Overview
- Includes original ethnographic materials focusing on mathematical abilities and procedures in non-Western subjects
- Highlights the use of ethnographic data in sophisticated educational processes in mathematics
- Offers insights from a ‘second generation’ of ethnomathematics studies
Buy print copy
About this book
The book presents a series of ethnographic studies, which illustrate issues of wider importance, such as the role of cultural traditions, concepts and learning procedures in the development of formal (or mathematical) thinking outside of the western tradition. It focuses on research at the crossroads of anthropology and ethnomathematics to document indigenous mathematical knowledge and its inclusion in specific cultural patterns. More generally, the book demonstrates the heuristic value of crossing ethnographical, anthropological and ethnomathematical approaches to highlight and analyze—or "formalize" with a pedagogical outlook—indigenous mathematical knowledge.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part extensively analyzes theoretical claims using particular ethnographic data, while revealing the structural mathematical features of different ludic, graphic, or technical/procedural practices in their links to other cultural phenomena. In the second part, new empirical studies that add data and perspectives from the body of studies on indigenous knowledge systems to the ongoing discussions in mathematics education in and for diverse cultural traditions are presented. This part considers, on the one hand, the Brazilian work in this field; on the other hand, it brings ethnographic innovation from other parts of the world. The third part comprises a broad philosophical discussion of the impact of intuitive or "ontological" premises on mathematical thinking and education in the light of recent developments within so-called indigenously inspired thinking. Finally, the editors’ conclusions aim to invite the broad and diversified field of scholars in this domain of research to seek alternative approaches for understanding mathematical reasoning and the adjacent adequate educational goals and means.
This book is of interest to scholars and students in anthropology, ethnomathematics, history and philosophy of science, mathematics, and mathematics education, as well as other individuals interested in these topics.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part extensively analyzes theoretical claims using particular ethnographic data, while revealing the structural mathematical features of different ludic, graphic, or technical/procedural practices in their links to other cultural phenomena. In the second part, new empirical studies that add data and perspectives from the body of studies on indigenous knowledge systems to the ongoing discussions in mathematics education in and for diverse cultural traditions are presented. This part considers, on the one hand, the Brazilian work in this field; on the other hand, it brings ethnographic innovation from other parts of the world. The third part comprises a broad philosophical discussion of the impact of intuitive or "ontological" premises on mathematical thinking and education in the light of recent developments within so-called indigenously inspired thinking. Finally, the editors’ conclusions aim to invite the broad and diversified field of scholars in this domain of research to seek alternative approaches for understanding mathematical reasoning and the adjacent adequate educational goals and means.
This book is of interest to scholars and students in anthropology, ethnomathematics, history and philosophy of science, mathematics, and mathematics education, as well as other individuals interested in these topics.
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (9 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Ethnography and Mathematics
-
Front Matter
-
-
Impact of Indigenous Culture on Education in General, and on Mathematics Classes in Particular
-
Front Matter
-
-
Meta-studies
-
Front Matter
-
-
Back Matter
Reviews
“This volume would be of interest to mathematics educators looking to bring relevance to their in-class activities, mathematical historians hoping to deepen their understanding of these topics, and finally, to mathematicians who are themselves wrestling with how colonization has impacted not only the peoples themselves but also the mathematics they bring with them.” (Deborah Gochenaur, MAA Reviews, October 8, 2023)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Eric Vandendriessche is an ethnomathematician, researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), member of the Science, Philosophy, History laboratory (CNRS & University of Paris). He has published ethnomathematical research aiming at studying the mathematical character of different technical/procedural activities (string figure-making, sand drawing, mat making) as they are practiced in Melanesian societies. He has also published historiographical research. Recently, he coordinated the “Encoding and Transmitting Knowledge with a String: a comparative study of the cultural uses of mathematical practices in string figure-making (Oceania, North & South America)” (ETKnoS, 2016-2021) research project, supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Rik Pinxten has worked as an anthropologist with the Navajo Indians of Arizona/New Mexico in the USA, on spatial knowledge in the language and in cultural practices. He developed a Navajo curriculum book for geometry teaching in primary school. With thoroughly comparative work on knowledge and studies in ethnomathematics, he has produced a synthesis on the use of anthropological studies in mathematics education. He has also published on epistemology and anthropology of knowledge. He is an activist and an academic.
Rik Pinxten has worked as an anthropologist with the Navajo Indians of Arizona/New Mexico in the USA, on spatial knowledge in the language and in cultural practices. He developed a Navajo curriculum book for geometry teaching in primary school. With thoroughly comparative work on knowledge and studies in ethnomathematics, he has produced a synthesis on the use of anthropological studies in mathematics education. He has also published on epistemology and anthropology of knowledge. He is an activist and an academic.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnomathematics
Editors: Eric Vandendriessche, Rik Pinxten
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97482-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-97481-7Published: 15 February 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-97484-8Published: 15 February 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-97482-4Published: 14 February 2023
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 285
Number of Illustrations: 39 b/w illustrations, 70 illustrations in colour
Topics: Mathematics Education, Anthropology, Philosophy of Education