Ethnomathematics from a Political Perspective

In this chapter, my objective is to discuss the field of ethnomathematics from a political perspective. This perspective is seen through the lens of current neoliberal globalization and also within the specificity of the politics of knowledge and its corresponding politics of identity. I highlight how, in more recent times, mathematics education has become attentive to mathematical practices different from those practiced in school mathematics. In particular, I show how ethnomathematics, in the present time, by studying the practices of different cultural groups within their contexts, holds a prominent place in the mathematics education studies. In order to shed light on my arguments, I present two different types of vignettes with the purpose of providing a panoramic view of the ideas I have developed throughout my journey as a researcher in the field of ethnomathematics. In the final section of the chapter, I focus more explicitly on the arguments developed earlier in the text, aiming to summarize and expand the discussion proposed as being central objective.