Deafness and sign language in a Yucatec Maya community: Emergent Ethnographic Practice

Abstract

This paper outlines the potential that community‐based, family‐oriented research strategies have for generating inclusive and sustainable local social programs. Examples drawn from long‐term fieldwork in an indigenous Mayan‐speaking community in Yucatán, Mexico highlight the utility of aligning ethnographic evaluations with available state resources in appropriate and holistic ways. There is a high percentage of deafness in the community of Chican, and a nondiscriminatory attitude toward sign language use that enables the involvement of deaf persons into everyday life activities. In Chican, deafness represents a positive constitutive feature of community identity; the locally developed Yucatec Mayan Sign Language is widely used among both deaf and hearing persons enabling for the inclusion of deaf persons in community life. However, disjuncture between local and state approaches toward community wellbeing are apparent in that state conceptualizations of deafness as a disabling condition, and indigenous identity as being problematic, contrast sharply with local understandings. Through carrying out in depth participant‐observation, I assumed the role I was assigned within community life, and thereby gained insight into local understanding of deafness, communication, and identity. Engaging with children, adolescents, extended family, and community leaders, I participated with family members across age and gender lines in their customary daily activities. By these means, I realized that external perceptions of Chican, concentrating primarily on the presence of deafness in the community, were overshadowing more pressing and generalized community needs. To facilitate local communications with state and humanitarian agencies, I founded a nonprofit organization called “YUCAN Make a Difference A.C.,” which envisions ethnographic practice as a pivotal force in generating mutually rewarding programs of social assistance. [applied anthropology, deafness and sign language, Yucatec Maya, ethnographic practice, nonprofit organizations]