Plurilingualism and deafness: a Bakhtinian view of the history of education of deaf people

Abstract

The history of the education of deaf people is marked by conflict and controversy. It is observed that although the discussions carried out in the last five centuries make reference to education, the questions related to the educational sphere itself have never been emphasized. In other words, the teaching methods and the practices were subjected to the linguistic factor and approached with the purpose of describing and sustaining the defense of the development of oral or sign language. In the present article discussions shall be made from the viewpoint of Bakhtin's theory, considering the main facts occurred in the history of the education of deaf people throughout the centuries. The various ideologies that have permeated the discourses about deafness will be explained, as will the historical struggle between the Brazilian sign language (LIBRAS) and the Portuguese language, focusing on the processes determining the lack of incentive, for more than a century, to the use of LIBRAS in the educational processes of deaf people. The consequences of this history for our current reality will be pointed out. Lastly, a brief exposition of a research carried out by the author will be made, pointing to processes that suggest that a transformation of the education of and by deaf people should be made, particularly with regard to the development of the subjects as readers, giving elements to the definition of new studies in the educational sphere.