228 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
Stage four has expanded these endeavors, with doctoral research on UgSL’s mor-
pho-syntactic aspects (Lutalo-Kiingi, 2014) and a deaf studies diploma being insti-
tuted through an Education partnerships Africa project by the British Council. The
UNAD has also continued to organize training alongside other NGOs, making the
development so far largely sustainable and reliably beneficial to the community
(Lutalo-Kiingi & De Clerck, in press).
This example of north-south development partnership in Uganda was docu-
mented from a critical perspective of sustainability during my postdoctoral fellow-
ship at the Research Foundation Flanders (2012–2015). Moreover, this study was
complemented by an investigation into emancipation processes of the Ugandan
deaf community supported by the British Academy (2015). Both studies were gener-
ated in cooperation with Kyambogo, and the latter also included capacity building
and knowledge exchange.^3
This information provided food for thought and reflection among the Camer-
oonian participants, and several members expressed interest in documenting CSL,
including its regional variations. In addition to bolstering their linguistic aware-
ness, the workshop inspired them due to Dr. Lutalo-Kiingi’s unusual background
and status as a deaf African scholar. After attaining an advanced degree in electri-
cal engineering, he became the first deaf person in Africa to receive a doctorate
in linguistics (his other achievements are mentioned elsewhere in this chapter).
With a career that paralleled his community’s development (Lutalo-Kiingi, 2010),
his trajectory started with a situation that may be comparable to that of Cameroon
currently, where capacity building and sign language teaching are only beginning.
The Ugandan example illustrates that it can be done—and, what is more, has been
done—in Africa and by deaf Africans.
This African “model” has an empowering potential, and our exchange with the
Cameroonian participants prompted questions about how similar opportunities
could be facilitated in their country. They also indicated that there was a pressing
need for dictionaries of CSL and ExNorthCamSL. Mr. Amadoua from the Extreme
North had explained about his community’s reaction against the recent introduction
of CSL (both the ASL- and LSF-influenced variants) in deaf schools and deaf units
in the region. In contrast to the rest of Cameroon, the Extreme North had not had
much contact with Western sign languages, and its community was eager to protect
its language through documentation. We showed examples of various glossaries and
dictionaries, and we explained differences among the methodological approaches
of these: for instance, most glossaries from Sub-Saharan Africa had been produced
by community organizations without input from universities or linguists; these often
started with a majority spoken language such as English or French being used to
elicit and/or collect isolated signs, which were then presented in alphabetical order.
This way of working may curtail accurate linguistic representation. Only a few
sign language dictionaries, such as the Ugandan one, are products of lexicographic- Lutalo-Kiingi and De Clerck (2015c, 2015d, in press) describe this process in detail, including the
stages of the development tree; furthermore, a timeline of deaf Ugandans’ development and a commu-
nity video snapshot titled A Fruitful Future is available on http://www.signlanguageprojects.com/en.