[Linganth] Leila Monaghan

Fri Feb 25 19:00:42 UTC 2022

Dear LingAnth community,
 I have been reading these messages full of affection, friendship, gratitude, and admiration toward Leila. The force of her character and the beauty of her soul come through and remind me of how fortunate I was to have her as among my first graduate students at UCLA.  My experience advising her influenced me as a teacher and mentor. A generous reader of other people’s work, she could immediately find the key point of any article, one of the virtues that made her the perfect Teaching Assistant. The same passion guided her research and was her weapon against my doubts about her topic. We talked, we laughed, and we argued. She won, of course, and went on to make an impact on so many students, colleagues, and programs. I don’t know how she managed to publish as much as she did while teaching far more courses than I teach.
Because of Covid, I decided in May 2020 to reach out to my former PhD students through Zoom, and this gave me a chance to also reconnect with Leila, first in a group and then one on one. In her first message, she told me in a few words about an operation she was recovering from and then immediately added “Otherwise I am well. Just finish the teaching year …” She was concerned about her students making it through “this hard term”.  I recognized her signature attitude, that positive force, that empathy towards others. Seeing her on the Zoom screen and hearing her voice I had the feeling that over the years she had succeeded at remaining the same enthusiastic, interesting, generous, engaged, and funny person I had known in the 1990s. She was still packing three or four ideas within one sentence. By the end of it you felt like she had a lot more to say, but had stopped just to make sure you had a chance to comment.  Leila had so many intellectual projects, which always involved other people, like the open access textbook she told me about for the Society for Anthropology at Community Colleges, or this LIST we are using now to remember and honor her professionally and personally. Writing about her evokes in me her voice. I can hear her excitement, and that warm affection and caring way of being with you, making you feel like the perfect conversational partner with whom to share dreams of ideas that could make the world a little better.
 Sandro Duranti

On Feb 25, 2022, at 7:50 AM, Shana Walton <shana.walton at nicholls.edu<mailto:shana.walton at nicholls.edu>> wrote:

With everyone's permission, I will collect these posts and forward them to Claire (her sister) and Bob, her husband.

Please let me know if you don't want your post shared.

Like most of us, Leila's family was only peripherally aware of her academic family. They are so touched, and perhaps surprised, by how much love there is in this academic community. Leila told me so often that Linganth was a type of family for her. A home. I think Leila had a sort of power to create community with the force of her affection - and her persistence. I remember those early Linganth gatherings she would organize back in the mid 90s. The first year or two only a handful of people showed up. But it didn't matter. She looked out at an SLA gathering and saw a community of people trying to talk about something they found important. She loved this community.

On Thu, Feb 24, 2022, 4:32 PM Janina Fenigsen <jfenigsen at gmail.com<mailto:jfenigsen at gmail.com>> wrote:
A terrible loss and lovely memories of a wonderful person for all of us who knew Leila. Thank you, Judy, for capturing her absence-presence so well. Yes, her light will shine on.

janina

On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 2:28 PM Judith Pine <pinej at wwu.edu<mailto:pinej at wwu.edu>> wrote:
I know will see her out of the corner of my eye at Boulder, shining brightly.  I am *so* very glad she was at Penn for SLA 2018! I am convinced that I would not be connected to SLA in any meaningful way if it were not for Leila and as we remember her the light shines on.

  *   Judy

From: Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> On Behalf Of Kate Riley
Sent: 24 February 2022 10:53
To: Bonnie Urciuoli <burciuol at hamilton.edu<mailto:burciuol at hamilton.edu>>
Cc: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group (LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>) <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
Subject: Re: [Linganth] Leila Monaghan

It is so wonderful to see this outpouring of care and appreciation for all Leila did for so many of us over so many years.  Yes, that smile!
Thanks to Erika and all for putting the panel together so we'll have a chance to remember her together...though I bet she would have also called us to dinner!
Kate

On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 1:33 PM Bonnie Urciuoli <burciuol at hamilton.edu<mailto:burciuol at hamilton.edu>> wrote:
Leila was amazing, she did so much for so many in so many ways.

