Ethnomathematics as a research and teaching method: Regulated freedoms and counter-conduct

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the way in which Ethnomathematics, seen as a teaching and research method, makes it possible to put under suspicion the regulated liberties and the disciplinary power of Mathematics. Theoretically, it is based on Foucault's studies of power, knowledge, discipline and examination, and Wittgenstein's contributions on forms of life and language games. Methodologically, it analyzes the results of two studies, one of them developed with teachers and the other with students. It shows that the teachers participating in the research, in their statements, claimed that “freedom” is made available to students, that is, that everyone is encouraged to create different strategies for solving mathematical situations. It shows that when considering Ethnomathematics as a teaching and research method, conditions are created to think about Mathematics in a more humanistic way, as it allows students, when recognizing different ways of mathematizing, present in other forms of life, to position themselves in front of to the hegemonization of mathematical knowledge as a counter-conduct movement.