Yes, mathematics can be decolonised. Here's how to begin | HuffPost
Yes, mathematics can be decolonised. Here's how to begin
At a time when decolonisation, part of which involves changing the content of what's taught, is dominating debate at many universities, the discipline of mathematics presents an interesting case.
In his book Leading for change, South African educationist Jonathan Jansen suggests that transforming university campuses into deracialised spaces requires attention to both the academic and the human project. I take the human project to mean how students see themselves. What might this mean for mathematics?
Some see learning as building on current knowledge in a step-wise linear way. Some see it as working in a spiral -- coming back to old ideas in new ways. Still others view learning as disrupting or transforming current knowledge.
To transform mathematics teaching and learning in ways that empower students, universities need to give students the theoretical grounding they need to access the subject and support them to identify with it -- to want to learn it, to become the mathematicians of the future, to enjoy and critique mathematics and its applications.
Karin Brodie, Professor of Education and Mathematics Education, University of the Witwatersrand
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