Becoming Allies: The Transmogrification of the Role of American Sign Language/English Interpreters during the Deaf President Now Protest
Disability Alliances and Allies
ISBN: 978-1-83909-322-7, eISBN: 978-1-83909-321-0
Publication date: 9 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose: In this chapter, I explore how American Sign Language/English interpreters came to enact an ally role with members of the American deaf community during the 1988 Deaf President Now (DPN) protest. The DPN protest, led by students at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, was a historic moment in the deaf community's struggle for civil rights (Christiansen & Barnartt, 1995). During the events that unfolded over the week-long rebellion, students engaged in a variety of claims-making activities (Lindekilde, 2013), such as participating in media interviews and organizing rallies. To share their message with the world, the deaf protesters developed alliances with American Sign Language/English interpreters, who mediated a wide variety of protest-related activities.
Method: The data I analyze in this chapter come from (1) archival review and (2) semistructured interviews I conducted with DPN stakeholders, including interpreters and protesters.
Findings: Through these data, I explore how the protesters and interpreters came to develop shared understandings and expectations of allyship, including the roles that interpreters enacted in the protest.
Implication/Value: I frame this discussion within the context of a variety of metaphors that have been used to describe the role of signed language interpreters (Roy, 1993, 2002) and the concept of role-space (Llewellyn-Jones & Lee, 2014) to demonstrate the process of interpreters becoming allies in contentious political settings.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This chapter is a result of my PhD dissertation research conducted at Gallaudet University. I thank the members of my dissertation committee for their support: Dr. Brenda Nicodemus (chair), Dr. Mona Baker, Dr. Keith Cagle, Dr. Emily Shaw, and Dr. Sharon Barnartt. I especially thank Dr. Barnartt for her review of this manuscript, Daniel LeMay for his insightful comments on role-space, and Arien Peppers for her editorial review. Finally, I thank the Gallaudet University Office of Research Support and International Affairs (RSIA) for their generous financial support of this project.
Citation
Halley, M. (2020), "Becoming Allies: The Transmogrification of the Role of American Sign Language/English Interpreters during the Deaf President Now Protest", Carey, A.C., Ostrove, J.M. and Fannon, T. (Ed.) Disability Alliances and Allies (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 12), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 167-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720200000012012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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