Books by Audrey C Cooper
In Deaf to the Marrow, public anthropologist Audrey C. Cooper examines the social production and ... more In Deaf to the Marrow, public anthropologist Audrey C. Cooper examines the social production and transformation of ideas about language, bodies, and state-structured educational institutions in southern Việt Nam. Focusing on the reform period (1986 to the present), Cooper describes the ways that signed-language practices, ideologies, policies, and programming shape and are shaped by Deaf people’s social engagement in and around Hồ Chí Minh City. Drawing on research data and work with Vietnamese Deaf colleagues covering an eight-year span, Cooper develops ethnographic and language-centered accounts of Deaf social organizing. These accounts illuminate the ways that Deaf citizens are assuming self-determining roles, or active citizenship, in decisions of local, national, and international importance. By placing Deaf social action in the historical context of state development and modernization projects, Cooper shows how educational structuring reflects dominant, spoken-language- centered views of Vietnamese Deaf people and signed languages. She also addresses the impact of international aid agendas on education, especially those related to disability. Deaf to the Marrow examines perspectives largely ignored in Deaf education, Deaf studies, signed- language linguistics, and anthropological literatures, thereby contributing to scholarship on language and sociopolitical formation broadly and the study of Deaf people’s citizenship practices specifically.
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most linguistically, culturally, and geographically diverse regi... more Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most linguistically, culturally, and geographically diverse regions of the world, home to more than 2,000 languages. As in the rest of the world, Deaf people live throughout the widely varying sub-Saharan communities, equally rich in their signed languages. An emergent body of scholarly research on sub-Saharan signed languages (SSSL) and related Deaf community organizing has created the opportunity to gather together the informed perspectives presented in this revolutionary collection. Drawing examples from all regions of sub-Saharan Africa—Western, Eastern, Central, and Southern—16 contributors join the volume editors in illuminating the circumstances pertaining to cross-border, cross-regional, and global engagements in sub-Saharan Deaf communities. This collection centers upon two interrelated purposes: to examine sub-Saharan African deaf people's perspectives on citizenship, politics, and difference in relation to SSSL practices, and to analyze SSSL practices in relation to sociopolitical histories and social change interests (including addressing aspects of culture, gender, language usage, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and ability). The editors have organized these themes under three main sections, Sub-Saharan Signed Languages and Deaf Communities, The Politics of Mobilizing Difference, and Citizenship. Such wide-ranging subjects as the ethics of studying Kenyan signed language, sign language and Deaf communities in Eritrea, and overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers to HIV/AIDS education drive home the importance of the unique and varied research in this collection.
Papers by Audrey C Cooper
Global Directions in Inclusive Education, 2021
Journal of Language and Sexuality, 2018
This article explores the significance of paralipsis to analyses of affect and sociopolitical for... more This article explores the significance of paralipsis to analyses of affect and sociopolitical formation. Taking attested utterances from undergraduate anthropology courses as a point of departure, I examine how one White and female-identified student engaged in a sexualized form of paralipsis to claim distance from her own negative construal of the object-category “girls [that brag about community service].” Deploying what I term dick-rhetoric, in combination with strong affect and assertions of ideological common-sense, this student’s performance was effective at garnering stance ratification and “uptake” from classmates (Jaffe 2009), and facilitating the reproduction of gender and sexual hierarchies. Drawing on Browne’s (2015) examination of denied racial subjectivity or “dark matter,” I argue that “dick matter” renders genderism and sexual objectification acceptable in university classrooms (among regimes, e.g., racial) – particularly for settings where professors do not engage s...
