Therefore I want to share my thoughts with rest of the world, both with you who attended the conference, and with you who did not. Before we continue, I want to make clear that I am writing this post as a private person, not as a representative for any organisation. What you are going to read now are my private thoughts, and of course my life experiences are the reasons that I have those thoughts.
My name is Jannicke Kvitvær, I am a girl
from the Western world and I grew up in one of the world´s richest countries. My life experiences have made me interested in cultures and life experiences,
which are not similar as mine. I have learned a lot from other people, the main
word in my everyday life is the word respect. And what I expected to see in the
deaf academic world was just respect.
Having the light switched off and on
No one who I talked with in the “higher position” of the deaf academic world, realised that to have the light switched off and on to get people´s attention is not okay when we are at official or social events, because of different reasons. The main reason is deaf blind people; it is discrimination against them. Deaf blind people are also a part of the deaf world – and the deaf academic world.
The second thing I was surprised by was the clothes some of the lecturers, moderators and other speakers were wearing. Yellow shirt, white t-shirt with blue stripes or pink jumper: Light clothes or a scarf when your skin is light is really not good for deaf blind people. I thought that this was an obvious part to know; especially at a conference where most of us were people with high education in anthropology and deaf studies?
A closed world
Several
people mentioned several times that the deaf academic world is a small world. Yes
I agree with that. The deaf academic world is really a small world, but we do
not have to make it smaller either? By excluding people with different
education, people from different backgrounds or people from the global south?
In the opening speech by the organising committee of the Deaf Academics 2015 it was mentioned that they were surprised by the overwhelming interest for the conference. That it was a new participant record. It is really something positive, and to me it is clear that the younger part of the deaf community are better at sharing information with each other and with other people. So pointing out over and over that the deaf academic world is a small world is not a good thing to do when it also, until now, have been a closed world.
The organising committee of the Deaf Academics 2015 did a good job with spreading information about the conference, and I hope future organising committees do this the same way.
In the opening speech by the organising committee of the Deaf Academics 2015 it was mentioned that they were surprised by the overwhelming interest for the conference. That it was a new participant record. It is really something positive, and to me it is clear that the younger part of the deaf community are better at sharing information with each other and with other people. So pointing out over and over that the deaf academic world is a small world is not a good thing to do when it also, until now, have been a closed world.
The organising committee of the Deaf Academics 2015 did a good job with spreading information about the conference, and I hope future organising committees do this the same way.
Global South
Let us continue on the part with the global south. Over and over lecturers and other speakers, in different issues, mentioned the global south and how important it is to include people from those countries. Let us now see the history of the deaf academic´s conferences: Only two countries outside Europe have had the host role since… ever...? (Correct me if I am wrong here). Those countries were Brazil and USA. When the conference voted for the next two countries to host the upcoming conferences, there were only two out of seven countries that were outside Europe. That means five European countries, two of those were Nordic countries, which bid for hosting the conference in 2017 and 2019. It was therefore to me a big surprise that BOTH Nordic countries won. After four days where people talked about the global south, the countries that got most votes were Western world countries.
The only non-Western country to bid was Mozambique, they lost the bidding – again. And my only question to that: How are we going to develop the deaf academic world if we are not interested to place the conference outside the Western world?
Following are some of the answers I received after discussing this with other participants:
«Most of the people here are students, it is expensive for them with far away destinations. Of course they are voting for the cheapest option.».
«A majority of the participants are from Europe, of course they are voting for the shortest travel option.»
«You know, the best organising committees are countries that have experience with such events, and people are of course voting for the safe option.»
Let us continue on the part with the global south. Over and over lecturers and other speakers, in different issues, mentioned the global south and how important it is to include people from those countries. Let us now see the history of the deaf academic´s conferences: Only two countries outside Europe have had the host role since… ever...? (Correct me if I am wrong here). Those countries were Brazil and USA. When the conference voted for the next two countries to host the upcoming conferences, there were only two out of seven countries that were outside Europe. That means five European countries, two of those were Nordic countries, which bid for hosting the conference in 2017 and 2019. It was therefore to me a big surprise that BOTH Nordic countries won. After four days where people talked about the global south, the countries that got most votes were Western world countries.
The only non-Western country to bid was Mozambique, they lost the bidding – again. And my only question to that: How are we going to develop the deaf academic world if we are not interested to place the conference outside the Western world?
Following are some of the answers I received after discussing this with other participants:
«Most of the people here are students, it is expensive for them with far away destinations. Of course they are voting for the cheapest option.».
«A majority of the participants are from Europe, of course they are voting for the shortest travel option.»
«You know, the best organising committees are countries that have experience with such events, and people are of course voting for the safe option.»
Well, it
may be expensive for people outside Europe to travel to Europe too, for them
European countries are far away destinations.
That the majority of the participants were from Europe will always be the current situation when this event almost always is placed in Europe. USA was placed in third place after the bid for the next two conferences; another majority in the conference were people from USA. We will never get out of that circle if we are basing the statistic on this argument?
People get experience when they can make experience. If they never get this chance – how are they going to develop their experience of organising something?
Last, for your information, Iceland is expensive too – and they are going to host the conference in 2019. So the answer about having the cheapest option is not logic to me here. And for your further information, during my life I have experienced that many people from the world always are whining: «Oh no, not a Nordic country again» when something or someone mentions a Nordic country. Well, Mozambique got 15 votes, and I know that at least five of those who voted on Mozambique were from Nordic countries.
That the majority of the participants were from Europe will always be the current situation when this event almost always is placed in Europe. USA was placed in third place after the bid for the next two conferences; another majority in the conference were people from USA. We will never get out of that circle if we are basing the statistic on this argument?
People get experience when they can make experience. If they never get this chance – how are they going to develop their experience of organising something?
Last, for your information, Iceland is expensive too – and they are going to host the conference in 2019. So the answer about having the cheapest option is not logic to me here. And for your further information, during my life I have experienced that many people from the world always are whining: «Oh no, not a Nordic country again» when something or someone mentions a Nordic country. Well, Mozambique got 15 votes, and I know that at least five of those who voted on Mozambique were from Nordic countries.
Thank you
The
conclusion of what I learned from the conference is that there were lots of
double standards there. Maybe the conference was not what I expected, but I
enjoyed the program and lecturers. The discussions were very interesting and I am
looking forward to next time. I hope to see more non-European and non-Western people.
Yes, people outside Western world have an education too. Their educational background
and experience are really inspiring. Some of them got their higher education
without interpreters and used different methods during their researching. Maybe
it is something we in the Western world can think about?
See you in
Denmark 2017!
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