Careers: Doctoral programs in Deaf Studies and Disability Studies within Anthropology

This page supersedes my previous blog entry on the topic and was last updated 2011.12.04.

Introduction

I've received quite a few e-mails over the years from people interested in graduate programs in Deaf Studies or Disability Studies within Anthropology. I've come up with the following list to help people narrow down their choice of schools. It's still very tentative and I would greatly appreciate feedback from people who know of other programs.

Note that for the most part I have only listed places where there are faculty active in Deaf Studies or Disability Studies. However, most of us are first generation scholars -- we received our PhDs at programs where there was nobody who focused in Deaf culture or disability. I do not think we are yet at the second generation of scholarship yet -- where people will be studying more or less in specialized programs. Thus, you should not narrow your focus to only the programs listed, but also look for programs that are strong either in your areal specialty (geographic region) or topical specialty (such as language ideology; biomedicine and social institutions; etc.). You can always ask one of the people listed below to serve as an external committee member or dissertation reader.

Deaf Studies within Anthropology

There are schools with strong deaf studies programs (Galluadet, RIT/NTID, Cal State Northridge) as well as more traditional anthropology programs. The advantage of mainstream programs is that they are usually better funded -- tuition waivers and stipends are available, for example. This list focuses more on the mainstream programs and is derived from one originally created by Leila Monaghan.

The majority of people in Deaf Studies approach it through Linguistic Anthropology. The Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA) has been extremely supportive and the annual meetings of the American Anthropology Association usually host at least two sessions on Deaf culture or sign languages. I'm more of an anomaly since my focus is deaf social movements and identity, and not sign linguistics per se.

At this stage, because of the paucity of scholars interested in deaf studies at doctoral programs, I would encourage students to think broadly and not limit themselves only to the programs listed here. Any good doctoral program in sociocultural anthropology should be willing to support studies in a deaf community formation, and any good linguistic anthropology program should be able to accommodate sign linguistics. Look for overall excellence rather than specific topical specialization.

Masters Programs in Deaf Studies / Anthropology

Barbara LeMaster reminds me that one other strong option is to pursue a terminal M.A. in deaf studies and then to transfer to a doctoral program in anthropology. She notes that at CalState-Long Beach, "students can go for an MA on the way to the PhD or for a terminal degree. We offer applied anthropology and applied linguistics, and students can work on sign language and broader Deaf issues. We often get students who are either not ready to pursue a PhD and want to see how they do in graduate school, or students who choose a terminal MA degree, or students who get the MA on the way to a PhD. I know there can be problems with that - some PhD granting institutions will not accept MA degrees from other universities - but this is an option for some who want to pursue Deaf studies or disability studies within anthropology. (We have students doing both in our department right now.)"

Disability Studies within Anthropology

The majority of people studying disability and culture are medical anthropologists. Thanks to "M.F." for pointing me to the key scholars. See also this interesting issue of Disability Studies Quarterly on disability and anthropology. As with the list above, none of the scholars below have a visible or claimed disability (although some have children with disabilities).

Conclusions: Applying to Programs

Again, I would suggest that you don't limit yourself only to the programs listed but only use it as a starting point for your investigations. I would also encourage you to contact scholars at schools you are looking at. It is always helpful to both have an advocate on the admissions committee as well someone to help you decide if their school is the right place to be.

More than finding a faculty member who does work exactly like your own, you should think about finding faculty members who are interested in the same type of theoretical questions but will bring different perspectives to bear on your issue. Try to understand what would be interesting about your project to specialists outside your particular subfield. For example, if you wish to study deaf communities in the United States -- what would attract the attention of a senior faculty member who specializes linguistic anthropology in South Asia? Is there something about language ideologies or diglossia that might cause them to notice your proposal? Or if you want to study deaf schools in Beijing, what would a China sociologist find attractive? Could you link it to issues of other minority pedagogies?

One caution: junior faculty (i.e., untenured assistant professors and term associates) have a tendency to move and they are not always able to bring their graduate students with them. For that reason, it's best to choose on the basis of the entire receptivity of the program to your field of study.

Note: I have a similar list for doctoral programs in Japan Anthropology.

[Read other articles on Careers in Anthropology on Photoethnography.com]