Language in Society, 2014
Claims about signed languages present a unique resource for examining sociopolitical formation an... more Claims about signed languages present a unique resource for examining sociopolitical formation and change. Examining three claims drawn from original ethnographic data on Hồ Chí Minh City Sign Language, analysis centers on the ways language practices and language ideologies reflect, respond to, and impact sociopolitical formation in Việt Nam, particularly in connection to state restructuring of deaf education during the political reform period (1986 to present). Signer narratives evaluate such circumstances in relation to notions of citizenship, national development, and social participation to posit signed language as the basis for Deaf people's contributions to national development and broader social change. Articulations between signed language and sociopolitical formation have been largely ignored within mainstream social science disciplines and global disability-oriented development, hindering theoretical and practical projects. This article aims to expand the theoretical s...
Global Directions in inclusive education: Conceptualizations, practices, and methodologies for the 21st Century (pp. 45–65). , 2022
Global recognition of the educational exclusion of children with disabilities has made a case for... more Global recognition of the educational exclusion of children with disabilities has made a case for worldwide reform to design education programming for diverse learners. Positive gains in access to education have reaped successes and created space to examine the practical elements that make education inclusive, and also the extent to which these are accessible and equitable. Evidence from educational, linguistic, and neurocognitive research underscores that education programming for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners is most effective when instructional languages are whole languages that are easily accessible, and curricula that reflect learners’ diverse languages, cultures, and other intersectional backgrounds.
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2017
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Abstract This paper examines the ways that disaster risk information and communication is receive... more Abstract This paper examines the ways that disaster risk information and communication is received, shared, and acted upon by deaf-led organizations in Việt Nam, and the nature of deaf organizational participation in disaster risk reduction initiatives. Global indexes rank Việt Nam as the 6th highest country in exposure and vulnerability to extreme weather events. Việt Nam also demonstrates a high incidence of people with disabilities per capita, who are shown to have lower levels of participation in all social domains including public information and communication. Conducting language-centered original ethnographic research in six deaf organization sites in northern, central, and southern Việt Nam, this study engaged semi-structured interviews, group surveys, participant-generated disaster drawings and photographs, and participant observation to identify disaster communication and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) practices and challenges. Research findings identified: (i.) deaf people's access to DRR information and communication is extremely limited leading deaf-led organizations to mobilize their own disaster action; (ii.) deaf people have little-to-no access to DRR training, and available training does not reflect deaf culture or local sign languages; (iii.) deaf organizations attribute lack of access to disaster information and resources to government inattention to deaf community needs and contributions; (iv.) deaf organizations share a strong sense of responsibility to train and protect the broader deaf community. Foregrounding recommendations by deaf organization leaders, the paper advocates for establishing sustainable mechanisms for engaging deaf-led organizations in developing disaster communication, DRR training, and in disaster management.
Anthropology News, 2006
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In Deaf to the Marrow, public anthropologist Audrey C. Cooper examines the social production and ... more In Deaf to the Marrow, public anthropologist Audrey C. Cooper examines the social production and transformation of ideas about language, bodies, and state-structured educational institutions in southern Việt Nam. Focusing on the reform period (1986 to the present), Cooper describes the ways that signed-language practices, ideologies, policies, and programming shape and are shaped by Deaf people’s social engagement in and around Hồ Chí Minh City. Drawing on research data and work with Vietnamese Deaf colleagues covering an eight-year span, Cooper develops ethnographic and language-centered accounts of Deaf social organizing. These accounts illuminate the ways that Deaf citizens are assuming self-determining roles, or active citizenship, in decisions of local, national, and international importance. By placing Deaf social action in the historical context of state development and modernization projects, Cooper shows how educational structuring reflects dominant, spoken-language- centered views of Vietnamese Deaf people and signed languages. She also addresses the impact of international aid agendas on education, especially those related to disability. Deaf to the Marrow examines perspectives largely ignored in Deaf education, Deaf studies, signed- language linguistics, and anthropological literatures, thereby contributing to scholarship on language and sociopolitical formation broadly and the study of Deaf people’s citizenship practices specifically.
