Educational experiences of black deaf people from an afrocentric perspective: a path of possibilities

Abstract

The aim of this article is to understand the centrality/marginality of the educational experiences narrated by students on the Letras-Libras course and how this relates to the process of constructing a black deaf identity. To this end, our main foundation was the theory of Afrocentricity, systematized as a paradigm by the researcher Molefi Kete Asante (1980, 2009), which provided us with the analytical schematization necessary to support the text. As a methodological approach, we used a qualitative approach that relates to the methodology of oral history, understanding it as the main producer of the life narratives collected and analyzed. As a result, it was possible to identify that the experiences that contextualize racial issues are largely marginalized in the students' educational process, which ends up not providing continuity. On the other hand, experiences that are narrated from the point of view of being deaf manage to appear more frequently and are developed by the interviewees. As a result, we can see that the construction of black deaf identity is still unequal, where deafness comes to the fore and enables a more in-depth and conscious development.