Protactile Research Network
Terra Edwards, Ph.D.
Department of Comparative Human Development
University of Chicago
[email protected]
Department of Comparative Human Development
University of Chicago
[email protected]
Education
2014 Ph.D. Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
2007 M.A. Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin
2001 B.A. The Evergreen State College, Emphasis in interpretation and translation
Languages
English- Native
American Sign Language- Fluent (ASLPI 4+)
Protactile Language- Fluent
Academic Appointments
2021-2024 Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
2017-2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Saint Louis University
2014-2017 Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Gallaudet University
Publications
Books
In Preparation. Lanuage Emergence (with Diane Brentari)
2024. "Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language." Book Project. Under Consideration, Oxford
Studies in the Anthropology of Language. Oxford University Press.
Articles in Refereed Journals
2024. In Preparation. “Tactile Intonation in an Emerging Language”. (with Diane Brentari).
2024. Submitted. “Finding Minimal Pairs in Protactile Language: Where pragmatics, semantics, and the human knuckle meet.” (with Jelica Nuccio, Halene Anderson, Mitch Holaly, and Diane Brentari).
2024. In Preparation. “From Algorithmic Transparency to Algorithmic Awareness: Tips, Tricks, Hacks”. (with Jenny Bo, Sophia Hartley, and Kristin Kennefick). Planned submission to Cultural Anthropology.
2024. “Becoming Protactile: Interactional Foundations of Protactile Language Development and Language Emergence”. Languages 9: 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/ languages9090282 (with Jenny Lu, Jelica Nuccio, and Halene Anderson).
2023. “The Medium of Intersubjectivity”. Anthropological Theory. 23(4) 10.1177/146349962311964
2023. "The Hands as Reflex Republic". Signs and Society 11(2) 10.1086/724180
2022. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes in Protactile DeafBlind Communities”. Lingua 273 (July 1): 103303. 10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103303
2021. "The Grammatical Incorporation of Demonstratives in an Emerging Tactile Language." Frontiers in
Psychology 11:579992. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579992.(Co-authored with Diane Brentari).
2021. "A Protactile-Inspired Wearable Haptic Device for Capturing the Core Functions of Communication,"
in IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 279-284, 1 April-June 2021, doi:10.1109/TOH.2021.3076397. (Co-authored with Bryan McGavin and Jenna Gorlewicz).
2020. "Feeling Phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States." Language 96(4). (Co-authored with Diane Brentari).
2019. "Kink." Cultural Anthropology. Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, September 30. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/kink. (Co-authored with Marius Ionescu).
2018. "Re-channeling Language: the mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among DeafBlind people at Gallaudet University." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 28:3 273-292.
2017. "Sign-Creation in the Seattle DeafBlind Community: a triumphant story about the regeneration of obviousness." Gesture 16:2. 307-332. doi 10.1075/gest.16.206edw
2015. "Bridging the Gap between DeafBlind minds: Interactional and social foundations of intention attribution in the Seattle DeafBlind community." Frontiers in Psychology. 6:1497 (Language Sciences). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01497.
2014. "From Compensation to Integration: Effects of the pro-tactile movement on the sub-lexical structure of Tactile American Sign Language." Journal of Pragmatics. Vol. 69.
2012. "Sensing the Rhythms of Everyday Life: Temporal integration and tactile translation in the Seattle DeafBlind Community." Language in Society. Vol. 41.
2008. “Cybersign: impacts of new communication technologies on space and language.” Journal of Pragmatics 40 (6), pp. 1067-108. (with Elizabeth Keating and Gene Mirus).
Book Chapters
2023. In Production. “Methodological Utility of Irritability Judgements in Naturalistic Interactions”. In: Anything Is Possible, Tutto è Possibile: Sociolinguistic Studies in Honor of Ceil Lucas. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
2022. “Giving Up on Politeness”. In: Bergson’s Lecture on Politeness. Edited by Alessandro Duranti. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 97-108. ISBN: 9780197637869.
2021. “Intersubjectivity”. In: The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Ed.:James Stanlaw. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/978111786093.iela0180
Other Research Products
2019. “Kink.” Cultural Anthropology. Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, September 30. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/kink. (with Marius Ionescu).
