This project is based on multisited field work during international deaf conventions such as the World Federation of the Deaf Congress, the International Conference of Sign Language Users, a deaf cultural event organised in France (Clin D’Oeil) and a global sports event (the Deaflympics). In addition, field work was done in international work places where International Sign is either taught or used, such as the Frontrunners international deaf education course in Denmark. Through the intersectionality lens, the project investigates
- how international deaf conventions and courses are accessible or inaccessible, exclusive or welcoming for diverse deaf people, and
- on what grounds deaf people produce smaller-scale deaf spaces within the settings of bigger deaf international gatherings.
Using the translanguaging lens, the project will investigate
- how translanguaging is practiced during general announcements, lectures, presentations, teaching, discussions, and social gatherings
- opinions about the qualities needed for optimal communication and translation in International Sign,
- lived experiences of affordances and constraints of International Sign,
- experiences of bias or influence of American Sign Language and West-European sign languages in International Sign, and
- other forms of communicative crossing in international deaf contexts.
Publications within this subproject:
Moriarty, E., & Kusters, A. (2021). Deaf cosmopolitanism: calibrating as a moral process. International Journal of Multilingualism, 18(2), 285-302. LINK
Kusters, A. (2021). International Sign and American Sign Language as Different Types of Global Deaf Lingua Francas. Sign Language Studies, 21(4), 391-426. LINK
Kusters, A. (2020). The tipping point: On the use of signs from American Sign Language in International Sign. Language & Communication, 75, 51-68. LINK
Kusters, A., & De Meulder, M. (2019). Language Portraits: Investigating Embodied Multilingual and Multimodal Repertoires. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3). LINK