Removing the Colonizer’s Coat in Deaf Education: Exploring the Curriculum of Colonization and the Field of Deaf Education

This dissertation theorizes the curriculum of colonization in relation to the Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing population within the United States’ schooling system. Critical indigenous pedagogy and critical race theory are explored as theoretical frameworks to address the curriculum of colonization and schooling. A decolonizing-intersectionality framework was developed as a praxis methodology also drawing on critical indigenous pedagogy and critical race theory. As a methodology for this dissertation, the decolonizing-intersectionality framework is used to elicit qualitative narratives from twenty-five contributors to the study, to integrate, and to present the data in the form of composite critical personal narratives. Three major themes emerged from this inquiry which explain the experiences of doubly- or multiply-marginalized Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing individuals within formal schooling spaces in the United States. The experiences of the twenty-five contributors demonstrate the devastating and unyielding effects of colonial schooling on the populations of doubly- and multiply-marginalized Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing persons. Future explorations for using critical indigenous pedagogy and critical race theory, particularly for hearing professionals in the field of Deaf Education, for the purpose of analyzing how they are implicated in the colonization of Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing students are discussed. Implications for the theorized curriculum of colonization and decolonizing-intersectionality framework are also discussed.