Blackness Within Mathematics: Toward an Ontological Blackness Through Forms of Capital

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

Abstract

Objectives/purpose. This research is meant to articulate from a pedagogical and empirical sense, how educators and researchers conceptualize ways to create opportunities for Black children to participate in mathematics, and how this task is taken up in a way that affirms their identity, cultural practices, and knowledge. Thus, I ask the question: what forms of capital do Black students possess that could be advantageous to the learning of mathematics?

Perspective/Theoretical Framework. In framing this review, I articulate the distinctions from seminal work done on Black children, and suggest that understanding Black students’ cultural capital implicates the quality of instruction that they receive. This capital comes in the form of cultural attributes, codes, and signals, and Carter (2003) noted that the dominant cultural capital are those attributes that are deemed worthy by those who make up the majority, largely, White people. Alongside this understanding of capital, I utilize Cone’s (1992) articulation of liberation theology to think deeper about Blackness from an ontological sense.

Methods. After creating a data set of articles focused on Black children’s learning of mathematics, I provide the reader with an argument of discovery outlining what conversations are embedded in the relevant literature.

Data Sources. I created a data set of research articles from four educational databases (ERIC, Education Forum, and PSYCHInfo and JSTOR) July 10, 2019. The search chain I used in each database was: Black or African American AND cultur* AND mathematics. All articles were downloaded to EndNote, a citation management software system that allowed me to easily get rid of duplicate articles and to review abstracts. I engaged in a process of scanning, skimming, and mapping (Machi & McEvoy, 2016) that eventually left me with 63 articles.

Results. In my review of the literature, I have come up with three interconnected claims that are related to the capital that Black children bring within the classroom: macro and micro issues related to their sociohistorical realities as related to resistance and resilience (Martin, 2006, 2012; McGee, 2014; Nyamekye, 2013; Strayhorn, 2013), communalism and a collective Black identity (Davis, 2018; Tate, 1995; Carter, Hawking, & Natesan, 2008; Berry, 2005; Lemons-Smith, 2008; Ortiz, Capraro, & Capraro, 2018) and beauty in communication and non-dominant linguistic patterns (e.g., Blake & Van Sickle, 2001). I contend that this capital that Black children possess predisposes them to advantages within mathematics, and I highlight how at least five common theories interact with one another to explain these forms of capital.

Scholarly Significance. I conclude this study with a few implications, indeed ontological, epistemological, and methodological considerations for how educators, policymakers, and researchers might continue thinking about inclusive middle grades mathematics environments. To this point, I believe these forms of capital serve as benefits a) in the comprehension and sense making of the mathematics content specifically, as well as b) that which serves as significant to these students’ participation and presence within the mathematics environment. In short, the capital impacts the way the content is taught, as well as the learning environment for these students.


References. Available upon request

Author

• Nickolaus Alexander Ortiz, Georgia State University