2021. Editor and Translator. “Protactile Linguistics” by John Lee Clark and Jelica Nuccio. Journal of American Sign Languages and Literatures.
2021. Website for parents of DeafBlind children with Heather Holmes, Jelica Nuccio, Halene Anderson, and Vince Nuccio (https://www.deafblindkids.org/)
2020. Website for disseminating research findings quickly to interested parties beyond the University setting (https://www.protactileresearch.org/), with John Lee Clark and Jelice Nuccio
2014. “Language Emergence in the Seattle DeafBlind Community”. PhD Dissertation. The University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology. Supervisor: William F. Hanks.
Awards
2023. Innovation Award, International Pragmatics Association (IPrA). Award to be presented at the 19th International Pragmatics Conference at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia (June 22-27, 2025).
2019. Early Career Research (ECR) Presentation award, Sign Language Linguistics Society. Award presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research conference. Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28).
Press
2024. “Bringing the environment back into intersubjectivity: an interview with Terra Edwards” . Anthropological Theory Commons.
2024. “Terra Edwards on her book, Going Tactile”. CaMP Anthropology interview with Bob Offer-Westort.
2023. “Protactile: a language of touch”, PBS special, Oregon Public Broadcasting
2023. “Feeling Phonology Part I and Part II”, Theory Neutral
2022. “DeafBlind Communities May be Creating a New Language of Touch”. The New Yorker.
2021. “Meet the Authors: FEELING PHONOLOGY: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States. Webinar Series, “Meet the Authors,” hosted by the Linguistic Society of America (with Diane Brentari, January 22).
2020. “The Surprising Grammar of Touch: Language Emergence in DeafBlind Communities”. Linguistic Society of America News Release
2016. “Raising a DeafBlind Baby”, Mental Floss
SELECTED GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2024. “SBP: LangDiv: Tactile Phonology: Tracking the Emergence of a Core Lexicon in Protactile DeafBlind Communities”. National Science Foundation, Linguistics Program (Co-PI: Diane Brentari). Amount Awarded: $136,745. (BCS-2336362)
2020. “RAPID: Navigating Social Distancing with DeafBlind Children: Protactile Language Acquisition in an Online Learning Environment”, Linguistics, National Science Foundation (with Co-Is: Deanna Gagne, Diane Brentari, Jenna Gorlewicz). Amount Awarded: $196,564.00. (BCS-2038042)
2020. “PATH: People and Technology Horizon”, Saint Louis University Big Ideas Competition (with Jenna Gorlewicz and Flavio Esposito). Amount Awarded: $50,000.00.
2020. “The Architecture of Intersubjectivity”. Mellon Faculty Development Award, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $2,500.00
2019-2022. “Rethinking Wearable Haptic Remote Communications by Leveraging DeafBlind Tactile Intuitions”. Cyber-Human Systems, National Science Foundation (with Jenna Gorlewicz, PI). Amount Awarded: $200,000.00 (CHS-1909121)
2019-2021. “Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language”. Research Growth Fund, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $56,395.89
2019. “Being for Speaking: Tactile Language for a Tactile Mode of Being". Mellon Faculty Development Award, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $2,500.00
2017-2022. “What You See is What You Feel: Sign Language Phonology in a Protactile World.” Linguistics, The National Science Foundation (Co-PI: Diane Brentari). Amount Awarded: $549, 274.00 (BCS-1651100)
2017. Spark Microgrant to start a project aimed at developing and theorizing new haptic technologies. Saint Louis University (Co-PI: Jenna Gorlewicz), Amount Awarded: $2,000.00
2016. Post-PhD Research Grant, The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Grant #9146). Amount Awarded: $19,441.00
2015. Priority Research Grant, Research Support and International Affairs (RSIA), Gallaudet University. Amount Awarded: $138,000.00.
