Ethnic Belonging and Deaf Identity in Romania

Living in Multiple Minorities

Emese-Hajnalka Belenyi, Gavril Flora

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978771680
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Sign Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

While Deafness can function as a cultural–linguistic identity with its own language and community norms, Deaf individuals may belong simultaneously to other social groups while sharing a Deaf identity.

Throughout this work, Belenyi and Flora interpret Deafness and ethnicity through the lens of Social Identity Theory (SIT), which posits that individuals derive part of their self-concept from membership in social groups and predicts that group memberships shape self-concept and self-esteem. While SIT has its limitations, newer adaptations, such as self-categorization theory and identity process theory, allow for more nuanced interpretations. With a focus on Hungarian ethnic-minority Deaf people in Romania-and their partners and communities-the authors examine these insights to understand how Deaf people in Romania balance their ethnic and Deaf identities.

Deaf people in East-Central Europe, especially in the multi-ethnic context of Romania, inhabit overlapping minority worlds. Although nation-building policies often emphasize linguistic and ethnic homogeneity, in practice Hungarian–Romanian relations within Deaf families and communities can reveal unexpected cultural bridges. This book combines a theoretical synthesis of Deaf identity, culture, and ethnicity with empirical life-course research to shed new light on how Deaf and ethnic identities intersect.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Interpretation Models of Deafness
• 2 Deaf Identities and Cultures
• 3 Deafness and Ethnicity
• 4 Deaf Cultures and Ethnic Identities in Romania
• 5 Research Methodology
• 6 Early Childhood Socialization
• 7 School Socialization
• 8 Deaf Family Language Use and Identity
• 9 Multigenerational Ethnic Minority/Ethnically Heterogeneous Deaf Families
• 10 Community Life, Language Use, and Identity
• Final Remarks
• References
• Index
• Imprint