Intersectionality of the sign language interpreter identity

Abstract

This chapter explores identity linked to the professionalisation of sign language interpreting in Africa. It aims at signalling a nuanced domestication of the sign language interpreting profession, through acknowledging the intersectionality of African identity, culture, values, and traditions. Challenges and possibilities unique to Africa’s distinct pluricultural and plurilinguistic communities are interwoven, yet superficially presented in sign language interpreting epistemology. Legal recognition of African sign languages and professionalisation of sign language interpreting presents a conundrum that inherently points to the prescriptiveness of a medical model to define deafness and impacts on the recognition and professionalisation of sign language interpreting. This deficit view is contextualised to African identity-forming and environmental factors as indicated by Bronfenbrenner’s (1976) framework. At the centripetal lens of the professionalisation process I apply intersectional theory, where the identity construction of the African sign language interpreter is discussed. The language practice identity of the African sign language interpreter is teased out through the engagement of a decolonised lens on the education and training of African sign language interpreters. The state of the language practice curriculum (interpreting studies) is deciphered to contextualise interpreting epistemology. Alternative lenses, such as translanguaging, are proposed as part of the decolonisation project in academia. Despite rhetoric that might suggest otherwise, the training and education of African sign language interpreters retain many features of didactic, colonial components, excluding perspectives of and from the Global South. By positing a novel interpreting model, I propose a domesticated model that acknowledges the African identity and incorporates translanguaging strategies in interpreting.