Ethnomathematics at the crossroads of the decolonization and re-colonization of knowledge

Abstract

The goal of this article is to offer a discussion of some conceptions of ethnomathematics and paths taken by contemporary ethnomathematical research. In this context, in the first part two conceptions are presented: one considers ethnomathematics as a production of knowledge within an indigenous rationality itself; the other considers Western mathematics as a reference: ethnomathematics appears here as a folkloric modality of this mathematics considered universal. In the second part, two contemporary avenues of research in ethnomathematics are explored, one of a more anthropological nature, which aims to study the “mathematics” of cultural groups, and the other, of a more pedagogical nature, which attempts to take into account indigenous knowledge in school learning. The article ends with a discussion of the political dimension in which ethnomathematics is embedded and which places ethnomathematics at the crossroads of the decolonization and the re-colonization of knowledge.