SURDITE CINEMA · Social Understandings and Representations of Deafness In Theory and Education through Cinema

Deafness raises profound questions about language acquisition, learning, and thinking including mediation of experiences of the world, self and others and socio-cultural identity and belonging. France has an important place in the history of deaf education. In 1791, two years after the Revolution and as a result of the rights of deaf people being recognized in the constitution, France became the first country to have a national, government-funded school for deaf children, who were taught using sign language. Despite this positive history, there has been little commerce between France and the UK on the subjects of deafness and disability. The originality of this project lies in using cinema to bring together and analyze social, theoretical and educational perspectives on deafness from Francophone and Anglophone spheres. The purpose of this work is to transform social understandings of deafness in the public domain; to construct a dispassionate theoretical and empirical framework for researchers and practitioners working in the fields of deaf studies, deaf education and disability studies; and, to critique and influence national and EU discourses and policies on deafness and disability.