Foreword to the Research Text: Mathematics education under cross-examination

Each of the chapters in this collection embraces a socio-political perspective on mathematics education. Taking such a perspective cannot be translated into a single methodological principle, but it does indicate a shared commitment to cultural and critical analyses of school mathematics. This book uses multiple lenses to explore the political context of school mathematics, focusing less on the “situated” nature of learning, and more on the power relations that structure learning experiences within dominant educational discourses. Emphasis on the discursive mapping of power relations and subject positions within mathematics education is crucial in further developing the “social turn” (Lerman, 2000) in mathematics education research. This book represents an important contribution to the expansion of the research field because of its unremitting interrogation of “common sense” practices. Contributors were asked to take risks in their writing, to critique and disrupt cherished notions embedded in the field, and to “speak truth to power” by whatever means they deemed necessary. The result is a collection that is sometimes uncomfortable to read; a collection that troubles many taken-for-granted assumptions about mathematics education and research.