Black American Sign Language (BASL)

Today’s blog post is the final installment in the Black History series, but it will not be the final post about Black/African American history to be featured on this blog.  As anthropology is a four field approach it is appropriate that a post dedicated to each of these fields be composed.  So far cultural anthropology and archaeology have been featured, and while biological/physical anthropology will not be featured this post will cover linguistic anthropology. 

Figure 1: Nakia Smith communicating with BASL signs

The year 2020 is remembered for a great many cultural events, including but not limited to the Covid-19 societal changes, the rise in Black Lives Matters demonstrations, and the viral videos of Nakia Smith (Figure 1) signing with her grandfather.  While a video about sign language may not seem that significant it was as Smith was not using the promoted standard of American Sign Language (ASL) but instead a sign language variant known as Black American Sign Language (BASL).  Her videos brought attention and awareness to this popularly used sign language style.  This blog post is going to explain more about the history and linguistic elements of BASL.

 

Black American Sign Language (BASL) is a sign language variant that exists for and among Black deaf signers.  Much like any dialect present in a language it was created out of a need to serve a specific population.  This need came about in the 1800s and 1900s when school segregation by race was prevalent throughout the United States.  You may very well be aware that schools for the hearing were segregated, but you may not know or have considered that schools for the deaf were also segregated.  As a result deaf white and black populations, specifically children, learned different variations of sign language, with whites being taught what is commonly known as American Sign Language (ASL) and blacks learning BASL.  Unfortunately, ASL continues to be promoted as the universal and standard sign language, while BASL, much like Ebonics, is downgraded and viewed negatively.  The reality is that both types of sign language are necessary and serve specific purposes. 

 

Additionally, much like any language BASL actually holds and exhibits Black cultural elements that are missing from ASL.  This is particularly emphasized in BASL’s unique vocabulary.  Ebonics terms are incorporated into BASL, which is not the case in ASL.  This is where an important note of caution is required.  When non-BASL signers use BASL specific signs without permission this can be a type of cultural appropriation.

 

The incorporation of Ebonics terms into BASL is not the only difference between BASL and ASL, however.  There are various other phonological and syntax differences.  There are differences in handedness among BASL and ASL signers.  Handedness refers to the use of two hands or one hand to sign.  The rules for these choices vary between ASL and BASL signers.  Additionally, the location of where signs are made in relation to the body are also different, and even among BASL signers there are variations in choice by geographical region of the signer.  Signing space, meaning the amount of space in front of the body that is used to sign, tends to be greater among BASL signers than ASL signers.  Lastly, repetition, which refers to the repeated use of the same sign within the same turn, differences also exist.  ASL signers tend to use repetition in questions, whereas BASL signers use repetition in declarative sentences. 

 

Works Cited

AnnL. Black American Sign Language. 27 August 2020. Electronic. 22 February 2021.

Hill, Joseph, et al. "The Black ASL (American Sign Language) Project: An Overview." Lanehart, Sonja. The Oxford Handbook of African American Language . New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. 316-337. Print.

Kottke, Jason. Learn Some Black American Sign Language. 1 December 2020. Electronic. 22 February 2021.

 

 

 

Documenting Suppressed History: Diving With A Purpose, Maritime Archaeology, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

It was my goal when I started this Black History Month series to focus on positive, uplifting stories of and about Black Americans.  Stories about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade are justifiably mired in sadness as the enslavement of Africans throughout the Americas was a traumatic experience and a horrific part of American and world history.  A post on this period may seem inappropriate given the depressive subject matter, but this post is actually the opposite: this is a story of reclamation, empowerment, and triumphs.  To this end it is my privilege to write about the great work of the organization Diving With A Purpose, who over a decade and a half has refocused attention on this suppressed history.

 

Diving With A Purpose began in 2003 as a partnership between Kenneth Stewart, of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, and Brenda Lanzendorf, a maritime archaeologist.  They met by happenstance through a project related to the discovery and documentation of the Guerrero, a slave ship wrecked off the Florida coast.  Upon learning that up to 1000 slave ships had shipwrecked but only five had been discovered (and two documented) Stewart and Lanzendorf set out to create an organization dedicated to seeking out, documenting, preserving, and interpreting Trans-Atlantic Slave Ship Wrecks. 

 

Since the inception of this project over 300 individuals have been trained in various scuba diving and maritime archaeological methods.  While they have not managed to locate all of the potential 1000 ship wrecks they have fully documented at least one, located off the coast of South Africa just outside of Cape Town.  Their efforts continue, and they have brought much needed attention to not only ship wrecked slave ships but the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the historical, cultural, and economic effects it had on the Americas and world.  This largely ignored portion of history is receiving the much needed attention that has long been overdue.   

