Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
tip of Brazil]? Where do they live? How far are they from here? They speak
French, Portuguese, and their own language? What is that? And how many
families live there? I want to know this people.
Figure 4.14. Mathematics teacher Alício Terena, Área Indígena Kopenoti, Municipality
of Avaí, interior of the state of São Paulo, 1999.
Palikur Mathematics: Geometry Is Everywhere
Thinking about the distance that separated us in São Paulo from the Xavante in Mato
Grosso, central Brazil - 1634 km or 1132 miles, and from the Palikur in the state of
Amapá, northernmost Brazil - at least 2664 km or 1655 miles to Macapá, the capital,
was daunting. How could we even envision how far that is? And then how many
more kilometers to the Palikur Indigenous Area, further north, bordering the French
Guiana? We had quite a lot of information that everyone wanted to understand
about Palikur mathematics in the topic
Madikauku
, stemming from the work of
North American linguist Diana Green (1994, 2000). But workshop participants
had something different in mind: Macapá's very popular and official soccer field
- 100 meters long X 73 meters wide - is cut across midfield by the Equator, the
imaginary line that divides the southern from the northern hemispheres starting at
zero and going all the way up to 90 degrees latitude at both the North and South
Poles. Playing soccer in Macapá (an all time favorite sport in Brazil) means that
during 45 minutes, half-time of the 90-minute game, players of each team occupy
either the world's northern hemisphere or the southern, and then switch fields after
a 15-minute break. Some spoke of their favorite players' scores, and our chances
