Important Dates

Abstract

Ways to be deaf differ around the world and within deaf communities. My research with the deaf in Benin showed that deafnesses are multiple and so are social, cultural, economic and genealogical entanglements that make and shape deaf lives. Challenges, misunderstandings, and conflicts that arise from what I call deaf diversity have often been lamented with the utterance sourds durs, it’s hard with the deaf. In my talk, I introduce Beninese deaf diversity and present portraits of research participants that take shape around the interstices of being deaf or hearing, abled or disabled, of being normal or not. Being deaf is always part and not part of individual identities and belongings, rendering deaf lives and sociality ambiguous and deaf-deaf-difficult.

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