Who counts as deaf? a historical ethnography of Portuguese-Libras in Brazil

This is the revised version of the abstract: This article revisits a 2009–2011 ethnography at Paraná's Department of Education, Brazil, to examine how deaf education was resignified through Portuguese–Libras bilingualism. Treating policy texts and casework as organisational artefacts, we analyse how documents and discretionary routines enact inclusion and define categories of deafness. We examine archival materials and vignettes to reveal how linguistic responsibilization and capacity bottlenecks mediated access. These dynamics are then contrasted with federal policy oscillations (2019–2025), including the legal recognition of bilingual education and judicial guardrails against segregation. By attending to institutional silences and archival closures, this historical state ethnography demonstrates how past administrative enactments continue to configure present struggles over access, legitimacy and participation in deaf education.