Photo credit : Shuana Niessen
Q & A WITH RECIPIENT OF GOVERNOR GENERAL ’ S ACADEMIC GOLD MEDAL
( L-R ) President and Vice Chancellor Dr . Vianne Timmons and Dr . Joanne Weber .
Dr . Joanne Weber was the recipient of the Spring 2019 Governor General ’ s Academic Gold Medal for outstanding academic achievement by a graduate student . Weber completed a Ph . D . in 4½ years while also working full-time for the Regina Public School Board as the only deaf teacher of deaf students in the Province . Dr . Weber ’ s dissertation is titled , “ Becoming Deaf in the Posthuman Era : Posthumanism , Arts- Based Research and Deaf Education .”
Abstract summary : In her dissertation , Weber explores posthumanism as a possible paradigm shift for deaf education , which is presently mired in binarized thinking concerning language choices . Posthumanist onto-epistemology proposes a radical shift from anthropocentrism to a posthumanism that emphasizes multiple and shifting relationships between animals , plants , humans , and the earth . Here , posthumanism proposes that human activity not be defined according to a binarized lens often used by many governing bodies , policy developers , medical specialists , and educators but include the material realities as expressed by animal , plant , and mineral entities . Weber investigates the implications of posthumanism within the context of deaf education where language choices ( American Sign Language and spoken English ) are presented as binary opposites to deaf children and youth , parents and educators .
Q & A with Dr . Weber
Tell us about you your journey to here ? About your becoming ?
I am a profoundly deaf teacher who , since birth , has struggled to participate in the hearing world . I developed the ability to speak , read and write in the dominant language of our culture ( English ) and I became fluent in American Sign Language ( ASL ). At the age of 25 , I started to learn sign language and to participate in one of the most marginalized communities on this planet , the Deaf community . Despite the immediate rejection , dismissals , and scorn from other professionals in deaf education , I resisted the grand narrative associated with disability , that is , to overcome disability and to take one ’ s place in the dominant culture . I also objected to the audist narrative that promotes the belief that the hearing world is the only world that exists and that one must acquire spoken language , English print literacy , and behaviours that approximate those of hearing people to be considered worthy of belonging . My initial attempts to overcome this binary between being hearing and being deaf began with becoming an advocate for the Deaf community , hoping to raise the profile and promote the rich and vibrant language , culture , behaviours , and traditions authored by Deaf people and their communities throughout the world . In doing so , I became exhausted , disillusioned , and despairing of the lack of progress in my concerted efforts alongside the Deaf advocates who dedicated their entire lives to improving the quality of education for those who could not acquire oral language skills or become proficient in English print literacy due to the lack of access to language either through the insufficient auditory information provided by modern technology such as cochlear implants , FM systems , and hearing aids or due to to incomplete exposure to ASL during early childhood .
The continued failure to improve the quality of education for deaf children and youth drove me into the Ph . D . program . I could not understand why no one was listening , particularly those who held the power to make changes . I could not understand , despite my concerted efforts to educate others in the education field , why progress was miniscule . I went into the Ph . D . program inwardly screaming and kicking as I was experiencing massive burnout and desperately wanted to leave my teaching practice . Yet , I was haunted by my own failure to teach , to thrive , and to bring about transformational change . I wondered , was there something I had not yet considered ?
With the support of my supervisor , Dr . Fatima Pirbhai Illich , I entered an underworld journey in which I confronted my own complicity in the oppression of the deaf children and youth whom I thought I was serving . I had to confront my own deficit thinking about the students whom I taught and how I had marginalized them all in the name of doing “ good things .” I began to examine the degree to which I had cooperated with other oppressors ( who are hearing ) and how I had elevated my status at the expense of my students . The journey was painful and strangely liberating . I am still in the process of examining ways in which I am complicit . In doing so , I am increasingly letting go of my own need for power , control , status , and approval . In my journey of descent , I am beginning to see things that I have never seen before . The world is now numinous , indeed , “ there is the dearest freshness deep down things ” ( Hopkins , " God ’ s Grandeur ," 1877 ) where I see deaf children and youth as having abilities , skills , intelligence and knowledges
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