Africa, Western: Deaf Community

West Africa, as a political entity, is composed of 16 countries: Cape Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Benin, Togo, Niger, and Nigeria. In the literature, Cameroon, a nation that is at a crossroad between the western and central parts of the continent is continually referred to as a part of Western Africa. These territorial boundaries are the product of European Imperialism and gained their independence between the end of the 1950s and early 1960s. Within these countries exist a myriad of ethnic and tribal communities that identify themselves through particular traits. From this myriad of communities come together individuals bound by the common trait of being deaf. The Deaf communities of Western Africa are ...