College
College of Arts & Sciences
Department
Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work
Rank
Assistant Professor
Predicament & Pilgrimage: Hearing Families of Deaf Children in Mexico City
Type of Work
Journal Article
Publication Information
Anne E. Pfister (2018): Predicament and Pilgrimage: Hearing Families of Deaf Children in Mexico City, Medical Anthropology, DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2018.1540617
COinS
Predicament & Pilgrimage: Hearing Families of Deaf Children in Mexico City
Biographical Statement
In this article, I trace the most salient features of Mexican families’ complex journeys as they coped with the “predicament” of childhood deafness. Framing support seeking through the theoretical lens of pilgrimage brings into focus family introspection and captures their tenacity while facing culture-specific obstacles. Ultimately, families realized their quests were not about “fixing” their children’s hearing, but finding more reliable communication in sign language. Pilgrimage, as a metaphor for the journeys described by participants, helps us understand families’ realizations that the biomedical options most commonly available in Mexico City were of limited efficacy, and reveals collective desire for alternatives to these options.