Indigenous Mathematics
"Indigenous Mathematics" is led by Edward Doolittle and Naomi Borwein.
Edward Doolittle is a Mathematician, a member of the Kanyen’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, and Associate Professor of Mathematics at First Nations University of Canada.
Naomi Borwein is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work intersects with English, History, Mathematics and Mathematics Education.
A video preview of ideas in this session is available here
Abstract
This session starts with the question, as proposition and provocation,
- “What is Indigenous mathematics?”
If math is/not math, what is math is (not) math.
- What might it look like for Indigenous people to co-opt math in the reverse?
One way of answering these questions is to explore the lens of Indigenous “ways of knowing” numerical, algebraic, and
geometrical math concepts, and a philosophical inspection of the intersection of culturally-specific ways of knowing among,
for instance, Aboriginal Australians, Maori, or the Anishinaabe, and dominant math culture. We want to investigate the complex
extensions of this series of questions. This includes, but is not limited to, looking at various mathematical principles and
Indigenous ontologies, or metaphysics surrounding the nature of being and inter-relatedness; intersection of regional manifestations
of Indigenous traditions and any ethno-national or/more global math tradition; notions of optimization and space; tactile engagements
and philosophy of math; Mathematical Humanism, agency and Aboriginality; and, the mathematical Commons; Applied Math and Indigenous
mathematics across the Pure/Applied hierarchy or divide; the place of experimental and experiential mathematics in “Indigenization”;
and, the place of experimental mathematics in Indigenous mathematical practice–the flavor of Applied mathematics, for example, in hand, bowl, and dice (chance) games.
- What are other “applied” examples that we can draw insight from?
As part of a critically-aware inspection of Indigenous mathematics in this session, “What does ‘Indigenous Mathematics’ mean to us?