This M Ed study explores how the stories or identity narratives we
tell others of our educational experiences shapes what it means to
be deaf. This ethnographic study explores the identity development
of nine deaf participants through their identity narratives. The
inclusion of the researcher as a deaf participant in this study
provides an auto- ethnographic gateway into exploring the lives of
deaf/Deaf/bi-cultural DeaF persons. The current way of defining
deaf persons has become inadequate for understanding how many deaf
people fit into the complex modern world of multiple identities.
Consequently, I proposed an alternative theoretical framework of
the post-modern 'dialogue model' (Mcilroy,2007)in which the
'fluid bicultural DeaF identity' (Mcilroy, 2008) occupies
this middle space between the orthodox medical 'deaf' and
social 'Deaf' models of deaf identity. The findings
strongly suggest that deaf identity is no longer a static concept.
It is a complex ongoing quest for belonging in a hearing dominant
society through the stories we tell others about ourselves. We have
much to learn from the stories of deaf persons.
Guy Mcilroy is an oral Deaf lecturer in Deaf Education at the Centre for Deaf Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. His research interests are Deaf identity, deaf narratives and Deaf education. His identity transition is traced in this M Ed dissertation alongside the identity narratives of other deaf persons.
Ein Marktplatz-Angebot für "Discovering Deaf Identities" für EUR 66,00
