Abstract

There appear to be two different/contradictory strands emerging in ethnomathematics research and educational practice. One is disconnected from context, "folkloreistic/exotica." The other is connected to broad context and part of critical mathematics. The critical strand, for example, is not just interested in the mathematics of Angolan sand drawings and their use in story telling, but also in the politics of imperialism that arrested the development of this cultural tradition and in the politics of cultural imperialism that discounts the mathematical activity involved in creating Angolan sand drawings. The critical approach views ethnomathematics as a counter-approach to both the "exotica" strand and to Eurocentrism in mathematics education. This symposium will look at both the underlying philosophy guiding the critical approach to ethnomathematics, including the debates it provokes to the "exotica" approach, and its application in out- of-school as well as in-school contexts.
 

Introduction

• Is ethnomathematics watering down the "real" mathematics curriculum (and even more so for "third world " students who have had less access to mathematics)?
• Is ethnomathematics research its own form of cultural imperialism, by "imposing" the academic mathematics curriculum on, for example, African cultural artifacts and practices?
• Does ethnomathematics research and educational practice divorce the cultural traditions from their context, thereby trivializing and fragmenting them from their real meaning in context?
• How can ethnomathematics be integrated in educational contexts without trivializing the cultural context and/or the mathematics curriculum?
• How can ethnomathematics contribute to or be part of a critical mathematics curriculum?