A case study of a young deaf man's identity construction in a hearing family.

Abstract

This research report investigates the experience of identity construction of a young Deaf man born into a hearing family in the township of Bluegumbosch, QwaQwa in the Free State Province of South Africa. Through the science of ethnography and an intensive study of a single family unit, focus is given to personal narratives in understanding the impact a Deaf young man has on his hearing family members operating within wider socio-political frameworks. This research report aims to bridge the gap in the paucity of family-oriented research in a Black township community, and with providing South African mainstream society with an understanding of Deaf children and the manner in which they contemporarily construct their identity, alongside the use and acknowledgement that SASL is a natural and complete language.