Thinking back on my mathematics schooling experiences I personally never felt that the subject was oppressive and/or discriminatory because if I needed help my older sister was there to help as we have the same eurocentric commonsense understanding, teaching and learning of the subject. Despite this, math as a subject for me always seemed very static in my schooling as my sister who is 6 years older than myself could still identify and help me with my math homework. Math being static in itself makes it discriminatory and oppressive towards students, because different ways of knowing were not introduced or invited into the subject. This is extremely difficult for students who do not have family that hold the understanding of western culture numeracy and mathematics because they have less support due to a discriminatory method. Leroy Little Bear’s article also discussed how normalizing diversity minimizes deviation (2000). This something to consider always, but can be connected to how mathematics is approached and taught to transform math into a more inclusive and diverse subject. 

Poirier’s article challenges Eurocentric ideas on the teaching and learning of mathematics in many ways. One example is how they highlight the idea math is a universal language (Poirier 2007), when really it’s not because number systems vary more than just a simple translation but they vary in base systems and other forms. Another example is how Poirier (2007) describes Inuit students are very geometric and spatially aware which is easily translated into math, but the western teaching methods of math do not take advantage of that knowledge/skill so students are not succeeding and thriving in the current system. In general, observing and breaking down how different cultures concluded their numeracy system gains a wider view and a greater sense of appreciation for mathematics across the board. My last example of challenging Eurocentric ideas is when Poirier (2007) introduced the six domains of “counting, localization, measuring, design, games and explanation”.  Poirier was able to challenge the Eurocentric idea by, one, not ranking these designations to promote counting over design. However, current western culture does seem to rank or recognize these domains differently as shown in Eddie Woo’s TED talk (2018). And two, collectively grouping these domains allows the article to introduce Inuit systems of mathematics without any eurocentric bounds or counterarguments. 

Bear, L. L. (2000). Jagged worldviews colliding. In M. Batiste (Ed.), Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision (pp. 77-85). UBC Press.

Poirier, L. (2007). Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 7(1), p. 53-67.

Woo, Eddie. (2018). Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had. TEDxSydney.