Bristol Deaf Memories: archives, nostalgia and the loss of community space in the deaf community in Bristol

Abstract

The deaf community in the UK has undergone major changes in recent years, which has uprooted it from its traditional foundations, the deaf club and deaf residential school. This article examines the effect of the closure of the deaf club in Bristol, a city in the South West of England, which resulted in the loss of an important community place and spaces for deaf people in the city. We discuss, with a strong focus on methodology, a community event celebrating Bristol’s deaf heritage organised by the research team which utilised archive materials, including archived actuality footage. This article draws on interview data elicited from participants in that event to explore the meanings connected to space and place in both past and present by the deaf community in Bristol. Concepts of the rhizome and the smooth and striated spaces of Deleuze and Guattari were found to be useful models with which to engage with the contemporary struggles of the deaf community for community recognition and organisation. We also suggest an online mapping application which enables the practice of rhizomatic cartography could be a way forward in preserving the deaf heritage and history of the city.

RÉSUMÉ

Ces dernières années, la communauté des sourds et malentendants du Royaume-Uni a subi de grands changements, qui l’ont arrachée à ses fondations traditionnelles, le club des sourds et malentendants et l’école résidentielle des sourds et malentendants. Cet article examine l’effet de la fermeture du club des sourds et malentendants à Bristol, une ville du Sud-Ouest de l’Angleterre, qui a eu pour conséquence la perte d’un lieu et d’espaces communautaires importants pour les sourds et malentendants de cette ville. En mettant l’accent sur la méthodologie, nous discutons d’un événement communautaire célébrant le patrimoine des sourds et malentendants de Bristol, organisé par l’équipe de recherche qui a utilisé des documents d’archives, y compris des archives de reportages d’actualités. Cet article s’appuie sur les données d’entretiens reçus de participants à cet événement pour explorer les significations liées à l’espace et au lieu à la fois dans le passé et au présent par la communauté des sourds et malentendants pour la reconnaissance et l’organisation de la communauté. Nous suggérons aussi qu’une application cartographique en ligne qui permette la pratique de la cartographie rhizomatique, pourrait être la marche à suivre pour préserver le patrimoine des sourds et malentendants ainsi que l’histoire de la ville.

RESUMEN

La comunidad sorda en el Reino Unido ha sufrido grandes cambios en los últimos años, lo que la ha desarraigado de sus fundaciones tradicionales, el club para sordos y la escuela residencial para sordos. Este artículo examina el efecto del cierre del club de sordos en Bristol, una ciudad en el Suroeste de Inglaterra, que resultó en la pérdida de un importante lugar comunitario y espacios para personas sordas en la ciudad. Se discute, con un enfoque fuerte en la metodología, un evento de la comunidad que celebra el patrimonio de la comunidad sorda de Bristol organizado por el equipo de investigación que utilizó materiales de archivo, incluyendo material documental. Este artículo se basa en datos de entrevistas obtenidos de los participantes en ese evento para explorar los significados relacionados con el espacio y el lugar en el pasado y el presente por la comunidad sorda en Bristol. Los conceptos del rizoma y de los espacios lisos y estriados de Deleuze y Guattari resultaron ser modelos útiles con los cuales relacionar las luchas contemporáneas de la comunidad sorda para el reconocimiento y la organización de la comunidad. También se sugiere que una aplicación de cartografía en línea que permite la práctica de la cartografía rizomática, podría ser un avance en la preservación del patrimonio de la comunidad sorda y la historia de la ciudad.

Keywords:

• Deaf
• actuality footage
• archive research
• deaf space and place
• smooth space
• rhizome

Mots clés:

• sourd et malentendant
• reportage d’actualités
• recherche d’archives
• espace et lieu de sourds et malentendants
• espace lisse
• rhizome

Palabras claves:

• sordo
• material documental
• investigación de archivos
• espacio y lugar de sordos
• espacio liso
• rizoma

Notes

1. We use the uncapitalised deaf in this article rather than the capitalised Deaf for several reasons. One of which is that the d/D distinction (in which the lower-case deaf is used to refer to auditory deafness and the upper case Deaf to refer to a socio-cultural-linguistic identity) is a relatively recent phenomena, and as a historically located term, it feels slightly incongruous to use it when writing about the past. Another is that the d/D distinction is becoming increasingly problematised due to the changing nature of the deaf community (see Kusters, De Meulder, & O’Brien, 2017 for more discussion on this) and can be seen as unnecessarily divisive. ‘The deaf community’ can also be seen as a problematic term, suggesting a homogenous, monolithic population. However, we use it in this article to refer to signing deaf people who self-identify with some level of involvement with other signing deaf people, with full awareness and recognition of the heterogeneity of a community which is united by a common physical location.

2. See Ladd, 2003 for further detail on this.

3. Research has begun at the University of Bristol, led by Mike Gulliver, on transcribing the details of Bristol’s deaf community as recorded in the British Census returns.

4. See Lee, 2004.

5. Bristol Record Office: BRO 40861.

6. BRO 21131/SC/Instit/A/1.

7. BRO 21131/SC/KDI/.

8. BRO 21131/SC/KDI/Co/1/1.

9. BRO 36771/90.

10. BRO BP 44/42 g; BP 45/42d and BP 10/49c.

11. Comparisons can be drawn here with other work being conducted in the University of Bristol (Scripture, Dissent, Deaf Space) focusing on the first purpose-built church for deaf people to worship in sign language, again a place-bound archival project (Groux-Moreau, 2015).

12. ‘As Bristol Becomes More Visible, it Disappears’, The Bristol Deaf Culture Collective, M Shed, Bristol, 19 Feb 2015.

13. The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf declared that oral education (through speech) was superior to that of manual education (though sign language) and passed a resolution banning sign languages in schools. See Lane, 1999 and Ladd, 2003 for more detail.

14. The British Deaf Association was previously called the British Deaf and Dumb Association. The name of the Association was changed in 1971.

15. See Ladd, 2003 for more on this.

16. <www.mapyourbristol.org.uk/community/deaf-community>. See also <http://knowyourbristol.org/on-the-move/>.

17. <gwulo.com> and <maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp>.