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Signs of Manhood: Sign Language, Masculinity, and Deafness in Contemporary Tunisia
Abstract
This ethnographic research paper offers a portrait of the d/Deaf, deafness, and Tunisian Sign Language (TSL) in contemporary Tunisia. The paper explores dimensions of language, gender, and identity for members of the d/Deaf community in Tunisia who despite official policies on disability and deafness are marginalized in terms of their potential economic and social positioning and achievement. The Deaf community of Tunis receives support primarily from two associations. The first formal accord was granted in 1970 to the Association Tunisienne d’Aide aux Sourds-Muets (ATAS[M]) under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity & Tunisians Living Abroad. Over the course of its 40 years, the ATAS has provided educational (e.g. primary, secondary, vocational) and social (e.g. medical, administrative) support services for the Deaf and hard of hearing. As a supplement to the work of the ATAS, the Association Voix du Sourd Tunisie (AVST) was informally founded by Ali Louati in the late 1970s so as to provide an ‘amicale’ for Deaf denizens of central Tunis. Louati’s commitment to enhancing spaces of sociality for the Deaf continues to inform the priorities of the AVST as does his intention to systematize TSL. To date, there has been no anthropological research conducted on socio-cultural issues of deafness in Tunisia, although there have been several studies on physical disability ranging from blindness (Beltaief 2003) to the elderly (Yount & Agree 2005) to physical disability more broadly construed (Lachheb 2009; Sellami 2002) as well as an epidemiological study on genetic deafness (Ben Arab 1990). Drawing on participation-observation research, life histories, and interviews, the paper examines the hopes, the aspirations, the risks, and the challenges facing men in the d/Deaf community in Tunisia today. While providing a view into the specificity of d/Deaf identity, the semiotics of TSL, and the status of the d/Deaf community in contemporary and historical Tunis, the paper ultimately strives to outline the actual politics of social difference in urban North Africa with a focus on configurations of contemporary male subjectivity.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Tunisia
Sub Area
Gender/Women's Studies