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2015
ABSTRACT Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- re... more ABSTRACT Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- researcher collaboration in Việt Nam, this article contributes a case supporting analytic efforts to study the ways “people take up literacy for their own purposes” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Emerging at the juncture of national speech-based Deaf education, one signed language–based education project, and Deaf community organizing, these collaborations coalesced in a political climate in which “signs” were construed as a compensatory system for “real” language (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) and as “backward” relative to Vietnamese grammatical structure (Cooper 2014). Using original ethnographic data, microanalysis of two texts reveals that the ways presenters mobilize stances toward linguistic description and one another accrues legitimacy and authority for Deaf sociolinguistic knowledge and Deaf agency while implicitly challenging prevailing language ideologies and hierarchies. Discussion centers on processes of legitimation of Deaf social voices, language invention/disinvention, interpretation/translation, and the significance of ethnography to the present analysis.Bài viết này nói về sự cộng tác giữa cộng đồng người sử dụng ngôn ngữ ký hiụ;u (NNKH) và nhà nghiên cứ;u NNKH trong viụ;c sử dụng và mô tả ngôn ngữ; qua đó bài này đóng góp thêm một trường hợp về viụ;c học tập theo cách “người ta sử dụng viụ;c biết chữ cho mục đích cá nhân của họ” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Sự cộng tác này đã kết hợp họ với nhau trong thời điểm có ba chương trình—giáo dục quốc gia cho trẻ Ðiếc dựa trên ngôn ngữ nói, giáo dục dựa trên NNKH, và người Ðiếc tự tổ chứ;c cho cộng đồng của họ—và cũng là thời điểm “ký hiụ;u” không được xem là một ngôn ngữ “thực” (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) và cấu trúc ngữ pháp được xem là “ngược” khi so với tiếng Viụ;t (Cooper 2014). Viụ;c phân tích chi tiết hai ví dụ trích dẫn từ nguồn dữ liụ;u dân tộc học gốc, cho thấy những người thuyết trình đã tận dụng quan điểm về nghiên cứ;u NNKH và đã kết hợp với nhà nghiên cứ;u để vừa giúp tăng tính chính đáng quyền sử dụng kiến thứ;c ngôn ngữ- xã hội học của người Ðiếc vừa ngầm thách thứ;c về hụ; tư tưởng và sự phân cấp ngôn ngữ đang phổ biến hiụ;n nay. Viụ;c thảo luận tập trung vào tiến trình công nhận giá trị “tiếng nói” của người Ðiếc trong xã hội, ngôn ngữ “invention” / “disinvention,” thông dịch / dịch thuật, và tầm quan trọng của dân tộc học trong bài phân tích này.
This article explores the significance of paralipsis to analyses of affect and sociopolitical for... more This article explores the significance of paralipsis to analyses of affect and sociopolitical formation. Taking attested utterances from undergraduate anthropology courses as a point of departure, I examine how one White and female-identified student engaged in a sexualized form of paralipsis to claim distance from her own negative construal of the object-category " girls [that brag about community service]. " Deploying what I term dick-rhetoric, in combination with strong affect and assertions of ideological common-sense, this student's performance was effective at garnering stance ratification and " uptake " from classmates (Jaffe 2009), and facilitating the reproduction of gender and sexual hierarchies. Drawing on Browne's (2015) examination of denied racial subjectivity or " dark matter, " I argue that " dick matter " renders genderism and sexual objectification acceptable in university classrooms (among regimes, e.g., racial) – particularly for settings where professors do not engage students in critical exploration of dominant hierarchies and nor-malization processes. Discussion emphasizes the salience of engaging (ourselves and) students in examination of uses of paralipsis and dick-rhetoric for addressing gender and sexual inequalities.
