This is our rhythm: academic becoming and realignment in deaf space

Deaf scholars have long worked at the margins of academic institutions not designed for them. Designated deaf academic spaces – where deaf ways of knowing, teaching, and communicating are centred – remain rare, especially in transnational contexts. This study explores what becomes possible when such a space is created, presenting Dr Deaf as a case study. Drawing on interviews with participants and teachers, we show how deaf epistemologies and pedagogies are enacted through practices such as cross-stage responsibility - horizontal and vertical mentoring – and academic becoming, as deaf scholars shape and affirm their identities. Central to this is realignment: the structural, pedagogical, affective, and linguistic reconfiguration of academic space that centres deaf perspectives. We also identify a distinct deaf rhythm that emerges in this space. While Dr Deaf is context-specific, its values offer a flexible framework for imagining and sustaining other deaf academic and broader educational spaces.