'Deaf people are one, as they say': articulating 'Deaf Space' and deaf-hearing communication in a Ugandan market

Main author: Modern, Julia
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-41701
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic GN Anthropology
P Philology. Linguistics
description This article investigates visual communication practices among members of a disabled people's organisation (DPO) in a market in Uganda. Deaf members and many of the hearing members are proficient in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL) and use it daily. I examine three communicative settings within the market, identifying varied modes of visual communication in use, ranging from loosely conventionalised multimodal improvisation to standard UgSL. Deaf stallholders value the varied forms of linguistic community accessed through these different modes, which are complementary rather than opposing, except at key moments of tension. By combining ‘deaf space’ theory with Silverstein's distinction between speech and language communities, I link the visual communication practices of deaf and hearing marketgoers to the varying forms of solidarity that underly linguistic communities. Deaf marketgoers creatively articulate different visual communication potentialities and the communities they arise from and index, including negotiating linguistic access through strategically opposing deaf and hearing communities.
format Journal Article
author Modern, Julia
author_facet Modern, Julia
authorStr Modern, Julia
author_letter Modern, Julia
title 'Deaf people are one, as they say': articulating 'Deaf Space' and deaf-hearing communication in a Ugandan market
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2024
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/41701/