The importance of intersectionality frameworks in the fields of Deaf Studies and Sign Language Linguistics

1. EXAMINING RACISM IN
DEAF COMMUNITIES
The Importance of Intersectionality Framework in the
Fields of Deaf Studies and Sign Language Linguistics
David Player
HDLS 2020

2. The origin of Intersectionality
 Crenshaw (1989) introduced intersectionality as a heuristic term to focus attention
on the vexed dynamics of difference and the solidarities of sameness in the context
of antidiscrimination and social movement politics.
 Goal: describes African American women’s experience of facing an overlapping oppressive systems
(racism and sexism).
 The term “intersectionality” eventually caught on and made it into
the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015
 Importance of intersectionality
 When to use intersectionality in your Deaf Studies and Sign Language Linguistics research
 **Hint is Critical Race Theory**

3. Intersectionality Frameworks
 Scholars expanded intersectionality framework to incorporate disability
 Modes of theorizing intersectionality (Erevelles & Minear 2010)
 Anti-Categorical: based on a poststructuralist argument that social categories like race, gender, sexuality, and
disability are merely social constructions/fictions, but Critical Race Feminists scholars are, however, unwilling to
completely do away with the social categories that constitute identity in the first place
 IntraCategorical: validated the reality of racism as it intersects with sexism and other social categories of
difference (e.g., heterosexism and classism) in this everyday life of women of color.
 InterCateorical: will foreground the historical contexts and structural conditions within which the identity
categories of race and disability intersect.
 Black Feminist Disability Framework Bailey & Mobley (2019)
 developed a black feminist disability framework to highlight Black woman’s disability that has an intersection of
race, gender, and disability, challenging these generally siloed theories to work together to understand better
the realities for those multiply marginalized within society.
 Black Deaf Feminism Framework Chapple (2019)
 discussed a theoretical framework that ties in race, deafness, and gender that sociologists consider for valid
research. Provided that sociologists have a knowledge about Deaf culture.

4. Historical Review & 5 Tenets of Critical Race Theory
1. The notion that racism is ordinary and not aberrational: racism is permanent in society
2. the idea of an interest convergence: white people will work toward the rights of people of color if it
benefits themselves;
3. the social construction of race: society defines what race means including its categories and
attaches value to that meaning;
4. the idea of storytelling and counter-storytelling: people of color have experiences that counter the
dominant narrative about who they are;
5. And the critique of liberalism (colorblindness & neutrality)

5. Branches of Critical Race Theory
 AsianCrit (Asian Critical Race Theory): analyzes experiences of Asian people.
(Chang, 1993)
 Critical Race Feminism: examines racism and sexism in women of color’s
experiences. (Wing, 1997)
 Critical Whiteness Studies: explores whiteness in society. (Delgado & Stefancic,
1997)
 Deaf Crit: examine the centrality of audism in speaking dominant society. (Gertz,
2003)
 Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit): Combined both Disability Studies and
CRT - Intersection of Race and Disability. (Annamma et al., 2013)
 LatCrit (Latino Critical Race Theory): explores experiences of Latino/a people.
(Montoya & Valdes 2008)

6. ASL and Deaf Studies Programs
 Deaf studies is a program that study Deaf
people’s contribution with the richness of
signed language, culture, and history in
speaking-dominant society.
 The binary definition of Deaf vs Hearing
 the category of Deaf contains narrow cultural
paradigms that deny multiplicity
 Deaf was a source of connection but not a
totalizing one
 Based on my observation, Deaf studies programs
have commonly excluded Black Deaf stories that
centered an intersection of race and deafness.
 Books and DVDs exists outside of Deaf
studies
 Deaf could no longer erase all other differentials
 Our main theoretical vehicle is intersectionality.
(Ruiz-Williams et al., 2012)
 By presenting ourselves as multi- faceted, we are
moving toward multiple representations, away
from DEAF SAME

7. Black Deaf Stories

8. Black Deaf Stories

9. Sign Language Linguistics
 Black signers are historically, culturally,
and linguistically underrepresented in
studies of sign language
 Narrow definition of “native” signers
 White population as convenience sample
 Scarcity of linguists of color
 Black ASL (McCaskill et al. 2011) gained
recognition in 2011, 140+ years after the
establishment of first black deaf school
in the South
 North Carolina State School for the Blind and
the Deaf (1868)

10. Contributions Outside of Academic Fields
 "Dear White Deaf People" (Player, 2020),
 https://medium.com/@dplayer84/dear-white-deaf-people-490961afa3d4
 "The Power of White Gaze: Erasure of Black Signers" (Player, 2020),
 https://blog.usejournal.com/the-power-of-white-gaze-erasure-of-black-signers-77de766e71d8
 " “WAP” and the Fetishization of ASL" (Nović, 2020),
 https://medium.com/@NovicSara/wap-and-the-fetishization-of-asl-7c9e10fb60f5
 "We need to talk about racism in the UK Deaf Community" (Gayle, 2020),
 https://gal-dem.com/we-need-to-talk-about-racism-in-the-uk-deaf-community/
 "How my relationship with my deafness led to a psychotic episode" (Herbert,
2020),
 https://gal-dem.com/how-my-relationship-with-my-deafness-led-to-a-psychotic-episode/

11. Challenges and Solution
Challenges
 Lack of inclusivity in Deaf Studies and
Sign language linguistics
 Scarcity of Black Deaf students pursuing
for postgraduate education.
 4.2% completed master degree and 0.4%
completed doctoral degree programs (data
obtained from National Deaf Center)
Solution
 CRT can play an important role when
higher education institutions work
toward becoming more diverse and
inclusive (Hiraldo, 2010)
 Incorporating critical race perspectives within
Deaf Studies
 Utilizing Intersectionality frameworks in
Deaf Studies and Sign Language linguistics
research
 Collaboration with community stakeholders
 Increasing financial aid opportunities and
mentoring support for Black Deaf students in
pursuing postgraduate degree

12. References
 Bailey, Moya, and Mobley, Izetta A. 2019. "Work in the Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework." Gender & Society
 Chapple, R. L. (2019). Toward a Theory of Black Deaf Feminism: The Quiet Invisibility of a Population.
 Crenshaw, K (1989) Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination
Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist politics
 Erevelles, Nirmala, and Andrea Minear. "Unspeakable Offenses: Untangling Race and Disability in Discourses of Intersectionality."
Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 4.2 (2010): 127,145,215-216. ProQuest. Web. 18 Mar. 2019.
 Garberoglio, C., Stapleton, L., Palmer, J., Simms, L., Cawthon, S., & Sales, A. (2020, January 28). Postsecondary Achievement of
Black Deaf People in the United States: 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/blackdeaf
 Hiraldo, P. (2010). The Role of Critical Race Theory in Higher Education. The Vermont Connection, 31, 53-58.
 McCaskill, C., Lucas, C., Bayley, R., & Hill, J. (2011). The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure.
Gallaudet University Press. http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/bookpage/HTBASLbookpage.html
 Perlman, M. (2018). The origin of the term 'intersectionality'. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from
https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/intersectionality.php
 Ruiz-Williams, E., Burke, M., Chong, V., & Chainarong, N. (2012). “My Deaf Is Not Your Deaf”: Realizing Intersectional Realities at
Gallaudet University.