Calling for critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism in mathematics education research

Getting in “good trouble, necessary trouble”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2023.27.15288

Keywords:

mathematics education, settler colonialism, white supremacy

Abstract

In this essay, we contextualize a call for strengthening equity and social justice research in mathematics education by inserting the mathematics education enterprise into two world events of 2020: the global COVID-19 pandemic and the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. We do so to underscore how white colonialism is forever present everywhere in structures and institutions around the globe, including those of the mathematics education enterprise. We briefly describe the logics of white supremacy and settler colonialism and then combined them into a compounding scheme of colonizing white supremacist logics. Next, we feature recent USA-based mathematics education research to illustrate some different possibilities when equity and social justice research is indeed strengthened through critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism. We conclude the essay with a justification for getting in good trouble, necessary trouble.

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Author Biographies

  • David Stinson, Georgia State University

    The research interests of Professor Stinson (Ph.D., The University of Georgia), broadly speaking, are twofold: critical postmodern theory and identity. More specifically, he explores how mathematics teachers, educators and researchers (might) incorporate the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of critical postmodern theory into their education philosophies, pedagogical practices, and/or research methods. Additionally, he examines (and theorizes) how students who are constructed outside the White, Christian, heterosexual male of bourgeois privilege successfully accommodate, reconfigure or resist (i.e., negotiate) the hegemonic discourses of society generally and schooling specifically, including those found in the mathematics classroom.

  • Jayasree Subramanian, SRM University AP

    I have an interdisciplinary background. My Ph D was in Algebraic Number Theory from University of Hyderabad. After a couple of postdoctoral fellowships in Mathematics, I started reading a lot of literature on Feminist Science Studies and carried out an empirical work to understand how gender makes a difference to doing science in India. In 2005 I joined the Curriculum Research and Material Development Unit of Eklavya Foundation, Bhopal and worked with them on Mathematics Education at the grassroot level for seven years, before joining the Azim Premji School of Education at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.

  • Cathrey Yeh, University of Texas at Austin

    Dr. Cathery Yeh (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor in STEM Education and a core faculty member in the Center for Asian American Studies. Her research examines the role race, class, gender and language plays in the constructions of ability in mathematics classrooms. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Mathematics Education Fund, National Endowment for the Humanities and other agencies, her scholarship is collaborative, building research partnerships with school districts and communities to attend to the strengths, needs and goals of teachers, students and the community served. Her work as an engaged scholar builds on 20+ years as a dual language classroom teacher and educator, visiting over 300 student homes, while family and community members came into the classroom to co-teach mathematics Dr. Yeh currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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Published

2023-07-27

Issue

No. 27 (2023): Prometeica - nº 27 (07/2023 - 10/2023)

Section

Articles - Dossier 1

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Copyright (c) 2023 David Stinson, Jayasree Subramanian, Cathrey Yeh

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How to Cite

Stinson, D., Subramanian, J., & Yeh, C. (2023). Calling for critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism in mathematics education research: Getting in “good trouble, necessary trouble”. Prometeica - Journal of Philosophy and Science, 27, 231-240. https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2023.27.15288