Ethnomathematics

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Ethnomathematics refers to a younger subject in the history of mathematics and mathematics pedagogy , which interdisciplinary researches with other subjects such as ethnology (ethnology) and anthropology (human studies) mathematical or proto-mathematical concepts and operations in their cultural context. Ethnomathematics examines ways of symbolizing numbers , quantities and ratios, of counting and calculating , the perspective, arrangement and measurement of time and space and possible other cognitive or physical operations that can be traced back to mathematical concepts using practices such as play, dance, and music and ritual acts, in the order of family and social relationships, in economy and agriculture, handicrafts, art and architecture.

One example are the Sona diagrams, which were and are used by African peoples in Zambia, Angola and the Congo, for example to support narratives, and which have also been preserved as stone sculptures. The geometric algorithms for their generation were researched by Paulus Gerdes . Another example are the floor drawings known as Kolam in India or thread games .

Concept and relationship to the history of mathematics

The conventional history of mathematics is usually based on a universalistic and teleological concept that looks at older and non-European cultures from the point of view of their development of universal mathematical skills that are the same for all people, but not equally highly developed in all cultures and in the European one , through the Indian and Arab tradition shaped development should have reached their highest level of development.

Ethnomathematics, on the other hand, uses a relativistic or multiculturalist approach, which in a given culture, ethnicity or socially defined group has its own expression of mathematical abilities from the point of view of its specific cultural, social and institutional character and its development relevant to this culture (ethnicity, group) considered. The main aim is to counteract a Eurocentric concept of mathematics, to improve the knowledge and understanding of supposedly primitive forms of mathematics and to gain didactically and pedagogically usable insights into the acquisition and communication of mathematical skills.

history

Ethnomathematics has forerunners in the history of mathematics and ethnology (e.g. Ewald Fettweis ), but was introduced as a term and a separate subject since the 1970s by the Brazilian mathematician Ubiratàn D'Ambrósio . Another pioneer for the African area was Paulus Gerdes. Today it is mainly represented at US and Latin American universities, but also in African and European teaching and research.

See also

List.svgfList of topics: Ethnomathematics  - Overview in the portal: Ethnology
  • Wasan (traditional Japanese form of mathematics)

literature

  • Marcia Ascher: Ethnomathematics - A Multicultural View of Mathematical Ideas. Brooks / Cole Publishing, Pacific Grove California 1991, ISBN 0-534-14880-8 .
  • Paulus Gerdes: Ethnomathematics - illustrated using the example of Sona geometry. Spectrum of Science Publishing Company, Heidelberg 1997, ISBN 3-8274-0201-8 .
  • Paulus Gerdes: Ethnogeometry - Cultural anthropological contributions to the genesis and didactics of geometry. Franzbecker Verlag, Bad Salzdetfurth 1990, ISBN 3-88120-189-0 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Linsmeier a. a. (Ed.): Ethnomathematics - wickerwork of the Celts, astronomy of the Chinese, knotted cords of the Inca, calendar of the Maya. Spectrum of Science Publishing Company, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-938639-41-5 ( Spectrum of Science Special 2, 2006).
  • Arthur B. Powell, Marilyn Frankenstein (Eds.): Ethnomathematics. Challenging Eurocentrism in Mathematics Education. State University of New York, Albany NY 1997, ISBN 0-7914-3352-8 (SUNY series, reform in mathematics education) .
  • Claudia Zaslavsky: Africa counts - Number and Pattern in African Cultures. 3rd edition, Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago Ill. 1999, ISBN 1-55652-350-5 .

Web links

Commons : Mathematics by culture  - collection of images and media files