Review of Voices from El-Sayed (2008)
Seen in 2017.
The contemporary culture of the Israeli Bedouin village of El-Sayed, where congenital deafness is very common due to inbreeding. One two-year-old gets a cochlear implant.
I would have liked an even stronger focus on the notion, apparently common in the village, that people are better off deaf. It’s not just a rational skepticism of the drawbacks of the technology. Some of the locals let their naturally high self-esteem lead them to the conclusion that hearing must be bad. Sour grapes.
References here: I skuggan av oron (2016).