Black American Sign Language As Liturgy

Black American Sign Language (BASL) is an embodied language expressing language, emotion, culture, and spirituality. It is often seen as a poetic expression and invoking a dancer's narration. Black Church Liturgy, often expressed in song, word, and dance, disproportionately recognizes BASL as an equal function. This is often an important missed opportunity. BASL, steeped in African American culture and African American English, effectively functions as a form of worship and liturgy for both Deaf and Hearing congregations.

Engaging the intersections among Black American Sign Language (BASL), worship, African American English, and liturgy is the basis for this research paper. The research discussed in this paper argues that Black ASL functions effectively as worship in both Deaf and Hearing in non-White communities. Often, the greater (majority White) ASL community views BASL as overly theatrical and too expressive. The expressiveness is however indicative of the nature of AAE; The non-manual markers of AAE mirror non-manual markers in BASL; An eye roll or eye cut indicates, disdain, disgust, and dismissiveness. Non-manual markers and communication in the Black Church follow suit; A raised hand in praise, a stomped foot, and seated or standing sway back and forth communicate to the preacher or co-parishioner that they agree with or are feeling deeply from music, word, or dance. Features in BASL function similarly; A hand and non-manual marker create a message conveying in 3rd dimension what a Hearing congregation is experiencing audibly. The role of the interpreter in these settings is to provide a visual linguistic of what is audible. Not only the preached word or song but other responses audible in the sanctuary; Someone ‘getting the spirit’ and shouting praises, affirmations like “PREACH” or “THAT’S RIGHT”.

Many Hearing communities express that meaning and spiritual awakening are often experienced by BASL, though they may have no exact linguistic understanding. This paper invites the Black Deaf Community, Black interpreters, faith leaders, and interested Hearing community members to embrace Black ASL as a worship praxis.