2014. Funding for the Tactile Mind Symposium, Provost’s Office, Gallaudet University. Amount Awarded: $35,000.00 (proposal co-written with Robert T. Sirvage, Deaf Studies, Gallaudet)
2010. Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, The Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant #8110) Amount Awarded: $13,933.00
2008. The Chancellor’s Fellowship, Department of Anthropology. The University of California at Berkeley. Amount Awarded: $100,000.00
Selected Invited Talks
2025. (forthcoming). Plenary at the 19th International Pragmatics Conference (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, June 22)
2024. Presentation and Discussion about Going Tactile, CaMP linguistic anthropology series, hosted by Illana Gershon (Rice University)
2024. “Encoding Intersubjectivity”. University of California, Los Angeles. Center for Language, Interaction, and Culture (CLIC) (March 6)
2022. “Rethinking Politeness with Henri Bergson”. A conversation with the authors. University of California, Los Angeles (Remotely, May 12)
2022. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes”. Presented a forthcoming paper to the Embodied Design Research Laboratory at UC Berkeley, an interdisciplinary group of scholars interested in language, gesture, and embodiment. (Remotely, March 8)
2021. “ Being for Speaking: A plunge into the hoary recesses of the origo”. Invited Panel: The Limits and Thresholds of Language. Organizer: Constantine Nakassis. Sociolinguistics Symposium 23, Hong Kong. (Remotely, June 7-10)
2021. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes in Protactile Communities in the US”. Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language-ANU Linguistics Seminar. Australian National University (Remotely, March 11).
2020. “Tactile Interaction in DeafBlind Communities”. Invited Panel: Toward a more Tactile Future: Learning from Protactile DeafBlind Communities. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seattle, Washington. Organizer: Terra Edwards (February 13-16).
2019. “Leaving Visually Alone: Protactile theories of cultural space at Gallaudet University”. Theorizing Deaf Geographies Workshop, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland (May 23-4).
2019. “A Topological Approach to Language Modality”. Topology as Method Workshop. The University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology (April 6-7).
2017. “Language for a Protactile World: Social and interactional foundations of language emergence in DeafBlind communities”. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (October 25).
2017. “What Can Materials Do? The mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among DeafBlind people in Washington, DC”. Fyssen colloquium: Translation, Interaction, and Context: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Paris, France (October 11-14).
2017. “Tracking a Grammatical Divergence Between Visual and Tactile American Sign Language: Effects of embodied interaction on language structure.” Language Sciences Initiative and Department of Anthropology, colloquium series, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC (January 5).
Selected Conference Participation
Conference Panels Organized
2022. Session Organizer (with Kamala Russell). “Embracing Ambivalence: Theoretical and
Methodological Consequences for Linguistic Anthropology”. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, WA (November 12).
2020. “Tactile Interaction in DeafBlind Communities”. Invited Panel: Toward a more Tactile
Future: Learning from Protactile DeafBlind Communities. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seattle, Washington. Organizer: Terra Edwards (February 13-16).
Conference Talks
2023. “The gravity of proprioception in protactile communication: rethinking `multimodality’”.
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Executive Session. Toronto, Ontario (November 17). Panel: “Proprioception on Shaken Grounds”. Discussant: Agustín Fuentes.
2023. “Finding Minimal Pairs in Protactile Language: Where semantics, pragmatics, and the
human knuckle meet”. Annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Denver Colorado (January 6). (Co-Author: Diane Brentari).
2022. “Embracing Ambivalence: Theoretical and Methodological Consequences for Linguistic
Anthropology”. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, WA (November 12).
2022. Discussant. "Fieldwork Dilemmas: The Politics of Engagement, Exchange, and
Collaboration". Michicagoan Conference, University of Michigan (Remotely, May 6).
2019. “Giving up on Politeness: The Desire for Tactile Knowledge and the Art of Finding Life
Lovable”. Panel: Civility, empathy, and egalitarian ethos: Rethinking politesse with Henri Bergson. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (November 20-24).
2019. “Feeling Phonology: The emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research. Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28).
2019. “Feeling Phonology: The emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). The Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. New York, New York (January 3-6).
2018. “Becoming a Walrus in Walrus Town: How protactile design can restore the tactile sense to
urban inhabitants of North America.” Panel: TOUCH I: tangible difference, worlding techniques. Discussant: Stefan Helmreich. The Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. San Jose, California (November 14).
2018. “Feeling Phonology: the emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign Language Theory. Venice, Italy (June 18-20).
