Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
teachers' desire to discuss mathematics education openly in a multiethnic context,
and determination to highlight the contributions of their own mathematics, were key
in setting the tone for a mathematics training workshop that otherwise may not have
succeeded. In fact, most oral or graphic statements, including drawings and maps,
were delivered in very emotional ways. These included the very moving dedications
and songs that signaled the rebirth or remaking of certain concepts and ideas, such
as the reconfiguration of Guarani 1 to 10 numerals presented above in
Table 4.2.
From this perspective, it is key to understand that knowledge is the foundational
cornerstone of any cultural system. It was particularly important for non-Indigenous
teachers to realize that each and every Indigenous people at the workshop had its
own culture and historical situation. The combination of both culture and history
helped shape and express the fascinating mathematical ideas being presented, for the
first time in some cases in front of our very eyes.
Making maps was a sentimental endeavor in itself from the very start. Picking
up a pencil or pen and drawing the scope of your ancestral land, boundaries of your
reservation, or exact location of your shack on a urban grid was a highly charged
activity. Teacher Dimas Nascimento kept making bigger and bigger copies of a
section of a São Paulo City map where the
Favela Real Parque
is located, as if an
artificial change in scale gave the 800-plus Pankararu in that shantytown the right
to occupy a larger portion of land for their survival. It was challenging for other
mathematics teachers who currently dispute the official demarcated boundaries of
their territories to come to an agreement of which map to use or whether to draw
entirely new ones. This is why some of the narratives portrayed above are not
accompanied by cartographic maps - it was very difficult to reach consensus on the
“right” map to use. Other teachers figured that they would work and reproduce in the
map topic documents provided by Funai, so as to call our attention to the diminutive
size of their lands, or lack thereof.
Brazil, 514 years old in the year 2014, still ignores, to a great extent, the immense
socio-diversity and mathematical ideas of its contemporary Indigenous Peoples.
To wake up educators, policy-makers, activists, and administrators worldwide to
the themes of socio-cultural diversity, historical situation, and human rights has the
power to generate interest in and respect for the existing multiplicity of mathematical
knowledges and practices. In the same vein, it is true that the preservation of the
biodiversity of the planet demands respect for socio-diversity, due to the incredible
richness of knowledges among ethnically differentiated Peoples
(
Carneiro da Cunha
1995). It is well known today that scientific and technological development also
demand knowledge of and respect for socio-cultural diversity, as mentioned before. In
this respect, the richness and complexity of the Palikur numerical system, for instance
- one of the most well-studied and documented in the country - may contribute
toward the advancement of sophisticated mathematical ideas, primarily in relation
to geometric thought. Last but not least, Terena, Krenak, Kaingang, Pankararu, and
Guarani teachers indicated a preference for the notions of “historical situation” and
“Indigenous Peoples' rights” that include the right to self-determination, that is, the
