Mechanisms of Marginalization in Mathematics Classrooms: A Call for Critical Bifocality

• In Event: Creating and Interrogating Inclusive Mathematics Environments: Considerations, Barriers, and Recommendations for Practice and Policy

Abstract

Objectives. Mathematics education researchers commonly refer to students as being marginalized or as being from marginalized backgrounds, but marginalization is often used as a shorthand for particular social markers––such as racial or gender identities––and is rarely accompanied by explicit theories of why and how some students and not others come to be marginalized (or identified as marginalized). In this paper, we synthesize literature on marginalization in mathematics education seeking insights about what we, as a field, have learned from decades of research into the mechanisms and means of marginalization. By doing so, we hope to offer our fellow scholars a clearer conceptual basis for future research on how to address, mitigate, disrupt, or eliminate the processes by which students are marginalization.

Perspective. We draw on psychological, cultural, and political perspectives to describe how mathematics education researchers account for marginalization at different grain-sizes (micro-, meso-, macro-) of social interaction. We also consider whether these multi-level marginalization processes operate differently for learners given their different social locations and the intersections of their historically marginalized identity markers (e.g., race, gender, class).

Method/Data Sources. This paper aimed to locate common theorizations of marginalization in mathematics education, so we conducted a conceptual review (Kennedy, 2007) rather than an exhaustive review by searching ProQuest for mathematics education articles using “marginalization” in their title, abstract, and/or keywords. We excluded articles which asserted marginalization without theorizing it (remaining n = 29) and supplemented this primary corpus with additional articles that focused on theory (n = 23) and coded the full set of articles for their disciplinary traditions, focal students, and articulated mechanisms of marginalization.

Results. Our review suggests that: 1) marginalization is neither new nor abnormal; 2) the means of marginalization are both material and ideological; and 3) there are both individual and structural contributors to marginalization. From these claims, we argue that mathematics education researchers need to take up epistemologies, designs, and research methods that support critical bifocality (Weis & Fine, 2012), views that attend to social processes of different grain sizes simultaneously to understand how they work together to contribute to marginalization. To do so, researchers should seek to identify the circuits through which broader social inequities are woven into communities, schools, classrooms, and interactions, ultimately shaping individuals’ mathematical identities that are at the nexus of multilevel marginalization processes.

Significance. Identifying theories of marginalization in which researchers and practitioners can ground their work contributes insights into how to effectively address marginalization and avoid interventions that may at best, create “sweet, quiet spots of refuge” (Weis & Fine, 2012, p. 175) for some students while ignoring others, or at worst, actively perpetuate marginalization.

Authors

• Grace A. Chen, Vanderbilt University

• Ilana S. Horn, Vanderbilt University