Narratives deconstruction and curriculum reconstruction: the inclusion of Brazilian indians’ and black people’s mathematical knowledge

Abstract

In this article, narratives from the Brazilian nation are problematized, which disguise the country multiple identity and we emphasize mechanisms of exclusion present in schools. We remind that Brazil, because of its his­torical and social organization is multiracial and pluriethnical, but school continues to ignore this reality, which has contributed to raise the dropout and repetition rates of children from some socio-cultural groups. Then, concerning the 11.645/08 Law approval, which includes the compulsory study of the history and culture from Africans, Brazilian Africans and in­digenous added in the official curriculum of private and public elementary schools, we guided our discussions for the teaching of Mathematics. In this context, talking about how research in Ethnomathematics can help enhancing, at school, the knowledge from those cultural matrix. From there, we present some thoughts raised by the research we have conducted in Pirituba, in Sao Paulo city, where the second author works, and close to the A’uwe-Xavante Indians of Mato Grosso state, the subject of doctoral research by the first author.

Keywords: mathematics education; ethnomathematics; identity.