Capturing Voices Through ASL Storytelling: Portraits of Deaf Storytellers in the Upstate of South Carolina

• Main Author: Misener Dunn, Kim Marlene
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2021
• Subjects: Disability studies; Language
• ISBN: 9798728222699

Storytelling has always been valued for transmitting culture, morals, language, and insight from one generation to another, so this qualitative research used the portraiture-narrative methodology to explore the journeys of four locally recognized Deaf ASL storytellers in the Upstate of South Carolina. This study was guided by the theoretical framework of Deaf Crit Theory and Deaf Epistemology to examine the storytellers’ journeys. Deaf Crit Theory recognizes and validates Deaf Epistemology and challenges the topic of audism in storytelling while also analyzing experiences. Through these theories, I reframed the existing lens and perspectives by shifting and transforming the narrative to that of Deaf ASL storytellers in order to gain their points of view and their Deaf ways of knowing. The literature on traditional cultures, specifically Appalachian, Scottish, Native American, Mexican, African American, and Deaf British and Deaf American storytelling are included to show the global proliferation and value of storytellers.This study employed diverse methods of gathering data, including interviews and collecting cultural artifacts to co-construct a story of each participant’s life. The journeys of becoming Deaf ASL storytellers revealed three major themes: 1) Influences, 2) ASL Storytelling, and 3) Self-Identity in Personal Reflections. The four Deaf individuals became storytellers for various reasons: pride of their language and culture, schooling, the influence of Deaf role models, passion for preserving ASL storytelling, and overcoming audism, racism, and other forms of nihilism. Critically, this study allowed Deaf ASL storytellers in the Upstate South Carolina to express their voices and contribute their genre to the ASL literature. This study may benefit others by making a contribution to the fields of Deaf Crit and Deaf Epistemology and other interdisciplinary fields by understanding how Deaf culture and ASL storytelling foster the development of personal identity and by providing authentic voices of the four Deaf ASL storytellers. Keywords: portraiture, narrative, Deaf storytellers, southern folklore, Deaf Crit Theory, Deaf Epistemology