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Sign language as a technology: existential and instrumental perspectives of Ugandan Sign Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2022

Gitte Beckmann
Gitte Beckmann*
Affiliation:
Independent Researcher, Stockholm, Sweden
*
Email: gittebeckmann@hotmail.com
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Abstract

The introduction of Ugandan Sign Language in Acholi, northern Uganda, was part of a growing internationally linked disability movement in the country and was set within the framework of development policy and human rights-based approaches. In this context, Ugandan Sign Language appeared as a technology of development. But how did the appropriation of Ugandan Sign Language change deaf people’s lives, their being-in-the-world, in Acholi? In using the theoretical approach of existential and instrumental perspectives on technologies by Martin Heidegger, this article analyses the complex transitions following the appropriation of Ugandan Sign Language on international, national and local levels. The disability movement – including Ugandan Sign Language projects – reached Acholi during the time of war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and Ugandan national forces. Displacement brought scattered deaf people together in towns and camps, where Ugandan Sign Language was introduced through workshops and institutions including churches. This created new forms of communication and possibilities of sociality. After the war, gender differences emerged, as many deaf women returned to rural homes where they had few opportunities to communicate with other sign language users.

Résumé

Résumé

L’introduction de la langue des signes ougandaise à Acholi, dans le nord de l’Ouganda, faisait partie d’un mouvement international du handicap en pleine croissance dans le pays et s’inscrivait dans un cadre de politique de développement et de démarches fondées sur les droits humains. Dans ce contexte, la langue des signes ougandaise est apparue comme une technologie de développement. Mais comment l’appropriation de la langue des signes ougandaise a-t-elle changé la vie des sourds, leur façon d’être au monde, à Acholi ? En utilisant la démarche théorique des perspectives existentielles et instrumentales sur les technologies de Martin Heidegger, cet article analyse les transitions complexes qui ont suivi l’appropriation de la langue des signes aux niveaux international, national et local. Le mouvement du handicap, y compris les projets de langue des signes ougandaise, est arrivé à Acholi pendant la guerre qui opposait l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (Lord’s Resistance Army, ou LRA) aux forces nationales ougandaises. Les déplacements de population ont regroupé les sourds dispersés dans des villes et des camps dans lesquels la langue des signes ougandaise fut introduite à travers des ateliers et des institutions, dont les églises. Il s’est ainsi créé de nouvelles formes de communication et possibilités de socialité. Après la guerre, des différences genrées ont émergé, lorsque de nombreuses femmes sourdes ont regagné leurs foyers ruraux où elles avaient peu d’opportunités de communiquer avec d’autres utilisateurs de langue des signes.

Type
Disability and technology
Information
Africa , Volume 92 , Issue 4 , August 2022 , pp. 430 - 448
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute

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