The mathematics of settler colonialism: David W. Stinson, Jayasree Subramanian, Cathery Yeh, ‘Strengthening Equity and Social Justice Research in Mathematics Education Through Critical Interrogations of White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism’, in M. A. Clements, B. Kaur, T. Lowrie, V. Mesa, & J. Prytz (eds), Fourth international handbook of mathematics education, Springer, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

The mathematics of settler colonialism: David W. Stinson, Jayasree Subramanian, Cathery Yeh, ‘Strengthening Equity and Social Justice Research in Mathematics Education Through Critical Interrogations of White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism’, in M. A. Clements, B. Kaur, T. Lowrie, V. Mesa, & J. Prytz (eds), Fourth international handbook of mathematics education, Springer, 2024

24Aug24

Abstract: In this chapter, we contextualize a suggested approach of strengthening equity and social justice research in mathematics education by inserting the mathematics education enterprise into two world events of 2020: the global COVID-19 pandemic and the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Our intent in doing so is to underscore how white colonialism is forever present everywhere in structures and institutions around the globe, including those of the mathematics education enterprise. The logics of both white supremacy and settler colonialism are described next and then combined into a compounding scheme of colonizing white supremacist logics. To illustrate that colonizing white supremacist logics are not a manifestation of only the West, a discussion of the conflicts and contradictions of white supremacy and Brahminical supremacy in the mathematics education enterprise of postcolonial India is offered. Brief summaries of the five chapters in the Trends in Equity and Social Justice section of this volume are then provided; we highlight how the chapter authors interrogated colonializing white supremacist logics within their respective chapters and point toward additional opportunities. In concluding the chapter, we feature recent USA-based mathematics education research to illustrate some different possibilities when equity and social justice research is indeed strengthened through critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism.

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