Is It Time to Decenter Humans in Mathematics Education?

• In Event: Access and Identity in Math Teaching and Learning

Abstract

What role(s) should mathematics play in slowing the rate of destruction of the planet? Should it: describe the nature of the global problem; offer excellent models for prediction; or provide efficient data analysis and statistics for calculating risk? Perhaps we need another approach. I bring into conversation ethnomathematics, postcolonial theory, aesthetics, biology, and Indigenous knowledge to propose a new practice that moves beyond applying more ethical forms of mathematics and questions the nature of mathematics, who does it, and how we are affected by that practice. Drawing upon 3 Indigenous concepts, I suggest we consider other living beings as having different knowledges to contribute. Finally, I suggest implications for teaching and learning.

Author

• Rochelle Gutierrez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign