Rome: a temporary deaf city! Deaflympics 2001
Temas
Detalles
The texts in this publication, Rome – a Temporary Deaf City, is based on fieldwork donein Rome, the summer of 2001, where the quadrennial Deaf World Games were held(now called Deaflympics). This fieldwork is the first one within the anthropologicalproject «Global Connections in Deaf Worlds». The research team from Stein Rokkan’sCentre for Social Science Research in Bergen consists of Jan-Kåre Breivik (hearinganthropologist), Hilde Haualand (deaf anthropologist) and Per Solvang (hearingsociologist). By the time we went to Rome none of us were experienced in doing co-fieldwork during such intensive events. The ethnographic paths were actually madewhile walking through the streets of Rome. Following a short introduction, the firsttext, by Breivik, is about some anthropological challenges related to fieldwork in non-conventional settings. The second one, by Haualand, is a description of how Romegradually changed into a deaf village within two hectic summer weeks – and then, allin a sudden, disappeared. The third text, by Solvang, is a comment upon Haualand’stext. He is in particular focusing upon particular episodes, during the Deaflympics,which points towards nuances in deviance discourse (in which deaf life is also a partof). The fourth text, by Breivik, focuses on the close connections between deaf sportsand transnational deaf life. It is in particular the team-sports, such as soccer, which areput in front. The final text, by Haualand, is a summary and a kind of location of Rome/Deaflympics within the broader project. Here, we invite our readers toparticipate in the project. This can be done by commenting upon and posing questiontowards the project, the researchers and our texts, and by proposing changes orrevisions. You are also invited to supplement and broaden our work by providing uswith your observations and considerations. This project is strongly user-oriented, andwe are therefore inviting deaf persons to participate. We are in particular looking fordeaf persons with experiences from the transnational deaf scene, but we are notexcluding anyone because of this.