How Mathematics is Political: An Analysis of Discourses and Antagonisms in Two Undergraduate Mathematics Courses
Creators: name: Pitsili Chatzi, Dionysia
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2023
Subjects: mathematics
education
undergraduate
discourse
antagonism
political

description: Sociopolitical issues of mathematics education have not been a priority in research conducted in post-secondary contexts (Adiredja &amp; Andrews-Larson, 2017; le Roux, 2009). When sociopolitical lenses are utilised, the focus is usually on issues of equity and mathematics is not viewed critically. At the same time, although mathematics education research has highlighted and scrutinised political aspects of mathematics education (e.g., Pais, 2012; Valero, 2004), mathematics is not always thought of as political, while there is little research focusing on how it has political features. This study adopts a critical approach to mathematics, in order to examine how mathematics is political in post-secondary contexts. Deriving its theoretical lens from Laclau and Mouffe (1985/2001, 1987; Mouffe, 2005), it views mathematics as a space in which meanings are negotiated and antagonisms take place, while at the same time other ways of meaning making are excluded. More specifically, I identify three features of mathematics which make it inextricably political: the values of mathematical knowledge (Bishop, 1991; Ernest, 2018, 2020; Skovsmose, 2020), the rationality of mathematics (Kollosche, 2014; Walkerdine, 1988), and the formatting function of mathematics (Barwell, 2013; Skovsmose, 1994b, 2000). I have conducted an empirical investigation of the ways in which mathematics is political within two post-secondary courses, an Introduction to Proofs and a Calculus course. Through a discourse analysis perspective based on the works of Foucault (1972), and Laclau and Mouffe (1985/2001, 1987), I explore how political features of mathematics are negotiated and established through the ways in which people interact in the context of the two courses. Findings indicate that mathematics is not a final product that students need to absorb, but it is instead a nexus of interconnected discourses which are not fixed or stable entities but rather are constantly shifting and contested social constructions. In the "Introduction to Proofs" course, I identified four overarching discourses: the "formalising as a prototype of rigour" discourse, the "diverse participation in mathematics" discourse, the "imaginary practice of mathematics" discourse, and the "efficacy of mathematical work/labour" discourse. In the Calculus course, the overarching discourses I identified were the "humanity of mathematics" discourse, the "applying mathematics" discourse, and the "the mathematics of the class and the mathematics of mathematicians" discourse. These discourses entail ontological, epistemological, and axiological aspects; are specific to a given time and place; and sometimes fit together nicely while in other cases can enter antagonistic relations. This work contributes to mathematics education literature by problematising the neutrality of mathematics and its consideration as apolitical in post-secondary contexts.