When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.
Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.
Abstract
On the premise that the aural and phonocentric sensorium in Canada is restricting the communication between deaf and hearing people, this research looks to trace how communicating feels, smells, tastes, sounds and looks in the spaces between deaf and hearing people. This creative and community-engaged ethnographic project was an inter-sensorial exploration that included eleven participants across four languages: English, French, ASL (American Sign Language) and LSQ (langue des signes québécoise) and multiple language modalities, written, spoken and signed. The first phase explored a social-institutional context and conducted two semi-structured interviews with two deaf university students who pursued human rights complaints against the same university after being denied access to sign language interpretation – yet cases occurring twenty years apart. The second phase explored a social-creative context and conducted two focus groups, each participant exploring their own sense of communicating across deaf and hearing spaces. In each phase, the participants described their narratives and experiences through visual, tactile and auditory mediums, including narratives, maps, collages, video, sign language poetry, objects, and illustrations. Next, situational and relational mapping methods were employed to trace the experiences sensorily and multi-modally. Findings suggest that in contrast to popular transactional communication models, there are no barriers or gaps to communicating; communicating is a persistent inter-sensory experience of the relationships existing between people and their environment occurring across time and space. In this light, new conversations are needed about our accountability to these relationships and how these spaces of communication impact our individual and collective well-being.