Event
The Spring 2022 ASL Lecture Series event will be presented by Sanchu Iyer, Mobile Deaf Project, PhD Researcher, Languages & Intercultural Studies and Amandine le Maire, Mobile Deaf Project, PhD Researcher, Languages & Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University, Scotland.
The title of the presentation is “Deaf People on the Move, Temporal Dimensions.” The lecture will be held on Wednesday, February 23, from 5-6:30 as a live Zoom webinar. The abstract and bios are detailed below and a flier is attached.
The lecture will be presented in British Sign Language (BSL) with ASL with English interpretation and captioning available. It is free and open to the public.
To access the lecture, please register using this link: https://upenn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wTx7O7uZT322hkBfGxmtkA You will be emailed the Zoom link on a date closer to the event.
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Jami Fisher, Director of ASL, Department of Linguistics: jami@sas.upenn.edu
Abstract:
Mobile Deaf Project researchers Sanchu Iyer and Amandine le Maire explore mobilities of deaf people across international borders and how deaf people settle in a new environment. In this virtual program, they present their findings from two studies: a study based on everyday lived experiences of deaf people who were forced to migrate to Kakuma Refugee Camp and a study of everyday lived experiences of deaf migrants living in London. Employing varied ethnographic approaches, the pair research how deaf refugees’ and migrants’ everyday experiences are shaped by learning a new language, resettling in a new place, interacting with a new community/ties, maintaining contact with their families and friends, and waiting for future opportunities which enable the advancement of their life trajectories. Iyer and le Maire zoom in on this experience of waiting, which happens on different scales and has different temporal dimensions, and explore how the experience of waiting is shaped by factors such as the deaf migrants’ and refugees’ nationalities, cultures, languages, religions, race, and gender.
For more information on Mobile Deaf Project and our guests: mobiledeaf.org.uk/team.
Bios:
Londoner Sanchu Iyer holds a BA (hon) in Development Studies and Geography from SOAS and King’s College in London. After participating in a short postgraduate course in Deaf Children, Youth and International Development in ISS at the Royal Kentalis in the Netherlands, Iyer completed a MSc in Children, Youth and International Development in Birkbeck College in London. An interest in International Development led Iyer to volunteer in Manilla with the Philippines Federation of the Deaf and act as a volunteer trustee for an organisation supporting deaf people in Burundi and Rwanda. Prior to embarking on her PhD, she worked for the Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association in London. Currently, Iyer is a PhD candidate working within the labour migration project at Heriot Watt University.
Originally from Belgium, Amandine le Maire holds a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and a MA in Anthropology from the Université Catholique de Louvain. le Maire’s scholarship centers on deaf spaces and the relocation and displacement of deaf people. At present, le Maire is working on her PhD at Heriot Watt University; her research focuses on deaf refugees as part of the MobileDeaf project.