scholarly journals Towards African humanicity: Re-mythogolising Ubuntu through reflections on the ethnomathematics of African cultures

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Chahine
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
African Students ◽  
African Experience ◽  
The People ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
Collective Beliefs ◽  
Kinship Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Students Success

Throughout the history of mathematics, Eurocentric approaches in developing and disseminating mathematical knowledge have been largely dominant. Building on the riches of African cultures, this paper introduces ethnomathematics as a discipline bridging mathematical ideas with cultural contexts thereby honoring diversity and fostering respect for cultural heritages. Ethnomathematics promotes a conceptualisation of culture to include the authentic humanity of the people sharing collective beliefs, traditions, and practices. I propose the term African humanicity to refer to the authentic African experience that reflects genuine African cultural identity. I further argue that immersion in the ethnomathematical practices of African cultures provides insight into critical factors shaping African students’ success in mathematics. Drawing upon the vast literature on the ingenuity of African cultures, I present ethnomathematical ideas that permeate numerous African indigenous knowledge systems that could be introduced in the mathematics curriculum. These systems include folk games and puzzles, kinship relations, and divination systems.

Projects: Historical Modules Project

2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (8) ◽  
pp. 728
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Secondary Mathematics ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
National Science ◽  
History Of

The Historical Modules Project, a part of the Institute in the History of Mathematics and Its Use in Teaching (IHMT), is sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and supported by the National Science Foundation. In the project, eighteen high school teachers and six college teachers with experience in the history of mathematics have been working in six teams to develop modules for various topics in the secondary mathematics curriculum. These modules are intended to show teachers how to use the history of mathematics in teaching mathematics.

scholarly journals Whiteness in Christianity and Decoloniality of the African Experience: Developing a Political Theology for ‘Shalom’ in Kenya

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1006
Author(s):  
Martin Munyao ◽  
Philemon Kipruto Tanui
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
African Experience ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
The Impact

The decolonial discourse around Christianity must not avoid dealing with Whiteness if there is going to be any fruitful decolonization. Colonialism and the Western missionary enterprise were not necessarily two distinct and unrelated entries to precolonial Kenya. How then did Christianity, for decades, live side by side with colonialism? In this article, we contend that Colonialism in Kenya could not have been possible without the missionary enterprise activity. The impact of that unholy relationship is felt and sustained in contemporary forms of violence. Unfortunately, critics of such a discourse dismiss the decolonial efforts in African Christianity citing intellectual activism. Such voices of dissent may not be far from the truth as Jesus’ ministry involved elements of activism. Whenever he confronted oppressive institutional structures, he used activism tempered with a degree of pacifism. Looking at the history of historical injustices in Kenya, we see instances whereby missionary Christianity conveniently abetted injustices for colonial structures to sustain the oppression of the indigenous Africans. Such injustices have been unresolved to date because the oppressive structures are still in place in the shape of neocolonialism. Land, for example, is a present source of conflict in Kenya. In the precolonial African ontology, the land was in harmony with the people. For land to be taken away from its owners, a separation of the people from the land had to happen. This was facilitated by a Christian theology that created existential dualism, violently separating the African bodies from their souls and the person from the community. Hence, Christian doctrine that emphasized ‘saving souls’ and ‘personal salvation’ was entrenched. This separation and fragmentation are fundamental to Whiteness. Whiteness universalizes truth, even theology; it puts a face of neutrality that obscures specificity. Such has made the church uncritical of oppressive and unjust political structures. Whiteness realizes that it is hard to enter into something that is in harmony. Therefore, separation needs to happen for Whiteness to succeed. Unfortunately, much of our theological understanding today is tempered with a neocolonial mindset that separates the soul from the body for Christian triumphalism. It anesthetizes the pain of oppression with the eschatological promise of future deliverance. This paper will analyze the impact of Whiteness in Kenya during and after colonialism to demonstrate how the British explorer–settler–missionary alliance ‘oiled’ the religious and economic disenfranchising of African people. Secondly, it proposes a political theology that will restore ‘Shalom’ in a socially, economically, and spiritually broken country. It is such a theology undertaken in Africa that will confront oppressive structures and identify with the marginalized communities in Kenya.

