Exploring cultural dynamism of ethnomodelling as a pedagogical action for students from minority cultural groups

Abstract

Mathematics education is inherent to the discourse of globalization, which often states that mathematical knowledge is universal. Certain global mathematical techniques and procedures found in many mathematics curricula around the world often discourage students to engage in creating their own mathematical knowledge. This suggests that dominant cultural values are defined as universal or at the very least labeled as normative, while peripheral mathematical knowledge is tagged as merely simplistic, primitivistic, folkloristic, and/or as forms of obsolete systems. Our main purpose here is to discuss how ethnomodelling promotes a holistic understanding of local and global approaches in mathematics education, which contributes to the development of a glocal comprehension of mathematical practices developed by members of distinct cultures, which means placing them at the center of the educational process. Through the development of ethnomodelling, this pedagogical action promotes connections between day-to-day knowledge and systematized school curricula. Thus, this theoretical article demonstrates how we might consider situating local mathematical practices (margins) at the center (glocal) of the mathematics education process by decentering globalized mathematical knowledge in the search for peace and social justice.