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Ethnomathematical Barters

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The Disorder of Mathematics Education

Abstract

This chapter identifies and criticizes one assumption of the ethnomathematical research field, regarding the ways in which the relationship between mathematics and culture is addressed. Many developments and theoretical conflicts within this field can be traced to that assumption, which has been widespread indistinctly by practitioners and critics of ethnomathematics. Looking for a new understanding of this field, an alternative approach is proposed, trying to respond to some theoretical critiques and prompting new horizons. This intended approach privileges non-colonialist interactions among stakeholders, recognizing their different interests, their different ways to conceptualize and their interdependence. It is discussed how interactions can be conducted to hybridize different kinds of knowledge, constituting political and epistemological endeavors. The essay concludes observing which types of problems would appear due to the new approach.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For instance, the term most used to describe the theoretical interplay is precisely the image of field, as a place where objects of a theory coexist and can be gathered in particular ways. Accordingly, researchers declare which is their position in the field and how they see the objects, when they state their personal understandings of the theory.

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Acknowledgments

A brief and early version of this chapter was published in the Proceeding of the Eighth International Mathematics Education and Society Conference, in 2015. The research leading to this chapter was funded by Departamento Administrativo de Ciencias, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS) and Aalborg University in Denmark. I would like to thank the members of the Science and Mathematics Education Research Group (SMERG) at Aalborg University for their comments on previous drafts of this chapter. This research is also part of the NordForsk Center of Excellence “JustEd.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UNESCO Center of PBL in Engineering and Science, Department of Planning and Development, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Aldo Parra-Sanchez

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  1. Aldo Parra-Sanchez
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Correspondence to Aldo Parra-Sanchez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Hauke Straehler-Pohl

  2. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Nina Bohlmann

  3. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Alexandre Pais

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Parra-Sanchez, A. (2017). Ethnomathematical Barters. In: Straehler-Pohl, H., Bohlmann, N., Pais, A. (eds) The Disorder of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34006-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34006-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-34005-0

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