Sign on Screen MPhil candidate Sam Martin recently attended the 12th Deaf History International Conference in Ghent, Belgium.
Sam was one of just three Australians present, alongside renowned Deaf historian Dr Breda Carty AO, who shared her trailblazing work on the Deaf History Collections website, and Brian Johnston, who is a board member.
The program featured presentations, panels, and film screenings from Deaf historians and academics across the globe. A strong theme throughout the conference was the preservation and documentation of sign languages, explored from linguistic, historical and narrative perspectives.
Particularly memorable presentations included “Time Capsules of Our Own: How Deaf-Made Home Movies Authenticate and Reshape Our Histories” by Matt Malzkuhn (pictured above), whose work has been formative to Sam’s own research, and “Preserving Legacy: Documenting the Narratives within Deaf Communities” by Pamela Macias.
Film was another highlight, with screenings from Deaf Japanese filmmaker Keiko Chijiiwa. In discussing her documentary Sign Language Testimonies from the Deaf A-bomb: Survivors of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Keiko reflected on the months of work required to build trust and form intimate connections with Deaf survivors of Hiroshima, underscoring the ethical care needed in documenting community histories.
For Sam, the conference was a powerful introduction to the global networks of Deaf scholarship and contributed significantly to his research on sign language documentation through film.