2018. “Re-channeling Language: the mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among
DeafBlind people in Washington DC”. Society for Linguistic Anthropology inaugural conference. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (March 8-10).
Service
Peer Review
Journal Peer Review
PNAS, Language, Cultural Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Signs and Society, Frontiers in Psychology, Glossa, Languages, Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics, Language and Communication, Discourse Studies
Grant Peer Review
The European Research Council (2023)
The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology) (2023)
The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Review Panels 2021-23)
Abstract Review
AAA Society of Linguistic Anthropology (2023)
Service to University/Department
2021-Present. Co-Director of the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language
2024. Co-Coordinator of SL2- a group of scholars on campus who convene to discuss research in American Sign Language.
2024. Search committee co-chair, ASL Instructor, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago
2023-24. Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies, Comparative Human Development
2022-current. Faculty Sponsor, Semiotics: Culture in Context workshop. University of Chicago.
2022-current. Awards Committee, Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
2021-2022. Admissions Committee, Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
Community Engagement
2020-present. Frequent guest presenter in John Lee Clark’s “Protactile Theory” seminar
2020-2021. Language Expert. Advised the Republic of Slovenia, at the request of the Deafblind Association of Slovenia (DLAN), to support their request that their language be recorded in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.
2019. Presented research findings to local DeafBlind community in Seattle, WA during the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with Jelica Nuccio and John Lee Clark.
2016. Presented research findings to DeafBlind and Deaf participants at the International DeafBlind Expo, Orlando, FL (August 17-20) with Jeica Nuccio, Oscar Chacon, Paul Dudis, and aj granda.
2016. Organized, facilitated, and secured funding for the “Tactile Mind Collaborative” at Gallaudet University, where DeafBlind community leaders met with university administrators, faculty and students to discuss the intellectual benefits of making the campus inviting to DeafBlind people (with Robert T. Sirvage).
2018. Presented research findings to DeafBlind people at the World Federation of the DeafBlind and the Helen Keller World Conference. Benidorm, Spain (June 20-28), with Jelica Nuccio.
2015. Presenter. International DeafBlind Expo, representing the Tactile Mind (Orlando Florida, August, 2016)
2014 Ph.D. Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
2007 M.A. Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin
2001 B.A. The Evergreen State College, Emphasis in interpretation and translation
Languages
English- Native
American Sign Language- Fluent (ASLPI 4+)
Protactile Language- Fluent
Academic Appointments
2021-2024 Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
2017-2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Saint Louis University
2014-2017 Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Gallaudet University
Publications
Books
In Preparation. Lanuage Emergence (with Diane Brentari)
2024. "Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language." Book Project. Under Consideration, Oxford
Studies in the Anthropology of Language. Oxford University Press.
Articles in Refereed Journals
2024. In Preparation. “Tactile Intonation in an Emerging Language”. (with Diane Brentari).
2024. Submitted. “Finding Minimal Pairs in Protactile Language: Where pragmatics, semantics, and the human knuckle meet.” (with Jelica Nuccio, Halene Anderson, Mitch Holaly, and Diane Brentari).
2024. In Preparation. “From Algorithmic Transparency to Algorithmic Awareness: Tips, Tricks, Hacks”. (with Jenny Bo, Sophia Hartley, and Kristin Kennefick). Planned submission to Cultural Anthropology.
2024. “Becoming Protactile: Interactional Foundations of Protactile Language Development and Language Emergence”. Languages 9: 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/ languages9090282 (with Jenny Lu, Jelica Nuccio, and Halene Anderson).
2023. “The Medium of Intersubjectivity”. Anthropological Theory. 23(4) 10.1177/146349962311964
2023. "The Hands as Reflex Republic". Signs and Society 11(2) 10.1086/724180
2022. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes in Protactile DeafBlind Communities”. Lingua 273 (July 1): 103303. 10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103303
2021. "The Grammatical Incorporation of Demonstratives in an Emerging Tactile Language." Frontiers in
Psychology 11:579992. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579992.(Co-authored with Diane Brentari).
2021. "A Protactile-Inspired Wearable Haptic Device for Capturing the Core Functions of Communication,"
in IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 279-284, 1 April-June 2021, doi:10.1109/TOH.2021.3076397. (Co-authored with Bryan McGavin and Jenna Gorlewicz).