English-that we began to produce our own research-based presentations and manuscripts. Accordingl... more English-that we began to produce our own research-based presentations and manuscripts. Accordingly, our work has thus far relied heavily on the symbolic meaning and discourse structures of ASL. When presenting to audiences in ASL, our compositions were nevertheless inflected with HCMSL, Vietnamese, and English. Similarly, when we produce manuscripts in written English, HCMSL, Vietnamese, and ASL significantly contribute to the ways we discuss and mutually determine an analytic focus, carry out and craft a manuscript. We recognize these exchanges as instances of "translanguaging"-whereby interactants engage in the "use of original and complex interrelated discursive practices that cannot be easily assigned to one or another traditional definition of language, but that make up the speakers' complete language repertoire" (Garciá and Wei 401; see also Canagarajah; Kusters, et al.). This essay describes some of the ways that translanguaging is vital to our composition process Readers who compose collaboratively, working from signed to print languages, are now likely seeing a series of images in mind: two people signing together, occasionally pausing to clarify points of discussion by signing in one or two languages and by writing or typing. Providing further illustration, while discussing our recent research-which examines how Deaf social organizers
Abstract
Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- re... more Abstract
Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- researcher collaboration in Việt Nam, this article contributes a case supporting analytic efforts to study the ways “people take up literacy for their own purposes” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Emerging at the juncture of national speech-based Deaf education, one signed language–based education project, and Deaf community organizing, these collaborations coalesced in a political climate in which “signs” were construed as a compensatory system for “real” language (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) and as “backward” relative toVietnamese grammatical structure (Cooper 2014). Using original ethnographic data, microanalysis of two texts reveals that the ways presenters mobilize stances toward linguistic description and one another accrues legitimacy and authority for Deaf sociolinguistic knowledge and Deaf agency while implicitly challenging prevailing language ideologies and hierarchies. Discussion centers on processes of legitimation of Deaf social voices, language invention/disinvention, interpretation/translation, and the significance of ethnography to the present analysis.
Abstract
Bài viết này nói về sự cộng tác giữa cộng đồng người sử dụng ngôn ngữ ký hiụ;u (NNKH) và nhà nghiên cứ;u NNKH trong viụ;c sử dụng và mô tả ngôn ngữ; qua đó bài này đóng góp thêm một trường hợp về viụ;c học tập theo cách “người ta sử dụng viụ;c biết chữ cho mục đích cá nhân của họ” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Sự cộng tác này đã kết hợp họ với nhau trong thời điểm có ba chương trình—giáo dục quốc gia cho trẻ Ðiếc dựa trên ngôn ngữ nói, giáo dục dựa trên NNKH, và người Ðiếc tự tổ chứ;c cho cộng đồng của họ—và cũng là thời điểm “ký hiụ;u” không được xem là một ngôn ngữ “thực” (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) và cấu trúc ngữ pháp được xem là “ngược” khi so với tiếng Viụ;t (Cooper 2014). Viụ;c phân tích chi tiết hai ví dụ trích dẫn từ nguồn dữ liụ;u dân tộc học gốc, cho thấy những người thuyết trình đã tận dụng quan điểm về nghiên cứ;u NNKH và đã kết hợp với nhà nghiên cứ;u để vừa giúp tăng tính chính đáng quyền sử dụng kiến thứ;c ngôn ngữ- xã hội học của người Ðiếc vừa ngầm thách thứ;c về hụ; tư tưởng và sự phân cấp ngôn ngữ đang phổ biến hiụ;n nay. Viụ;c thảo luận tập trung vào tiến trình công nhận giá trị “tiếng nói” của người Ðiếc trong xã hội, ngôn ngữ “invention” / “disinvention,” thông dịch / dịch thuật, và tầm quan trọng của dân tộc học trong bài phân tích này.
Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community-researcher c... more Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community-researcher collaboration in Viê · t Nam, this article contributes a case supporting analytic efforts to study the ways " people take up literacy for their own purposes " (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Emerging at the juncture of national speech-based Deaf education, one signed language–based education project, and Deaf community organizing, these collaborations coalesced in a political climate in which " signs " were construed as a compensatory system for " real " language (Woodward, Nguyêñ, and Nguyêñ 2004) and as " backward " relative to Vietnamese grammatical structure (Cooper 2014). Using original ethnographic data, micro-analysis of two texts reveals that the ways presenters mobilize stances toward linguistic description and one another accrues legitimacy and authority for Deaf sociolinguistic knowledge and Deaf agency while implicitly challenging prevailing language ideologies and hierarchies. Discussion centers on processes of legitimation of Deaf social voices, language invention/disinvention, interpretation/translation, and the significance of ethnography to the present analysis. [Viet Nam, signed language, collaboration, agency, social change] A round the world, language ideologies tend to subordinate signed languages to spoken languages, and local signed languages to national or prestige foreign signed languages. Given these circumstances, linguistic and anthropological signed language research is often accompanied by some kind of advocacy work. In Viê · t Nam, language ideologies related to spoken Vietnamese and the institutional legacies of signed language marginalization have played a powerful role in limiting Deaf 1 people's educational and social access. From the late 1980s until 2010, speech-based " special schools " prohibited students from signing, but according to the 2006 census, less than one percent of school-age youth with the greatest " hearing disability " attended school at any level or gained employment (GSO: section 4.25). Since passage of the 2010 Law on Persons with Disability, " sign language " (ngôn ngu˜' ký hiê · u) is permitted in school. 2 Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training bs_bs_banner
Claims about signed languages present a unique resource for examining socio- political formation ... more Claims about signed languages present a unique resource for examining socio- political formation and change. Examining three claims drawn from original ethnographic data on Hồ Chí Minh City Sign Language, analysis centers on the ways language practices and language ideologies reflect, respond to, and impact sociopolitical formation in Việt Nam, particularly in connection to state restructuring of deaf education during the political reform period (1986 to present). Signer narratives evaluate such circumstances in relation to notions of citizenship, national development, and social participation to posit signed language as the basis for Deaf people’s contributions to national devel- opment and broader social change. Articulations between signed language and sociopolitical formation have been largely ignored within mainstream social science disciplines and global disability-oriented development, hindering theor- etical and practical projects. This article aims to expand the theoretical scope of language-centered inquiry by demonstrating how ethnographic research on signed languages contributes to examination of sociopolitical formation. (Signed language, Việt Nam, deaf education, sociopolitical, citizenship)*
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Books by Audrey C Cooper
Papers by Audrey C Cooper
Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- researcher collaboration in Việt Nam, this article contributes a case supporting analytic efforts to study the ways “people take up literacy for their own purposes” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Emerging at the juncture of national speech-based Deaf education, one signed language–based education project, and Deaf community organizing, these collaborations coalesced in a political climate in which “signs” were construed as a compensatory system for “real” language (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) and as “backward” relative toVietnamese grammatical structure (Cooper 2014). Using original ethnographic data, microanalysis of two texts reveals that the ways presenters mobilize stances toward linguistic description and one another accrues legitimacy and authority for Deaf sociolinguistic knowledge and Deaf agency while implicitly challenging prevailing language ideologies and hierarchies. Discussion centers on processes of legitimation of Deaf social voices, language invention/disinvention, interpretation/translation, and the significance of ethnography to the present analysis.
