Kindergartens for the Deaf in Three Countries: Japan, France, and the United States

• In Event: Documenting and Researching Early Childhood Practices

Abstract

The project examines approaches to enculturating young children into Deaf culture in kindergartens in three countries: Japan, France, and the United States. This study engages with three key questions to guide our anthropological inquiry: how are deaf children enculturated into Deaf culture?; how is education for deaf culturally constructed within three national cultures (Japan, France, and the US); and the anthropology of dis/ability. Each country has its own unique Deaf culture, sign language, pedagogy, curriculum, and goals of early childhood education as they vary from nation to nation including national/cultural variation in Deaf education. Our study addresses how these and other political, social, and cultural factors impact each country’s approach to early childhood deaf education.

Authors

• Thomas P. Horejes, Gallaudet University

• Joseph Michael Valente, The Pennsylvania State University