Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Deaf Communities in Tanzania

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate student Jessica Lee (University of Colorado), supervised by Dr. J. Terrence McCabe, will investigate how community is formed and maintained among deaf people in Tanzania. The research will focus on the processes that influence identity and community formation in the context of extreme marginalization and the unique situation of visual communication. The researcher will use survey, life-history and group interviews, photo visioning, and participant-observation in order to understand (1) how and when do deaf people participate in public life, (2) how are NGOs, particularly the Tanzanian Association of the Deaf, transfer points of transnational discourses about deaf identity politics and influence identity formation in deaf people, and (3) how the social contexts of living in Tanzania affect deaf people's construction of self and categories like culturally deaf, deafness, and disability. Participants will be recruited from deaf people with variable levels of association with the NGO and other deaf people. The research will compare these findings between a metropolitan city, Dar es Salaam, and a more rural location, Iringa. This research will contribute to a growing body of knowledge on communities of deaf people. It is particularly important in light of the dearth of research on people who are deaf living in poor countries, such as those of Sub-Saharan Africa. This study will also contribute to discussions about NGOs and their role in transnational networks of influence as global discourses engage with local lives. Tanzania makes for an interesting research site due to the deaf activism, the distinctiveness of Tanzanian Sign Language, and the history of NGO involvement. This project will contribute to theoretical discussions of identity and community formation, NGOs and globalization, and Deaf studies. It will be significant in applied issues like advocacy and policy formation for one of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in the developing world, the deaf.