SignWriting Presented at 2011 Mobility, Language, Literacy Conference

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 27, 2011

I found the abstract online!
http://www.moblanglit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32

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4. Hoffmann-Dilloway, Erika, Anthropology, Oberlin College

Circulating the Signing Body: An emerging, transnational Deaf literacy through SignWriting

Though sign languages have traditionally been unwritten, small groups of Deaf and hearing signers from over 30 countries have begun to write their sign languages using a script called Sutton SignWriting (SSW). Originally derived from dance notation, SSW allows signers to iconically represent the moving body through a flexible system that can be easily adapted to accommodate different sign languages.SignWriters from a range of countries regularly post and compare SSW texts on an email listserve. Applying a new script to these previously unwritten languages brings meta-linguistic awareness into sharp relief; SignWriters also use this forum to discuss the insights their writing has given them about their particular sign language, sign languages in general, and the social consequences of this new form of literacy. This paper argues that the circulation and discussion of these texts both reflects and contributes to an emerging transnational Deafness, while at the same time relatio
 nally shaping and reinforcing the local identities of particular sign languages and signing communities. The simultaneous processes of transnational network formation and local differentiation  are heightened by the unique ways in which SSW texts import the bodies of signers from far removed locations into the shared space of the internet. However, the process described in this paper are not limited to signing communities, but provide broader insight into the ways that the body (or its absence) are involved in the constitution of transnational text-based social networks.

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On Jan 27, 2011, at 9:24 AM, Valerie Sutton wrote:

> SignWriting List
> January 27, 2011
> 
> On Jan 27, 2011, at 8:07 AM, Erika Hoffmann wrote:
> 
>> .....I'm just back from Cape Town, where I presented a paper
>> about SignWriting at a conference called Mobility, Language, and
>> Literacy. People were really interested  -and a senior scholar in the
>> linguistic anthropology of literacy may start talking about SW in his
>> classes!
> 
> --------
> 
> Hello Erika and Everyone -
> 
> This IS very COOL, Erika, that you traveled all the way from Oberlin College, in Ohio USA, to Cape Town, South Africa to present a paper on SignWriting to the Mobility, Language, and Literacy Conference:
> 
> Mobility, Language, and Literacy Conference
> http://www.moblanglit.com/
> 
> which took place January 19-21, 2011.
> 
> I see on their schedule online:
> http://www.moblanglit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169
> 
> ....that you presented at 2:30 pm (smile) on Wednesday the 19th, and your paper was entitled:
> 
> "Circulating the Signing Body: An emerging, transnational Deaf literacy through SignWriting"
> by Erika HOFFMANN-DILLOWAY
> 
> Is this the correct title and information? Sounds fascinating and new...
> 
> Will our List or our web site have permission to post the full paper? or if that is not possible, perhaps the Abstract? I bet you even posted that to us already? Could you post it again? This is so helpful and congratulations on the presentation and thank you for informing us -
> 
> I am very happy to hear of the interest from the scholars at the conference!
> 
> 
> 
> Val ;-)
> 
> Valerie Sutton
> SignWriting List moderator
> sutton at signwriting.org
> 
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> 
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