Heather Clark (PhC Washington 2007)
Research Interests:
Linguistic Anthropology, Racial literacy, exploring the construction of identity through language (ASL &/or AAE), Deaf/Disability studies, racial and cultural identity formation; Visual Communication/Anthropology; Pacific Northwest
"My research explores how language is used to construct and maintain cultural identity. I specifically work with individuals who are both African American and Deaf born in the Northwest to see how the language use—in this case American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken forms of American English—informs cultural identity. One of the primary questions I am interested in is if African American parents (and others in the African American community) are not using ASL with their children, how does this influence how the children grow up to culturally identify as an adult?"
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Selected Publications:
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In review
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A Silent History: Giving Voice to the African American Deaf Experience. 2008 Deaf Studies Today Conference Proceedings.
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In press |
Signs of Change: Navigating the Conflicts Between African American and Deaf Cultural Identities. 2007 Symposium About Language and Society-Austin-Annual Conference Proceeding’s. |
2007 |
Signing and Signifyin’: Negotiating Deaf and African American Identities. National Association for Ethnic Studies: Ethnic Studies Review Journal, vol 30: 1& 2. pp 115-124. |
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