Eight deaf scholars come together to reflect on their experiences with exclusionary practices in the academy that contribute to feelings of imposterism, otherness, and not-belonging. The combined powers of ableism, audism, and negative attitudes about signed languages generate tension as deaf academics affirm their place within higher education institutions and fields of research. Across individual and shared experiences, they narrate about hostility towards disability and sign languages, reflecting on how such hostilities work towards excluding signing deaf scholars. As disability rights legislation increased access for deaf academics, gaps exist in which ableism continues to function as an institutional barrier. In spite of exclusionary practices and negative attitudes, deaf academics have organized ways to be resilient as they argue they make valuable contributions to scholarly discourses.
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In Nederland komen maandelijks mensen in vertelgroepen bij elkaar om samen de kunst van het verhalen vertellen te beoefenen. Tekla Slangen liep een half jaar als participerend onderzoeker mee met een lokale vertelgroep. In dit artikel geeft ze een inkijk in wat vertellers beweegt en waaraan ze hun waarde ontlenen.Lang voordat Netflix ons elke dag duizend en een verhalen kon vertellen via een beeldscherm, waren er mensen die de mooiste verhalen in geuren en kleuren uit de doeken deden en hun publiek van alles lieten beleven:verhalenvertellers.Heden ten dage zijn er in Nederland nog steeds tal van vertellers en vertelgroepen actief die voor groot en klein publiek optreden. Zij vertellen uit het hoofd allerlei soorten verhalen, van sprookjes, mythes en fabels tot fragmenten uit de geschiedenis en persoonlijke ervaringen. Wat is de aantrekkingskracht van het verhalen vertellen voor de individuele verteller? Wat voor activiteiten ondernemen zij? En wanneer vinden ze het vertellen van een verhaal echt geslaagd? Deze vragen zijn de aanleiding geweest voor een kleinschalig etnografisch onderzoek naar vertellers bij een vertelgroep. In dit artikel beschrijf ik de belangrijkste resultaten, met de Nederlandse vertelscene als kader.
Higher education is tasked with preparing students for a culturally diverse and globalizing world. Additionally, western nations have an increasingly diverse student population and know the success of their students will depend in part on being able to navigate diversity. There is therefore good reason for institutions of higher learning to promote and facilitate the development of ‘global citizens’ – people who can work and relate across borders and boundaries, both real and perceived. However, teachers are not necessarily equipped to foster this learning. Many teachers are used to a reproductive way of teaching while the learning that is needed here is identity learning, directed at dialogue, internally as well as externally. This chapter proposes the potential of creative, expressive and reflective writing as a way in which personal development – a form of a reflexive internal dialogue – can be fostered to promote cultural healing and global citizenship. The writing method will be described and a case study on cultural healing in the context of Canada’s reconciliation efforts with Aboriginal people will be used to illustrate the learning process involved. The processes of writing the self and re-narrating identity has several promising benefits for both students and teachers in higher education. First it allows us to learn more about ourselves and what blocks our learning (i.e. promotes self-reflection). Second, it allows us to change our story and our identifications and therefore choose differently (i.e. self-direction). Third, it is a companion on the road of life where we literally learn to talk and listen to ourselves and articulate the tacit knowledge that can be unearthed through narrative, journal, and poetic writing. Fourth, the method is playful and creative and although tears are frequently shed in the process, students report a great enjoyment in writing and sharing their stories with others. It is a meaningful dialogue about experience and also has the potential of promoting cultural (Lengelle, Jardine, & Bonnar, 2018) healing in the context of a very diverse student body (Banks, 2015). It also has the potential for creating new bonds in the classroom and allows teachers in higher education to engage in the difficult work of facilitating global citizenship learning. The internal dialogue described here also allows us to ‘clean up’ judgements and become aware of the need to reach out to others. Not only the actual sharing of vulnerable writing in a class or online setting shows us we are not alone, but ‘writing the self’ focuses deliberately on where we have become fearful about our own and others’ identities and allows us a learning process to unearth those things, heal them in order to reach out to others.
