourishing 15
From a sustainability perspective, deaf/sign communities are challenged by
new evolutions: genetic engineering that creates the possibility of identifying and
altering “deaf genes”; the spread of the “bionic ear” and the preference of parents
and policy makers for mainstream education; the decline of deaf schools and clubs
where cultural heritage has been passed on intergenerationally; and the threat to
localized life posed by greater social mobility, individualism, and transnational in-
teractions (Blume, 2012; Padden & Humphries, 2005). However, as communities of
change in the midst of this complex environment, visually oriented signing people
have been creative in organizing new “deaf spaces” for their language use (Gulliver,
2006) and alternative development paths (De Clerck & Pinxten, 2012a).
Although equal opportunities are still a challenge in both Western and non-
Western countries and deaf persons continue to be marginalized (from this per-
spective, all countries can be seen as “developing”), they are also increasingly
perceived as citizens with multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds, talents, and
skills. Hence, my guiding objective here is to make a humble effort to listen to
deaf people around the world and learn their languages, not only those they sign,
but—more abstractly—the languages of their disparate lives and experiences. often
ignored, these languages have shaped them into citizens who have frequently defied
evident societal norms. Through the documentation of signed storytelling (see later
in this chapter), this book is also an effort to work with deaf people toward change
and sustainable development, supporting them in their strengths. As discussed in
the next section, flourishing involves sensitivity to epistemological inclusion and
deaf epistemologies; it also necessitates paying attention to the role of emotions. To
introduce this notion of flourishing, the section briefly relates three vignettes from
fieldwork settings in Cameroon, Flanders, and Uganda (which are covered exten-
sively in Chapters 3, 5, 6, and 8).DEAF EPISTEMoLoGIES, IDEnTITy, AnD LEARnInG:
vIGnETTES FRoM FIELDWoRK
The narrative extract on deaf identity presented earlier in this chapter refers to Gal-
laudet University’s deaf- and sign-friendly environment, which fosters formal and
informal forms of peer support, teaching, and learning and provides opportunities
for intercultural and multilingual encounters. Myriad narratives from fieldwork in
Cameroon, Flanders, and Uganda are imparted here to illustrate culture-specific
perspectives on alternative life trajectories.
In Cameroon in September 2007, I attended Deaf Awareness Week at the Buea
School for the Deaf. During one of the activities in which the entire school partici-
pated, students were asked to explore professions they could envision for themselves.
They enthusiastically raised their hands, eager to share their aspirations, and an-
swers were written down that created cartographies of possible deaf life trajectories:
“I can be a teacher, a carpenter, a filmmaker, a truck driver, an actor, a doctor... .”
The empowerment paradigm of this elementary school, which was founded about a
decade ago by a Gallaudet alumnus from Cameroon in the spirit of “deaf people can