Revitalizing Deaf Studies, Theorizing the Contemporary

FAIN: AA-284517-22

Gallaudet University (Washington, DC 20002-3600)
Octavian Robinson (Project Director: May 2021 to present)
Erin Moriarty Harrelson (Co Project Director: May 2022 to present)

We propose to further develop Deaf Studies through curricular change and the development of an interdisciplinary doctoral program. Curricular change, incorporating innovative methodologies relevant to the digital landscape, will lead to more engaged faculty and students, especially as they see themselves in the material. Through the lifecycle of the grant, we will develop a set of five core courses for an interdisciplinary doctoral program that focuses on the lived experiences of deaf people throughout the world. Those courses are: Deaf Queer Studies, Deaf Studies in the Global South, Digital Humanities, Deaf Ethnographies, and Sensing Washington, DC. The curriculum centers issues of power, history, racism, and violence and the ways in which they manifest in the lives of deaf people.