“Deaf Discourse”: The Social Construction of Deafness in a Bedouin Community

Disablement, Gender, and Deafhood among the Negev Arab-Bedouin

“…In one such community, the incidence amounts to 30 per 1000 (Kisch 2000(Kisch , 2004, constituting one of the worldwide highest incidences of deafness documented so far. These high incidences account for significant differences in the experience of various deaf Bedouin people.…”

“…These cases are often examined merely as an absence (of a Deaf community), or in search of embryonic Deaf communities. Elsewhere, I examined one of the Bedouin shared signing communities2 in great detail (Kisch 2000(Kisch , 2004 and cited my reservations (Kisch, forthcoming) for the existing typologies which classify such unique cases as a kind of deaf community. I have argued that such shared signing communities may facilitate the integration of deaf people and reduce their disablement, but they may also pose unique challenges to the emergence of a distinct deaf alliance.…”

Demarcating generations of signers in the dynamic sociolinguistic landscape of a shared sign-language: The case of the Al-Sayyid Bedouin

“…In my study of the Al-Sayyid Bedouin, I have introduced the term shared signing community (Kisch 2000(Kisch , 2008, later adopted by Nyst (in press) to correspondingly denote shared sign languages.…”

Persistence and transmission of recessive deafness and sign language: new insights from village sign languages

“…1 Anthropological reports provide several details on Al-Sayyid sociolinguistic aspects. 14,15,18,19 Deaf individuals are fully integrated in the community, with a normal marriage rate and hence there is no selective pressure against deafness. Given the cultural habits of Bedouins, which include widespread polygamy and extended family households, many children are exposed to ABSL very early in their childhood, regardless of hearing status.…”

“…12 Moreover, in contrast with other young sign languages, such as Nicaraguan sign language, ABSL is developing in a socially stable community 17 and is widely used in the population, also by hearing people. 14,15,18,19 These aspects have led linguists to recognize ABSL as a new independent developing sign language. 1, 17 The first deaf people appeared in the Al-Sayyid population three generations ago, 17 yielding an estimate of the language age at around 70-80 years.…”