Mathematics Learning and Participation as Racialized Forms of Experience: African American Parents Speak on the Struggle for Mathematics Literacy

By D. Martin. Urban Parents' Perspectives on Children's Mathematics Learning and Issues of Equity in Mathematics Education, 2006

149 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article draws on 3 ethnographic and participant observation studies of African American parents and adults from 3 northern California communities. Although studies have shown that African American parents hold the same folk theories about mathematics as other parents, stressing it as an important school subject, few studies have sought to directly examine their beliefs about constraints and opportunities associated with mathematics learning for both themselves and their children. I argue that, as they situate the struggle for mathematical literacy within the larger contexts of African American, political, socioeconomic, and educational struggle, these parents help reveal that mathematics learning and participation can be conceptualized as racialized forms of experience. As they attempt to become doers of mathematics and advocates for their children's mathematics learning, discriminatory experiences have continued to subjugate some of these parents, whereas others—as demonstrated in their oppositional voices and behaviors—resisted their continued subjugation based on a belief that mathematics knowledge, beyond its role in schools, can be used to change the conditions of their lives. The characterization of mathematics learning as racialized experience put forth in this article contrasts with culture-free and situated perspectives of mathematics learning often found in the literature. As a result of their experiences with oppression in this society, the concept of race has historically played a major role in the lives of African Americans. Although race has dubious value as a scientific classification system, it has had real consequences for the life experiences and life opportunities of African Americans in the United States. Race is a socially constructed concept which is [a] defining characteristic for African American group membership. (Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998, p. 18)

Subfields: Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9ce754f63e0745e917827ea4a9a842e250eadbf4

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Citations in the corpus

An Intersectional Analysis of Latin@ College Women's Counter-stories in Mathematics (2016, background): “…to notions of Black masculinity captures the need for not only more intersectional understandings of mathematics as “racialized forms of experience” (Martin, 2006, p. 198), but also theorizations of gender as a non-binary 4 Here, I use the term Black rather than African American to be consistent…”
Equity Within Mathematics Education Research as a Political Act: Moving From Choice to Intentional Collective Professional Responsibility (2017, background): “Just as mathematics education is racialized and gendered, so is mathematics education research (Martin, 2006).”
#BlackGirlMagic: The identity conceptualization of Black women in undergraduate STEM education (2018, background): “A STEM identity is contingent upon the recognition of self as being a competent participant in STEM but also the recognition by others as such (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Martin, 2006).”
When Am I Ever Going to Use This in the Real World? Cognitive Flexibility and Urban Adolescents’ Negotiation of the Value of Mathematics (2017, background): “…Black child’s strug- gle for developing mathematical literacy represents more than just the academic or social interests of the child; rather, it exemplifies a greater collective struggle against racial subjugation and discrimination (Leonard, Brooks, Barnes-Johnson, & Berry, 2010; Martin, 2006).”
Race, Ideology, and Academic Ability: A Relational Analysis of Racial Narratives in Mathematics (2017, background): “Research on race in mathematics education has increasingly focused on students’ racialized experiences as mathematics learners (Berry, 2008; Martin, 2006, 2009; Stinson, 2008).”