ABSTRACT
The agenda of Deaf pride and celebration in the metropole starkly contrasts the continued production of ‘hearing impairment’ in much of the postcolonial global South. In part, this is due to the experience of colonialism, which was both disabling and devastating for inhabitants in the global South. It is also a result of the continued dominance of the global North in universalising knowledge about the condition of being deaf, which has resulted in the marginalisation of the experiences of Deaf people in the global South. This chapter explores how colonialism has continued to manifest itself through knowledge practices which have made the experiences of Deaf people in the global South invisible. In response to the hegemony of knowledge production by the global North, the chapter challenges the epistemological foundations formed within Northern social theories. To this end, it analyses possibilities for a teacher-centred project of decolonisation that engages with Indigenous ways of knowing about disability experiences in general, particularly being deaf. The project utilises illustrations from Deaf communities in Africa to challenge their voicelessness. It further discusses the role of dominant sign languages in what has been perceived as the neo-colonisation of Indigenous sign languages such as Zimbabwean Sign Language.
