ASL Linguistics and Deaf Cultures Welcomes New Faculty Member

Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel, who researches Deaf intersectionality, critical race theory, language and culture, will become a tenure-track professor in the ASL linguistics and Deaf cultures program in the fall. 

Dr. Moges-Riedel holds a B.F.A. in illustration and a master’s degree in anthropology from CSULB. Drawn to the relationship between language and culture, she wrote her master’s thesis on the Deaf community in Eritrea. In 2020, she received her EdD in education and leadership policy studies from CSU Northridge.  

Before she joined the ASLD faculty as a lecturer in 2016, Dr. Moges-Riedel taught ASL at Goldenwest College and Mt. SAC. Additionally, she taught Deaf studies at Santa Ana College and Deaf culture at Goldenwest College. 

“Each of those institutions helped me gain a better understanding of what to expect from students,” Dr. Moges-Riedel says. “I could better address their needs when they got here.”

Dr. Moges-Riedel’s work has been published by the Oxford University Press and Gallaudet University Press, to name a few. Recently, her research has centered on the masculinization of sign language. 

“Gender, style and identification in signing has impact,” Dr. Moges-Riedel says. “If you learn a language from a certain source, you’re going to pick up that person’s accent, and the same is true with sign language.”

Dr. Moges-Riedel developed a course focusing on critical Deaf and Disabled studies, which will be offered in the fall.

“It’s a course that I believe will benefit the university,” she says. “It will really put this topic at the forefront, really pushing Deaf studies and Disability studies together and seeing the intersection. We must recognize Deaf people as a linguistic minority.”