RESEARCH IN PROGRESS SEMINAR SERIES
AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Friday 4 March, 4.30 pm
Erasure of the individual: Interruptions, egalitarianism, and equality in the context of deaf people in the UK
Kelly Fagan Robinson, UCL
This event is free, but places must be booked. To book tickets please go to: http://kellyrobinson.eventbrite.co.uk
This paper will address the ways that British deaf people assert their individuality through live disruption of hearing social forms and patterns. I will present several narratives that showcase instances in which deaf people use these social interruptions in hearing-dominant scenarios in order to be seen – and heard – as unique beings, rather than as personifications of a preconceived deaf type. UK public services (eg: healthcare, social housing, employment support etc) tend to revolve around an understanding that “equality in nature” is a predicate to egalitarianism (Kapferer & Morris 2003:7). Hidden within this idea are assumptions: 1) that ‘nature’ is a static and unanimously agreed upon state; 2) that ‘equality’ is anchored by that homogenous nature; and 3) inversely, that without that single nature, there cannot be equality. This is problematic for deaf people in the UK, for on this basis listening and being listened to require adjustment of deaf people’s social performances (or even the remaking of individual deaf bodies) in order to ensure near sameness to hearing ways.
