Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

While historians have employed documentary sources in reconstructing the history of Nigeria, few have used them to understand deaf people’s struggle for identity in an overwhelmingly hearing context. Construction of valued identities and cultural histories is not easy for deaf people. The experiential difference of deafness installs an initial sense of isolation, strangeness, and loneliness in most deaf people—leading to the tremendous challenge of socio-cultural identification and existential self-awareness. As a result, “voices” of the deaf lamentably have suffered scholarly neglect. This paper introduces a new category of minority history: agency in the history of deaf people. Facing the tides of cultural globalization, is it possible for cultural and linguistic minorities to maintain themselves as distinct historical actors, not merely a caricature or victims? Covering twentieth century Nigeria, this study draws from documentary evidence sourced in colonial petitions, government reports and missionary archives to examine how deaf identities were crafted by balancing vulnerability and empowering forces through “unheard voices.” Beyond victimhood, it presents fresh perspectives on how deaf people engaged issues that impacted activism in their personal, political and socio-cultural lives. It argues that their engagement, though hardly recognized, grants them legitimacy as historical actants in a society where they could, literally and figuratively, not be heard. Through a wider critical canvas, it contributes to new understanding of minority history and expands frameworks of knowledge and methodologies. In thinking through these sources, this study shifts from ideologies that have defined deaf people as totally voiceless, nearly powerless and almost passive.