Excursions into the Richness of Human Communication: Theory and practice during and before the 10 years of the International Master program on Communication and Congenital deafblindness

Abstract

This article addresses the themes of the International Master Study in Congenital Deafblindness and Communication in the context of an ongoing dialogue between theory and practice, between scientists and practitioners. The article foregrounds how the contemporary thematic focus on dialogicality and embodiment in processes of meaning-making and sign-making is grounded in dialogues taking place in pre-master years. The emphasis is on how congenital deafblindness as a very specific and complex communicative circumstance   pushes towards identifying relevant  knowledge about universal processes, and vice versa. The article uses the notion of the third party to point at the implicit influence of normative ideologies about language, and at the need for a contrasting and explicit diversity perspective. The text exemplifies how microanalysis guided by concepts from dialogical theory can lift forward the bodily- tactile voice of the person with cdb, i.e. expressions of his/her subjectivity.