For anyone interested in studying the deaf community through fieldwork, Annelies Kusters’ Deaf space in Adamorobe is a precious resource. As a cultural anthropologist, Kusters conducts profound ethnographic research on deaf people in a remote Ghanaian village to whom insufficient attention has ever been paid. The book encompasses an exceptionally detailed account of the living conditions of the deaf inhabitants of Adamorobe, the use of sign language, intricate deaf-hearing relationships, and even the challenges faced by the deaf.
Before moving into detailed analysis, the author explains why she participates in deaf studies and the ways in which she does her daily research, such as through observations, conversations, and questions. Noticeably, her special identity as a researcher who is herself deaf plays a key role in eliciting information from the locals dwelling in distinctive deaf spaces and engaging in deaf sociality.
From chapter 2 to 7, Kusters explores intrinsic aspects of deafness in Adamorobe. The geographical conditions and deaf population are firstly elaborated from a social, historical, political, economic, and religious perspective so that readers are informed of demographic causes of deafness in the Akan village, although the deaf innocently associate their disability with superstition. More examples can be found in chapter 3, where Kusters illustrates her impression of daily interactions between the deaf and hearing people through a long fieldwork excerpt. Introspections of hearing people on the use of Adamorobe Sign Language and their experiences, attitudes, and feelings towards deaf people within and beyond the village are also examined. In chapters 4, 5, and 6, Kusters draws readers’ attention to the meaning of deaf spaces, patterns of observing social practices, and multifaceted explanations for the high-rate of deafness in Adamorobe through historical events and river stories. To dig deeper, she then investigates the marriage law enacted in 1975, which bans the intermarriage of deaf people, reasons for its legal enforcement, and the responses of local people. While the deaf suffer heavily from social discrimination, forced abortions, and life inconveniences, the deaf-hearing segregation in religious and educational contexts deteriorates the situation, which is discussed in chapter 7. Additionally, it is claimed that the intergenerational conflict between deaf schoolchildren and adults arises from different expectations and understandings.
The following three chapters deal with the impacts of external forces on deafness in Adamorobe. In chapter 8, charitable donations and aid projects are discussed, showing how they may result in a barrier between the deaf and hearing people economically and ideologically. Visitors and researchers appearing in the village are always treated with suspicion by the deaf, making Kusters reflect on her role as an outsider in chapter 9. The concluding chapter argues that with increasing marginalization and farmland loss, the deaf population in Adamorobe may be endangered in the years ahead, which deeply concerns her.
Throughout her work, Kusters’ extensive field notes, vivid pictures, careful observations, and deep analysis of the deaf community are quite compelling, and this book may contribute a well-researched body of evidence to scholars in relevant fields.