On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 1:23 PM Cyndi Dunn <cyndi.dunn at outlook.com<mailto:cyndi.dunn at outlook.com>> wrote:
I will always be grateful to Leila for starting the original linganth listserve in the early 1990s.  It was a wonderful, and at the time unique, opportunity for younger scholars to communicate and network. The first time I attended an AAA meeting I actually knew people from online, and that made it so much easier to approach them in person.

A few years ago, I was at an SLA business meeting/reception and Leila was taking photos. I jokingly asked if she was now the SLA photographer. She said, "I'm just taking pictures of my friends." I told her, "Leila, your friends are half of SLA!" I think my estimate may have been low.  She will be missed.

Cyndi Dunn
Professor Emerita of Anthropology
University of Northern Iowa
________________________________
From: Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> on behalf of Paul Kroskrity <paulvk at anthro.ucla.edu<mailto:paulvk at anthro.ucla.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 10:38 PM
To: Elizabeth Keating <Elizabeth.Keating at austin.utexas.edu<mailto:Elizabeth.Keating at austin.utexas.edu>>
Cc: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group (LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>) <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
Subject: Re: [Linganth] Leila Monaghan

I need to echo Elizabeth in her expression of sadness and thanks for letting us know and for organizing honoring sessions.  Leila’s scholarship, activism, and personal warmth, and winning smile will always be personally unforgettable.  The world is a darker place without the bright light that Leila’s wit, energy, compassion, and intelligence shed on us all.

All the best,

Paul

Paul V. Kroskrity
Professor of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
341 Haines Hall  -   Box 951553
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553
Ph. 310 825-6237
E.    paulvk at ucla.edu<mailto:paulvk at ucla.edu>

Topic: Paul Kroskrity's Open Office Hour
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The Legacy of Dell Hymes (2015 Indiana)  with AnthonyWebster http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807807<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iupress.indiana.edu%2Fproduct_info.php%3Fproducts_id%3D807807&data=04%7C01%7Cpinej%40wwu.edu%7C8e6f45d9b797446f873708d9f7c70fef%7Cdc46140ce26f43efb0ae00f257f478ff%7C0%7C0%7C637813257202905415%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=7IwNdjmYPYMH6gAeb2AcUE90rct63w6rGrLwd8aJO0Y%3D&reserved=0>
Engaging Native American Publics (2017 Routledge) with Barbra Meek. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317361282<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.taylorfrancis.com%2Fbooks%2Fe%2F9781317361282&data=04%7C01%7Cpinej%40wwu.edu%7C8e6f45d9b797446f873708d9f7c70fef%7Cdc46140ce26f43efb0ae00f257f478ff%7C0%7C0%7C637813257202905415%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=8WGQLYGGSM7NNCMk9IhAUstjNgIdPegMln1T3MwMzYI%3D&reserved=0>
The Oxford Handbook of Language and Race (2020 Oxford) with H.Samy Alim and Angela Reyes https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-language-and-race-9780190845995?cc=us&lang=en&<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fglobal.oup.com%2Facademic%2Fproduct%2Fthe-oxford-handbook-of-language-and-race-9780190845995%3Fcc%3Dus%26lang%3Den%26&data=04%7C01%7Cpinej%40wwu.edu%7C8e6f45d9b797446f873708d9f7c70fef%7Cdc46140ce26f43efb0ae00f257f478ff%7C0%7C0%7C637813257202905415%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=uQdK0iBWE4v5JlBROzlCdAQPpyeh7icx73DX6nsYRks%3D&reserved=0>

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On Feb 23, 2022, at 2:38 PM, Elizabeth Keating <Elizabeth.Keating at austin.utexas.edu<mailto:Elizabeth.Keating at austin.utexas.edu>> wrote:

Sad news. I remember meeting Leila for the first time in graduate school at UCLA! She was always a centering presence—scholarship and human caring in abundance, and of course her signature smile. I’ll miss her very much, she was such an inspiration over the years. Thank you, Shana, for letting us know, and thanks to those organizing the panel.

Elizabeth

ELIZABETH KEATING, Professor of Anthropology & Graduate Faculty, Human Dimensions of Organizations
The University of Texas at Austin | Department of Anthropology | 512-471-8518

From: Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> On Behalf Of Erika Hoffmann-Dilloway
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 9:27 PM
To: Shana Walton <shana.walton at nicholls.edu<mailto:shana.walton at nicholls.edu>>
Cc: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group (LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>) <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
Subject: Re: [Linganth] Leila Monaghan

So sorry about this news.