2020. "Feeling Phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States." Language 96(4). (Co-authored with Diane Brentari).
2019. "Kink." Cultural Anthropology. Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, September 30. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/kink. (Co-authored with Marius Ionescu).
2018. "Re-channeling Language: the mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among DeafBlind people at Gallaudet University." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 28:3 273-292.
2017. "Sign-Creation in the Seattle DeafBlind Community: a triumphant story about the regeneration of obviousness." Gesture 16:2. 307-332. doi 10.1075/gest.16.206edw
2015. "Bridging the Gap between DeafBlind minds: Interactional and social foundations of intention attribution in the Seattle DeafBlind community." Frontiers in Psychology. 6:1497 (Language Sciences). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01497.
2014. "From Compensation to Integration: Effects of the pro-tactile movement on the sub-lexical structure of Tactile American Sign Language." Journal of Pragmatics. Vol. 69.
2012. "Sensing the Rhythms of Everyday Life: Temporal integration and tactile translation in the Seattle DeafBlind Community." Language in Society. Vol. 41.
2008. “Cybersign: impacts of new communication technologies on space and language.” Journal of Pragmatics 40 (6), pp. 1067-108. (with Elizabeth Keating and Gene Mirus).
Book Chapters
2023. In Production. “Methodological Utility of Irritability Judgements in Naturalistic Interactions”. In: Anything Is Possible, Tutto è Possibile: Sociolinguistic Studies in Honor of Ceil Lucas. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
2022. “Giving Up on Politeness”. In: Bergson’s Lecture on Politeness. Edited by Alessandro Duranti. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 97-108. ISBN: 9780197637869.
2021. “Intersubjectivity”. In: The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology. Ed.:James Stanlaw. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/978111786093.iela0180
Other Research Products
2019. “Kink.” Cultural Anthropology. Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, September 30. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/kink. (with Marius Ionescu).
2021. Editor and Translator. “Protactile Linguistics” by John Lee Clark and Jelica Nuccio. Journal of American Sign Languages and Literatures.
2021. Website for parents of DeafBlind children with Heather Holmes, Jelica Nuccio, Halene Anderson, and Vince Nuccio (https://www.deafblindkids.org/)
2020. Website for disseminating research findings quickly to interested parties beyond the University setting (https://www.protactileresearch.org/), with John Lee Clark and Jelice Nuccio
2014. “Language Emergence in the Seattle DeafBlind Community”. PhD Dissertation. The University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology. Supervisor: William F. Hanks.
Awards
2023. Innovation Award, International Pragmatics Association (IPrA). Award to be presented at the 19th International Pragmatics Conference at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia (June 22-27, 2025).
2019. Early Career Research (ECR) Presentation award, Sign Language Linguistics Society. Award presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research conference. Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28).
Press
2024. “Bringing the environment back into intersubjectivity: an interview with Terra Edwards” . Anthropological Theory Commons.
2024. “Terra Edwards on her book, Going Tactile”. CaMP Anthropology interview with Bob Offer-Westort.
2023. “Protactile: a language of touch”, PBS special, Oregon Public Broadcasting
2023. “Feeling Phonology Part I and Part II”, Theory Neutral
2022. “DeafBlind Communities May be Creating a New Language of Touch”. The New Yorker.
2021. “Meet the Authors: FEELING PHONOLOGY: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States. Webinar Series, “Meet the Authors,” hosted by the Linguistic Society of America (with Diane Brentari, January 22).
2020. “The Surprising Grammar of Touch: Language Emergence in DeafBlind Communities”. Linguistic Society of America News Release
2016. “Raising a DeafBlind Baby”, Mental Floss
SELECTED GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2024. “SBP: LangDiv: Tactile Phonology: Tracking the Emergence of a Core Lexicon in Protactile DeafBlind Communities”. National Science Foundation, Linguistics Program (Co-PI: Diane Brentari). Amount Awarded: $136,745. (BCS-2336362)
2020. “RAPID: Navigating Social Distancing with DeafBlind Children: Protactile Language Acquisition in an Online Learning Environment”, Linguistics, National Science Foundation (with Co-Is: Deanna Gagne, Diane Brentari, Jenna Gorlewicz). Amount Awarded: $196,564.00. (BCS-2038042)
2020. “PATH: People and Technology Horizon”, Saint Louis University Big Ideas Competition (with Jenna Gorlewicz and Flavio Esposito). Amount Awarded: $50,000.00.
