Deaf cultures: towards decolonisation of body, disability, and deafness
Overview
The article discusses the concept of disability, body, and deafness in the context of colonialism, and Brahminism. In this paper, I argue that Deafness is not limited to hearing loss, but it's a “social and cultural condition.” The authoritative/medical model of the body is rooted in colonialism, it has created an ‘idealness’ for all the white abled body, and stigmatised the non-white disabled body. The Brahmanical model of disability is rooted in the past ‘karmas’, where the Brahminical texts have ‘idealised’ the Brahmin body, or the Hindu Bourgeoisie abled male body. Both the gaze on disability prevents us from seeing many other aspects of deafness, for instance, the socio-political, cultural, and institutional failure of the inclusivity of deaf people in knowledge production, or the idea of beauty which is rooted in the dominant ideology of any society. This paper discusses the creation of a ‘deaf’ identity by subversion of sign languages, compelling oralist pedagogy, and the demand of the sound market in the twentieth century.
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10.1080/13552074.2023.2264632How to cite this resource
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Inclusive Language Guide
Resources
Introduction: Decolonising (feminist) knowledge and practice