Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The knowledge and experiences of Africans living in diaspora are usually absorbed into the categories of other minority groups and people of colour in general (Tillman, 2002). Some scholars have expressed concern that mainstream education has almost always framed communities of colour as “deficient” (Anderson, Anderson, Friedrich, & Kim, 2010). This “deficit” notion about students of colour contrasts efforts of ensuring culturally responsive education and research that acknowledge diverse cultural views and strategies as useful resources in meaning making and research inquiry. In this study, I draw on Asante’s (1991) notion of “Afrocentricity” engage audience on the intercept of mathematics, culture, and sustainability. Specifically, I will draw on qualitative data from two separate research studies with African immigrants in Vancouver and families in rural communities in West Africa to elucidate the relevance of socio-cultural elements, resources, contexts of marginalised families and communities, and how these could be drawn upon in ensuring “meaningful” mathematics teaching and learning that speak to the real-life experiences of people of colour. Afrocentricity is a “frame of reference wherein phenomena are viewed from an African worldview (Asante, 1991). Afrocentric worldview assumes that people of African descent and other marginalised groups indeed possess cultural experiences worthy of intellectual pursuit and their experiences are unique and can prove instructive about human interactions and learning. Thus, the thesis of this research is that “meaningful” mathematics teaching cannot be devoid of people’s cultural, historical, political, and economic backgrounds, especially people of African descent and other marginalised cultural groups.