Beyond songs and dances: Ethnomathematics and the challenge of culture

• Vidal Alangui, Wilfredo ^[1]
  1. [1] University of the Philipphines Baguio
• Localización: Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática, ISSN-e 2011-5474, Vol. 13, Nº. 3, 2020 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Posturas Etnomatemáticas alrededor del mundo: producción, posibilidad, cooperación y contradicción), págs. 88-107
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.22267/relatem.20133.63
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Más que canciones y danzas: Etnomatemáticas y el reto de la cultura
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• Resumen
  • español

    En este artículo, analizo las trampas de la noción antropológica de cultura, cuando se usa en el campo de la etnomatemática, y utilizo los mitos de referencia y de la emancipación planteados por Dowling para mostrar cómo están vinculados a lo que denomino como los peligros duales: los peligros de la descontextualización y colonización del conocimiento en el campo de la etnomatemática. Sostengo que estos dos peligros surgen de un acercamiento ingenuo a la investigación Etnomatemática que se basa en la noción antropológica de cultura. El artículo trae algunos ejemplos de Filipinas y uno de Nueva Zelanda, sobre cómo estos peligros duales pueden manifestarse cuando se realizan estudios en etnomatemáticas y programas de educación matemática culturalmente relevante.

  • English

    In this paper, I discuss the pitfalls of the anthropological notion of culture when used in the field of ethnomathematics, and use Dowling’s myth of reference and myth of emancipation to show how these are linked to what I refer to as the dual dangers – the dangers of decontextualization and knowledge colonization in the field of ethnomathematics. I argue that these two dangers arise from a naïve approach to ethnomathematics research that is informed by the anthropological notion of culture. The paper provides some examples from the Philippines and one from New Zealand on how these dual dangers may manifest while pursuing studies in ethnomathematics and programs for culturally relevant mathematics education.

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