94 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
enables international deaf people to take up new social roles and discover new as-
pects of their personality, which leads to a different understanding of the person
one is, the things one likes or doesn’t like, and so on: “Culture is integral to self-
formation: in the absence of cultural resources and cultural worlds, such identities
are impossible” (Holland et al., 1998, p. 115). Acting as a strong deaf person means
being independent, going out in the world and knowing how to socialize, being as-
sertive and confident, thinking positively (“nothing is impos sible”), and using sign
language and/or writing. This stands in contrast with these individuals’ former lives
of being dependent, staying home and not knowing how to deal with the world and
other people, being shy and afraid, thinking negatively (“I can’t”), and using speech
and/or hiding sign language.
The research participants emphasize that social interaction with deaf peers and
role models from different backgrounds—who support them in their learning to
participate in new activities and take up new social roles—enables them to live up
to their potential. If they experience a problem, then the advice of (older) deaf
people and/or teach ers is sought. This can be illuminated by vygotsky’s concept
of the zone of proximal development, which refers to “the distance between the
actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and
the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under
adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).
From a collectively oriented deaf cultural identity construct (see Mindess, 1999, on
American deaf cultural identity; also see Ladd, 2003), individual success is seen as
an achievement for the community. This recip rocal relationship stimulates the cre-
ation of a zone of proximal development, encour aging deaf people to support each
other (culturality) and to “develop themselves and contribute to the community.”
The next section looks further into these processes of peer learning at Gallaudet.Translated [Deaf] People
This section continues with a discussion of Gallaudet as a zone of proximal develop-
ment, illustrating the cultural practices and rhetoric of empowerment and “learning
through doing” with quotes from an international deaf teacher. The section then
touches on ambivalence in identity notions, and introduces the idea of “translated
people” (Rushdie, 1991) to refer to the processes of constant comparison and moving
between different culturally constructed notions of identity. These notions appear
in the narratives as complementary to the abovementioned conceptions of deaf cul-
ture, but they are not yet fully realized or readily available in the figured world of
Gallaudet.
When teaching ASL and deaf culture to international deaf people who have
just arrived at Gallaudet, TP (a deaf Sri Lankan man) explains that it is important
to make cultural artifacts available and support the development of empowered
identities. To be successful, zones of proximal development need to involve shared
knowledge construction in reciprocal social relations. This pleads for supportive
learning environ ments and interpersonal joint activity settings in educational con-
texts (Hausfather, 2001).