Geography & Deaf Studies CFP

[Leila Monaghan]

Great topic for Deaf Studies people.  See below for contact details.

all best, Leila

A Call for Papers that may be of interest to some cultural geographers.
Please consider submitting an abstract. Thank you.

AAG 2011 Seattle, WA
April 12-16, 2011

Session Title: Deaf Space, Signed Languages, and d/Deaf Culture
Sponsored by the Communication Geography Speciality Group

Organizers
Austin Kocher, The Ohio State University (Geography)
Emily Fekete, University of Kansas (Geography)
Katherine Koppel, California State University - Long Beach (Geography)

Session Description
We invite submissions for the first AAG session on the intersection of
geography and deaf studies. Geographers have long used language to study
spatial phenomena. But what happens when language is itself spatial? We
present three framing observations: First, American Sign Language (or one of
scores of full-fledged signed languages around the world) incorporates the
body, time, and signing space to produce meaning, thus opening up new
possibilities to represent spatial concepts in novel ways. Second, the
visual-spatial nature of sign language is co-produced with particular
socio-spatial practices that facilitate communication between signers.
Finally, the historical marginalization of sign languages and deafness has
produced spatialized patterns of d/Deaf cultural formation, and is
implicated in the creation of distinct d/Deaf spaces and non-d/Deaf spaces.

This session welcomes discussion on how language and space are co-produced,
the extent to which hearing (dis)ability becomes embedded in built and
social environments, and the barriers and opportunities for d/Deaf
individuals to access hearing spaces. Possible topics for paper submissions
may include (but are not limited to):

- Sign Language linguistics and space
- Identity creation among Deaf community members
- Sensory stimuli and urban experience
- Urban environments as a response to signed languages or deafness
- Power, politics, and places of deafness
- Language, cognition, and mental mapping
- Spatial expressions of deafhood
- The role of sound in deaf culture
- Language, territory, and boundaries
- Audism

Submission Guidelines
Please send 250-word abstracts to Austin Kocher (information below) by
Monday, October 11, 2010. Please include your title, name(s) of author(s),
contact information, and institution.

Contact
Austin Kocher
ackocher at gmail.com<https://uwmail.uwyo.edu:443/owa/redir.aspx?C=211ccca8dba7436d97f9b8ff376b7a51&URL=mailto%3aackocher%40gmail.com>
kocher.51 at osu.edu<https://uwmail.uwyo.edu:443/owa/redir.aspx?C=211ccca8dba7436d97f9b8ff376b7a51&URL=mailto%3akocher.51%40osu.edu>
614-406-5037
http://austinkocher.com<https://uwmail.uwyo.edu:443/owa/redir.aspx?C=211ccca8dba7436d97f9b8ff376b7a51&URL=http%3a%2f%2faustinkocher.com>

-- 
Leila Monaghan, PhD
Department of Anthropology
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming