Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India PDF
Preview Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India
Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India 44444444444444444444444 Valuing Deaf Worlds in Urban India MICHELE FRIEDNER 44444444444444444444444 RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Friedner, Michele, 1978– Valuing deaf worlds in urban India / Michele Friedner. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978– 0– 8135– 7061– 7 (hardback) — ISBN 978– 0– 8135– 7060– 0 (pbk.) — ISBN 978– 0– 8135– 7062– 4 (e- book (web pdf)) 1. Deaf— India. 2. Deaf culture— India. 3. People with disabilities— India. 4. Sociol- ogy of disability— India. I. Title. HV2863.F75 2015 305.9'0820954— dc23 2014040074 A British Cataloging- in- Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. Copyright © 2015 by Michele Friedner All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, elec- tronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Visit our website: http:// rutgerspress .rutgers .edu Manufactured in the United States of America In memory of Shmuel Yochanan Friedner For Jamie and Saffron CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xiii Naming and Translation Practices xv Introduction: Deaf Turns, Deaf Orientations, and Deaf Development 1 1 Orienting from (Bad) Family to (Good) Friends 27 2 Converting to the Church of Deaf Sociality 53 3 Circulation as Vocation 77 4 Deaf Bodies, Corporate Bodies 101 5 Enrolling Deafness in Multilevel Marketing Businesses 125 Conclusion: India’s Deaf Futures/Reorienting the World 151 Appendix: Key Concepts from Indian Sign Language 163 Notes 167 References 181 Index 191 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am immensely grateful to my deaf friends and interlocutors in Bangalore and elsewhere in India. Spending time with them—i n their schools and homes, on buses, in coffee shops and cafés, and in other social spaces—h as been a joy. I thank them for their patience, sense of humor, and love. I thank them for put- ting up with my many questions and my sometimes incomprehensible Indian Sign Language. I especially want to thank the people who in this book I call Chetan, Sushma, Narayanan, and Radhika. The four were generous guides who have become dear friends. I have wonderful memories of long conversations, cooking delicious meals, and traveling through Bangalore with them; their con- tributions to my research have made this a richer book (and they have made my life richer as well). My first introduction to India’s deaf worlds was through the wonderful women at the organization that I call the Delhi Deaf Women’s League. These women have provided me with endless hospitality, encouragement, and support every time I return to Delhi. I can feel them cheering me on, urging me to finish this book, and teasing me for being so timid at times. I only wish I were able to spend more time at this organization, with these women. I was extremely fortunate to be generously welcomed by almost all of the nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and churches with which I inter- acted. Administrators, human resource executives, and pastors permitted me to attend classes, training sessions, and worship services; hang out in computer rooms and workplaces; and they granted me interviews. I owe much to these organizations. The person whom I call Jaisel Ahuja was one of the first deaf Indi- ans whom I met, and he was very generous with his contacts both before and during my years in India; indeed, it was he who introduced me to many of the organizations and people with whom I subsequently worked, and he has become a dear friend over the years. The person whom I call Atul Deshmukh has also been a wonderful guide to India’s deaf worlds, and I thank him for his gregari- ous personality and constant honesty. Ruma Roka and Arun Rao have been very helpful over the years and have warmly welcomed me into their organizations and their lives. ix
The list of books you might like
