Justice-Oriented Math Pedagogies in Politically Restrictive Times

• In Event: Beyond Acknowledgement: Decolonial Futures in Education and Disability Studies

Abstract

Censorship legislation increasingly weaponizes language by framing terms like “equity,” “justice,” and “systemic oppression” as threats, creating fear among educators and undermining critical teaching. Language is vital in mathematics education, as justice-oriented curricula either expose or reinforce systems of power, injustices, and oppressive frameworks. Such language can be a tool to combat issues like colonization, racism, ableism, and sexism. This paper examines how current censorship laws influence educators' ability to teach justice-centered curricula. Using critical counterstorytelling, we envision resistance pedagogies in the mathematics classroom and advocate for strategies that recognize knowledge production as inherently political and challenge existing systems. This approach aims to support justice-oriented math teaching through theory-to-practice connections that resist the influence of censorship in teacher education.

Authors

• Taryrn T.C. Brown, University of Florida

• Hyunyi Jung, Texas A&M University