2020. “The Architecture of Intersubjectivity”. Mellon Faculty Development Award, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $2,500.00
2019-2022. “Rethinking Wearable Haptic Remote Communications by Leveraging DeafBlind Tactile Intuitions”. Cyber-Human Systems, National Science Foundation (with Jenna Gorlewicz, PI). Amount Awarded: $200,000.00 (CHS-1909121)
2019-2021. “Going Tactile: Life at the Limits of Language”. Research Growth Fund, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $56,395.89
2019. “Being for Speaking: Tactile Language for a Tactile Mode of Being". Mellon Faculty Development Award, Saint Louis University. Amount Awarded: $2,500.00
2017-2022. “What You See is What You Feel: Sign Language Phonology in a Protactile World.” Linguistics, The National Science Foundation (Co-PI: Diane Brentari). Amount Awarded: $549, 274.00 (BCS-1651100)
2017. Spark Microgrant to start a project aimed at developing and theorizing new haptic technologies. Saint Louis University (Co-PI: Jenna Gorlewicz), Amount Awarded: $2,000.00
2016. Post-PhD Research Grant, The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Grant #9146). Amount Awarded: $19,441.00
2015. Priority Research Grant, Research Support and International Affairs (RSIA), Gallaudet University. Amount Awarded: $138,000.00.
2014. Funding for the Tactile Mind Symposium, Provost’s Office, Gallaudet University. Amount Awarded: $35,000.00 (proposal co-written with Robert T. Sirvage, Deaf Studies, Gallaudet)
2010. Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, The Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant #8110) Amount Awarded: $13,933.00
2008. The Chancellor’s Fellowship, Department of Anthropology. The University of California at Berkeley. Amount Awarded: $100,000.00
Selected Invited Talks
2025. (forthcoming). Plenary at the 19th International Pragmatics Conference (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, June 22)
2024. Presentation and Discussion about Going Tactile, CaMP linguistic anthropology series, hosted by Illana Gershon (Rice University)
2024. “Encoding Intersubjectivity”. University of California, Los Angeles. Center for Language, Interaction, and Culture (CLIC) (March 6)
2022. “Rethinking Politeness with Henri Bergson”. A conversation with the authors. University of California, Los Angeles (Remotely, May 12)
2022. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes”. Presented a forthcoming paper to the Embodied Design Research Laboratory at UC Berkeley, an interdisciplinary group of scholars interested in language, gesture, and embodiment. (Remotely, March 8)
2021. “ Being for Speaking: A plunge into the hoary recesses of the origo”. Invited Panel: The Limits and Thresholds of Language. Organizer: Constantine Nakassis. Sociolinguistics Symposium 23, Hong Kong. (Remotely, June 7-10)
2021. “The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes in Protactile Communities in the US”. Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language-ANU Linguistics Seminar. Australian National University (Remotely, March 11).
2020. “Tactile Interaction in DeafBlind Communities”. Invited Panel: Toward a more Tactile Future: Learning from Protactile DeafBlind Communities. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seattle, Washington. Organizer: Terra Edwards (February 13-16).
2019. “Leaving Visually Alone: Protactile theories of cultural space at Gallaudet University”. Theorizing Deaf Geographies Workshop, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland (May 23-4).
2019. “A Topological Approach to Language Modality”. Topology as Method Workshop. The University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology (April 6-7).
2017. “Language for a Protactile World: Social and interactional foundations of language emergence in DeafBlind communities”. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (October 25).
2017. “What Can Materials Do? The mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among DeafBlind people in Washington, DC”. Fyssen colloquium: Translation, Interaction, and Context: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Paris, France (October 11-14).
2017. “Tracking a Grammatical Divergence Between Visual and Tactile American Sign Language: Effects of embodied interaction on language structure.” Language Sciences Initiative and Department of Anthropology, colloquium series, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC (January 5).