Over the last several weeks, Richard Senghas, Anne Pfister, and I adapted a panel we had planned for the upcoming Society for Linguistic Anthropology meeting to focus on honoring Leila's scholarship and activism. She was aware of this plan and had a chance to review it. The panel abstract is below, and reflects our deep appreciation for her work, collaboration, and mentorship.

We're keeping a presentation slot open to leave time for sharing a collection of tributes from scholars and collaborators not on the panel. If anyone would like to send us short written or video-recorded to be shared at the SLA, please feel free to send them to me (ideally by 3/25, but whenever you feel able).

Condolences to all,
Erika

Access to and Access Through Sign Languages: A Panel in Honor of Leila Monaghan’s Scholarship and Activism

For deaf people born into hearing-dominated social contexts in which speech is prioritized over sign language use, issues surrounding language and social justice often center on questions of access, such as equitable access to particular language practices and access through language practices to resources, roles, and relationships (e.g., Friedner 2015; Pfister 2017). Deaf scholarship and activism also invites us to critically consider when questions of access center on inclusion in existing institutions and when the work of creating new practices and modes of belonging is most salient (Clark 2021). Leila Monaghan’s scholarship and activism addresses both concerns, entailing collaborative work with deaf activists to draw attention to and intervene in the ways in which inaccurate language ideologies about the nature of sign languages can create barriers to language access broadly (Senghas and Monaghan 2002; Monaghan 2003) and to important existing institutions and bodies of knowledge, such as public health information about HIV (Byrd and Monaghan 2018); she also provided some of linguistic anthropology’s first ethnographic studies of how deaf signers together build new forms of language and sociality (Monaghan 1996). This panel honors her work by presenting a collection of papers that consider deaf socilaity and activism across a wide range of settings. While illustrating that there are indeed “many ways to be deaf” (Monaghan et. al., 2003), the papers all address how signer activists have worked to disrupt and transform audist institutions. Further, the papers explore how deaf and hearing scholars in linguistic anthropology and related disciplines (institutions which themselves are deeply grounded in audism) can participate in that disruption and transformation.

    Byrd, Mark and Leila Monaghan. 2018. Interpreting Deaf HIV/AIDS: A Dialogue. In, Avineri, Netta,  Laura R. Graham, Eric J. Johnson, Robin Conley Riner, Jonathan Rosa (eds.), Language and Social Justice in Practice, 128-135. New York:  Routledge.

    Clark, John Lee. 2020. Against Access. McSweeney’s Quarterly. 64 Audio Edition.

    Friedner, Michele. 2015. Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India. New Jersey: Routledge.

    Monaghan, Leila. 2003. A World’s Eye View: Deaf Cultures in Global Perspective. In Monaghan, Leila, Constanze Schmaling, Karen Nakamura, and Graham H. Turner (eds). 2003. Many Ways to Be Deaf. International Variation in Deaf Communities, 1-24. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.

    Monaghan, Leila, Constanze Schmaling, Karen Nakamura, and Graham H. Turner (eds). 2003. Many Ways to Be Deaf. International Variation in Deaf Communities. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.

    Pfister, Anne. 2017. Forbidden Signs: Deafness and Socialization in a Mexico City. Ethos 45(1): 139-161.

    Senghas, Richard and LeilaMonaghan, 2002. Signs of their Times: Deaf Communities and the Culture of Language. Annual Review of Anthopology 31: 69-9

(The panelists include myself, Anne Pfister, Richard Senghas, Caitlin Coons, Octavian Robinson, and Jennifer Dickinson.)

On Wed, Feb 23, 2022 at 4:13 PM Shana Walton <shana.walton at nicholls.edu<mailto:shana.walton at nicholls.edu>> wrote:
Hi,
Leila Monaghan, beloved member of the linganth community, passed away this morning in her home just outside of Laramie, Wyoming.

I don't have any information about her family's plans for a memorial service. I hope this community will want to hold a memorial for her.

Shana

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--
Erika Hoffmann-Dilloway, she/her/hers
Professor of Anthropology
Oberlin College

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