Unveiling Linguistic Identity and Intersectionality in the Systematic Oppression of Deaf Communities in Iran
摘要
My article will focus on the life experiences of people in the deaf communities in Iran and how sign language reflects their cultural perspectives. Iran has so many spoken languages and there is much literary discussion about them, but I don’t see much literature on the sign language of Iran as a visual language. Often, people think deaf people have only one type of experience as a disabled person but it isn’t the only thing they experience categorically. Each deaf person has different layers of intersectionality in their identities because of their religion, political status, ethnicity, language fluency, language choice, use of variants, etc. Furthermore, systematic oppression has an impact on their sign language use and deaf identity. The deaf communities in Iran survived systematic oppression in different ways and still struggle to thrive despite obstacles. Documentation of their struggles will contribute significantly to the literature. There are literary resources in Farsi from hearing people but very few resources in Farsi from deaf people in Iran because it is rare for any deaf person in Iran to write a book and publish it. The sign language of Iran typically does not have any form of written system, and videotaping is usually used to record sign language users.