STORYTELLING AS A METHOD FOR ACQUIRING MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING AND SKILL

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Nomsa Mdlalose
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Mathematical Understanding ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Innate Ability

According to historical accounts of old Africa, mathematics got divorced from the heritage arena. It was subsequently perceived incongruent with locally produced knowledge. Zaslavsky (1999) affirms that the manner in which Africa is portrayed in reference to the history of mathematics and the history of numbers, one would conclude that Africans barely knew how to count. Notwithstanding this, storytelling as an aspect of African indigenous knowledge systems and of a genre of oral tradition constitutes various socio-cosmic codes. Narrative being a social phenomenon and rhythm being symbolic to innate ability to count assume storytelling and numbering affinity. The article aims to explore employment of storytelling for the purpose of assisting basic education learners to acquire mathematical understanding and skills.

Calculators in the Classroom: A Proposal for Curricular Change

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
Grayson H. Wheatley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Curricular Change ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Division Algorithm ◽  
Elementary School Mathematics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Mathematics

A careful study of the history of mathematics education will reveal that in this country computation has always been the focus of the elementary school mathematics curriculum. In the eighteenth century children were taught ciphering, rote computation with no attempt to develop an understanding of the process. During the nineteenth century there were a few persons like Warren Coburn calling for attention to meaning, but the curriculum remained computational. During the 1930s there was a movement toward social utility and developing meaning in mathematics. Then in the period from 1958 to 1971 there was an emphasis on teaching the structure of mathematics. Viewed from the perspective of today, there was one unfortunate aspect of the so called “modern mathematics” movement—much attention was given to rationalizing algorithms. The division algorithm, for example, was taught in great detail using a subtracting approach so that students would understand why the algorithm worked.

Connecting Research to Teaching: Do Teachers Need to Incorporate the History of Mathematics in Their Teaching?

2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 416-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Po-Hung Liu
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of

The merits of incorporating history into mathematics education have received considerable attention and have been discussed for decades. Still, before taking as dogma that history must be incorporated in mathematics, an obvious question is, Why should the history of mathematics have a place in school mathematics? Answering this question is difficult, since the answer is subject to one's personal definition of teaching and is also bound up with one's view of mathematics. Fauvel's (1991) list of fifteen reasons for including the history of mathematics in the mathematics curriculum includes cognitive, affective, and sociocultural aspects. My purpose in this article is not to provide complete and satisfactory answers but rather, on the basis of theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, to attempt to pinpoint worthwhile considerations to help high school teachers think about what history really can do for the curriculum and for their teaching.

scholarly journals Um olhar sobre as questões étnicas-raciais nas enunciações sobre a história da Matemática apresentadas pelos livros didáticos de Matemática do Ensino Médio aprovados pelo PNLD 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 267-281
Author(s):  
Alan Pereira Manoel ◽  
Camila Aparecida Lopes Manoel Coradetti
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Program ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Mathematical Education ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Racial Issues ◽  
Stuart Hall ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Context ◽  
Mato Grosso Do Sul

O presente texto é constituído de estudos realizados no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Matemática da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (PPGEdumat/UFMS) e se inscreve na linha de pesquisa “Currículo e Educação Matemática”.  O objetivo deste artigo é descrever e analisar discursos mobilizados na abordagem feita, acerca da História dos Conjuntos, contidas nos livros didáticos do Ensino Médio, aprovados no PLND 2018. Para alcançar esse objetivo foram utilizadas as contribuições teóricas da análise do discurso na perspectiva foucaultiana e as contribuições de cultura, identidade e representação de Stuart Hall. Nas análises foram observados um currículo de Matemática, enquanto campo político, que, ao apresentar determinadas representações sobre a história da Matemática, provoca o apagamento de questões étnicos-raciais, principalmente aquelas relacionadas à cultura popular negra, por meio de uma hegemonização da cultura ocidental, a partir de seus feitos históricos, em contexto científicos e áreas afins.Palavras-chave: Educação Matemática. Currículo. Análise do discurso. Cultura. Representação. A look at the ethnic-racial issues in the Math history presentations presented by the 2018 PNLD medical education Mathematical booksAbstract: This text consists of studies carried out in the Graduate Program in Mathematical Education of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (PPGEdumat / UFMS) and is part of the research line "Curriculum and Mathematical Education". The aim of this article is to describe and analyze discourses mobilized in the approach made, about the History of the Sets, contained in the High School textbooks, approved in PLND 2018. To achieve this objective, the theoretical contributions of discourse analysis were used from the Foucaultian perspective and the contributions of culture, identity and representation of Stuart Hall. In the analyzes, a mathematics curriculum was observed as a political field, which, by presenting certain representations about the history of mathematics, causes the erasure of ethnic-racial issues, especially those related to black popular culture, through a hegemonization of western culture, from their historical achievements, in scientific context and related fields.Keywords: Mathematical education. Curriculum. Speech analysis. Culture. Representation.

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