Selected Conference Participation
Conference Panels Organized
2022. Session Organizer (with Kamala Russell). “Embracing Ambivalence: Theoretical and
Methodological Consequences for Linguistic Anthropology”. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, WA (November 12).
2020. “Tactile Interaction in DeafBlind Communities”. Invited Panel: Toward a more Tactile
Future: Learning from Protactile DeafBlind Communities. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Seattle, Washington. Organizer: Terra Edwards (February 13-16).
Conference Talks
2023. “The gravity of proprioception in protactile communication: rethinking `multimodality’”.
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Executive Session. Toronto, Ontario (November 17). Panel: “Proprioception on Shaken Grounds”. Discussant: Agustín Fuentes.
2023. “Finding Minimal Pairs in Protactile Language: Where semantics, pragmatics, and the
human knuckle meet”. Annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Denver Colorado (January 6). (Co-Author: Diane Brentari).
2022. “Embracing Ambivalence: Theoretical and Methodological Consequences for Linguistic
Anthropology”. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, WA (November 12).
2022. Discussant. "Fieldwork Dilemmas: The Politics of Engagement, Exchange, and
Collaboration". Michicagoan Conference, University of Michigan (Remotely, May 6).
2019. “Giving up on Politeness: The Desire for Tactile Knowledge and the Art of Finding Life
Lovable”. Panel: Civility, empathy, and egalitarian ethos: Rethinking politesse with Henri Bergson. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (November 20-24).
2019. “Feeling Phonology: The emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research. Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28).
2019. “Feeling Phonology: The emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). The Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. New York, New York (January 3-6).
2018. “Becoming a Walrus in Walrus Town: How protactile design can restore the tactile sense to
urban inhabitants of North America.” Panel: TOUCH I: tangible difference, worlding techniques. Discussant: Stefan Helmreich. The Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. San Jose, California (November 14).
2018. “Feeling Phonology: the emergence of tactile phonological patterns in protactile
communities in the United States” (with Diane Brentari). Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign Language Theory. Venice, Italy (June 18-20).
2018. “Re-channeling Language: the mutual restructuring of language and infrastructure among
DeafBlind people in Washington DC”. Society for Linguistic Anthropology inaugural conference. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (March 8-10).
Service
Peer Review
Journal Peer Review
PNAS, Language, Cultural Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Signs and Society, Frontiers in Psychology, Glossa, Languages, Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics, Language and Communication, Discourse Studies
Grant Peer Review
The European Research Council (2023)
The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology) (2023)
The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Review Panels 2021-23)
Abstract Review
AAA Society of Linguistic Anthropology (2023)
Service to University/Department
2021-Present. Co-Director of the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language
2024. Co-Coordinator of SL2- a group of scholars on campus who convene to discuss research in American Sign Language.
2024. Search committee co-chair, ASL Instructor, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago
2023-24. Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies, Comparative Human Development
2022-current. Faculty Sponsor, Semiotics: Culture in Context workshop. University of Chicago.
2022-current. Awards Committee, Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
2021-2022. Admissions Committee, Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
Community Engagement
2020-present. Frequent guest presenter in John Lee Clark’s “Protactile Theory” seminar
2020-2021. Language Expert. Advised the Republic of Slovenia, at the request of the Deafblind Association of Slovenia (DLAN), to support their request that their language be recorded in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.
2019. Presented research findings to local DeafBlind community in Seattle, WA during the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with Jelica Nuccio and John Lee Clark.
2016. Presented research findings to DeafBlind and Deaf participants at the International DeafBlind Expo, Orlando, FL (August 17-20) with Jeica Nuccio, Oscar Chacon, Paul Dudis, and aj granda.
2016. Organized, facilitated, and secured funding for the “Tactile Mind Collaborative” at Gallaudet University, where DeafBlind community leaders met with university administrators, faculty and students to discuss the intellectual benefits of making the campus inviting to DeafBlind people (with Robert T. Sirvage).
2018. Presented research findings to DeafBlind people at the World Federation of the DeafBlind and the Helen Keller World Conference. Benidorm, Spain (June 20-28), with Jelica Nuccio.
2015. Presenter. International DeafBlind Expo, representing the Tactile Mind (Orlando Florida, August, 2016)
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