Rainbow: Constructing a gay Deaf black South African identity in a SASL poem

Abstract

Issues around Deaf identity construction have been analysed in sign language literature in terms of a strategically essentialised Deaf identity. The idea of more fluid and shifting multiple identities has informed Rachel Sutton-Spence's 2010 analysis of four BSL (British Sign Language) poems. A theme that cuts across these poems is that being gay or lesbian in the UK is unproblematic and therefore not prioritised. There is at least as much emphasis on being Deaf and a sign language user. Other facets of identity such as race and personal interests also emerge in these poems.