Abstract
Bài viết này nói về sự cộng tác giữa cộng đồng người sử dụng ngôn ngữ ký hiụ;u (NNKH) và nhà nghiên cứ;u NNKH trong viụ;c sử dụng và mô tả ngôn ngữ; qua đó bài này đóng góp thêm một trường hợp về viụ;c học tập theo cách “người ta sử dụng viụ;c biết chữ cho mục đích cá nhân của họ” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Sự cộng tác này đã kết hợp họ với nhau trong thời điểm có ba chương trình—giáo dục quốc gia cho trẻ Ðiếc dựa trên ngôn ngữ nói, giáo dục dựa trên NNKH, và người Ðiếc tự tổ chứ;c cho cộng đồng của họ—và cũng là thời điểm “ký hiụ;u” không được xem là một ngôn ngữ “thực” (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) và cấu trúc ngữ pháp được xem là “ngược” khi so với tiếng Viụ;t (Cooper 2014). Viụ;c phân tích chi tiết hai ví dụ trích dẫn từ nguồn dữ liụ;u dân tộc học gốc, cho thấy những người thuyết trình đã tận dụng quan điểm về nghiên cứ;u NNKH và đã kết hợp với nhà nghiên cứ;u để vừa giúp tăng tính chính đáng quyền sử dụng kiến thứ;c ngôn ngữ- xã hội học của người Ðiếc vừa ngầm thách thứ;c về hụ; tư tưởng và sự phân cấp ngôn ngữ đang phổ biến hiụ;n nay. Viụ;c thảo luận tập trung vào tiến trình công nhận giá trị “tiếng nói” của người Ðiếc trong xã hội, ngôn ngữ “invention” / “disinvention,” thông dịch / dịch thuật, và tầm quan trọng của dân tộc học trong bài phân tích này.
Examining linguistic practices and description involved in signed language community- researcher collaboration in Việt Nam, this article contributes a case supporting analytic efforts to study the ways “people take up literacy for their own purposes” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Emerging at the juncture of national speech-based Deaf education, one signed language–based education project, and Deaf community organizing, these collaborations coalesced in a political climate in which “signs” were construed as a compensatory system for “real” language (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) and as “backward” relative toVietnamese grammatical structure (Cooper 2014). Using original ethnographic data, microanalysis of two texts reveals that the ways presenters mobilize stances toward linguistic description and one another accrues legitimacy and authority for Deaf sociolinguistic knowledge and Deaf agency while implicitly challenging prevailing language ideologies and hierarchies. Discussion centers on processes of legitimation of Deaf social voices, language invention/disinvention, interpretation/translation, and the significance of ethnography to the present analysis.
Abstract
Bài viết này nói về sự cộng tác giữa cộng đồng người sử dụng ngôn ngữ ký hiụ;u (NNKH) và nhà nghiên cứ;u NNKH trong viụ;c sử dụng và mô tả ngôn ngữ; qua đó bài này đóng góp thêm một trường hợp về viụ;c học tập theo cách “người ta sử dụng viụ;c biết chữ cho mục đích cá nhân của họ” (Bialostok and Whitman 2006:390). Sự cộng tác này đã kết hợp họ với nhau trong thời điểm có ba chương trình—giáo dục quốc gia cho trẻ Ðiếc dựa trên ngôn ngữ nói, giáo dục dựa trên NNKH, và người Ðiếc tự tổ chứ;c cho cộng đồng của họ—và cũng là thời điểm “ký hiụ;u” không được xem là một ngôn ngữ “thực” (Woodward, Nguyễn, and Nguyễn 2004) và cấu trúc ngữ pháp được xem là “ngược” khi so với tiếng Viụ;t (Cooper 2014). Viụ;c phân tích chi tiết hai ví dụ trích dẫn từ nguồn dữ liụ;u dân tộc học gốc, cho thấy những người thuyết trình đã tận dụng quan điểm về nghiên cứ;u NNKH và đã kết hợp với nhà nghiên cứ;u để vừa giúp tăng tính chính đáng quyền sử dụng kiến thứ;c ngôn ngữ- xã hội học của người Ðiếc vừa ngầm thách thứ;c về hụ; tư tưởng và sự phân cấp ngôn ngữ đang phổ biến hiụ;n nay. Viụ;c thảo luận tập trung vào tiến trình công nhận giá trị “tiếng nói” của người Ðiếc trong xã hội, ngôn ngữ “invention” / “disinvention,” thông dịch / dịch thuật, và tầm quan trọng của dân tộc học trong bài phân tích này.