Inclusive mathematics education: for an anti-ableist and anti-racist classroom

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses how systems of oppression, especially racism and ableism, operate in an intersectional way in the context of Mathematics Education. It starts from the understanding that school mathematics, often presented as neutral, objective and universal, is also immersed in historical and socio-cultural processes that reproduce exclusions and inequalities. By analyzing how these systems manifest themselves in pedagogical practices, it is argued that the devaluation of non-hegemonic knowledge and the adoption of normative models of performance have a more intense impact on black students and students with disabilities. The theoretical framework of Critical Race and Disability Studies (DisCrit) is used to understand how race and disability are socially constructed and mutually constituted categories. Based on this framework, the assumptions of the concept of DisCrit noticing are discussed, which guides pedagogical practices that are more aware of the intersectional dynamics of oppression. Finally, the need to build a mathematics education that is committed to anti-racist and anti-capacity perspectives, that values the plurality of knowledge, recognizes different ways of learning and contributes to making educational processes more just, equitable and emancipatory.