Paper short abstract:

This paper highlights the current strengths and limitations of critical anthropology in Deaf studies through the experience of conducting research into regional Australian Deaf culture and the accessibility system, and discusses the necessary path forward for research rooted in allyship.

Paper long abstract:

In our current academic landscape where anthropology’s methods, neo-coloniality, and relevance have been called into question, one response is a move towards a collaborative, critical anthropology. This paper advocates for a critical anthropology rooted in co-creation and interdisciplinary understanding through the experiences from my research regarding Deaf culture and accessibility.

Focused on regional Queensland, Australia, my research delves into accessibility services and the underlying paradigms shaping perceptions of d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing [HoH] individuals and cultures. In forming relationships with d/Deaf/HoH participants, I encountered excitement for qualitative research into their lived experience, running contrary to warnings of insularity or hostility of the Deaf community. This was due to the prevalence of quantitative, often medicalised research that is viewed to be culturally dismissive and disrespectful. A further point of intrigue was the practice of critical ethnography, which focuses on analysing and disrupting underlying power relationships, including the power held by academia, and ensuring that research is done in a way that is public, useful, and transformative.

This paper covers the importance of a critical anthropology through the reactions and hope expressed by my participants, along with how the core of community usefulness is practiced in my research. Along with the benefits, this paper discusses the limitations of my attempt at critical anthropology in Deaf studies, from academic limitations to my ability to co-create, to my identity as a hearing individual. Through this, the paper discusses the path anthropologists must take in Deaf studies to be respectful, useful allies.