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British Academy Lecture: The sign language myth by Professor Annelies Kusters
Professor Annelies Kusters, Heriot-Watt University
Date/Time: Thursday 25 April 2024, 5.30pm
Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University
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All our events remain free and open to all, but pre-booking is required. Bookings for this lecture will open at 10.00am on 18 April. |
Chaired by Dr Rory Turnbull, Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology
Sign language is not universal – hundreds of diifferent types are used throughout the world – but could there be one common system that everyone could understand? Could International Sign be that language – the answer to global signed communication? The lecture will be illustrated with clips from ethnographic films the speaker has directed.
This lecture will be signed, with translation by BSL interpreters and live captioning.
Biography
Annelies Kusters is Professor in Sign Language and Intercultural Research at Heriot-Watt University, where she works since 2017. She led a research team of deaf scholars undertaking the pioneering project ‘Deaf mobilities across international borders: visualising intersectionality and translanguaging” (MobileDeaf.org.uk) (2017-2023), funded by the European Research Council. Professor Kusters posesses a broad academic background, including a BA in Philosophy, an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Leuven, and both an MSc and a PhD in Deaf Studies from the University of Bristol. With a passion for ethnographic research, she has conducted extensive fieldwork across diverse locations including Suriname, Ghana, India, and the United Kingdom. Recognized for her expertise in the study of language practices, language ideologies, transnationalism, mobilities, and sign language media, Professor Kusters has created six films on International Sign. She is currently writing a monograph on the same topic.