 

Diving With A Purpose continues through volunteer participation and the support of various institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and George Washington University.  Participants in this program receive all of the training necessary to locate, document, collect artifacts, and preserve maritime archaeological sites, and many report extreme satisfaction in this work.  As Ayana Flewellen stated, “To be a person of African descendants working on the materiality of the Transatlantic Slave Trade – be it on land or at sea – is a healing process. It allows me to connect with my ancestors and bring their lives to the surface to be reckoned with, praised and honored.”

 

To learn more on how you can support or work with Diving With A Purpose please visit their website: https://divingwithapurpose.org/

 

Works Cited

Diving With A Purpose. (2019). About. Retrieved from Diving With A Purpose: https://divingwithapurpose.org/about-us/

Roberts, T. (2019, August 22). Diving into the unfolding history of wrecked slave ships. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/08/diving-unfolding-history-wrecked-slave-ships/

Taylor, M. E. (2020, April 8). Meet the black scuba divers searching for slave shipwrecks unfairly overlooked. Retrieved from Face 2 Face Africa: https://face2faceafrica.com/article/meet-the-black-scuba-divers-searching-for-slave-shipwrecks-unfairly-overlooked

 

Black Girl Magic: Dr. Katherine Dunham

 

 

This post is a continuation of the series dedicated to Black History topics, which resumes with a discussion of Dr. Katherine Dunham.  I will start by saying that this blog post will not and cannot cover the full extent and breadth of her achievements, and readers are encouraged to read through the listed references (at the bottom of this post) to gain a full appreciation of her works and accomplishments.  I do not think any one source can do justice to Katherine Dunham, who is rightly identified as an institution herself, but this post will highlight many of her most notable successes.

 

Katherine Mary Dunham was born in 1909 in Chicago to a Black father and a French-Canadian of Indigenous descent mother.  She grew up in northern Illinois, where she was introduced to the arts and later anthropology when she attended a lecture at the University of Chicago.  It was here that she was inspired to study the field, focusing her research on the anthropology of dance.  Throughout her educational career, to which she earned a Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate in anthropology, she studied anthropology and dance, using these opportunities to not only learn dance techniques of various African diasporas but also the motivations and meanings behind those dances. 

 

Dunham used her anthropological and dance knowledge to form the first African American dance company in Chicago, which led to greater opportunities not only for herself but the African American dancers and associated crew members.  Her company performed at the Chicago World’s Fair, as well as toured across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere globally.  Dunham also opened the first African American dance school in Chicago, which later led to the opening of a dance school in New York City.  It was here where she trained some of Hollywood’s most elite performers, including Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando, Julie Belafonte, and James Dean.  Dunham went on to choreograph various dances and stage productions, all derived from the African diaspora dances she learned throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.  These were choreographed for stage productions and Hollywood produced films.  She is credited with using dance to elevate the status of Afro-Caribbeans and Afro-Latinos, as well as exposing white audiences to African diaspora cultures.

 

Aside from being a world-renowned dancer Dunham used her fame to speak out against human rights injustices.  While touring with her dance company, which employed a large number of African American dancers and crew members, she refused to perform at venues that discriminated against Blacks.  At one venue she announced that their performance was a one time deal due to the treatment of Black audience members by the management.  These advocacy interventions continued even after desegregation occurred as Dunham went on a hunger strike in the early 1990s to protest the treatment of Haitian refugees in the United States.  She was in her 80s at this time.

 

Dunham is also known for authoring nine books in anthropology, as well as a series of articles published in popular magazines and scholarly publications.  She was a widely invited speaker at anthropology associations across the United States.  She is also credited with forming anthropology of dance programs at both Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Edwardsville.  It was at the latter institution that she focused on using the arts to encourage local youths away from deviance and gang lifestyles.  Her work earned her many accolades, honorary doctorates, and awards.

 

Dunham passed away in 2006 at the age of 96, leaving behind a magnificent legacy in both dance and anthropology.  She will be forever known for her achievements, as well as her passion for racial equality and equity for African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Afro-Latinos both domestically and abroad.   

 

References

Cooper, Lily. "Who is Katherine Dunham?" 15 July 2019. Grand Canyon University. Electronic. 9 December 2020.

Library of Congress. Katherine Dunham Timeline (Library of Congress). No Date. Electronic. 9 December 2020.

Unknown. KDCAH - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities. 2011. Electronic. 9 December 2020.

—. The History Makers. 2020. Electronic. 9 December 2020.