Mathematics, the Inuit, and Colonialism

Leroy Little Bear states in his article that colonialism ‘tries to maintain a single social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews’. This statement is true and has been proven in a historical sense. What many do not realize is how deep the effects of colonialism are, and just how deep it penetrates our institutions, lifestyles, and culture. One way that this is present is through mathematics education. For my time in grade school, I never excelled at math. I did well enough, but it was a continual struggle for me. Math is called a ‘universal language’ with one way to get proper answers, but in my experience, I could never find a way to fully understand and interpret this language.

I realized math was not my strong suit early on. I struggled through assignments and usually handed them in last or late, I lagged in lessons, constantly had to take work home, and I dreaded answering questions on the board. I remember one Grade 3 class where I broke down crying at my desk after redoing a question on the board three times and still not getting the proper answer. I hadn’t reached that question in the handout, but my teacher insisted I do it on the board. Instead of assistance after this breakdown, I was told to do it at home. How does this help? Struggling through an assignment is one thing, but when a student cannot grasp core concepts and is always behind, how does making them do it at home help when the ways and methods my parents learned was phased out? All it did was make me feel as though I was dumb and make my peers mock me. There was no real attempt to help me or others who struggled with the content, as we were just supposed to ‘understand the content based off of how it is explained because there is only one right way’. In actuality, there are multiple ways to explain a question in mathematics with different approaches to achieve an answer, but by doing this there would be an upset in the classroom, as other practices of mathematics were deemed outdated and retired, so taking home an assignment could actually be more harmful to a student’s grades than by getting help by the teacher at school.

Shifting focus to a group that has challenged the colonial narrative in education, the Inuit people have challenged the ideas of mathematics being universal. There are some cultures and peoples, such as their own, that have different numeration systems that are not universal as well as worldviews and understandings that challenge the norm. Students are faced with two different numeration systems, a transition in language after a period of time, and cultural differences. The difference in culture is the largest and most prominent example in how the Inuit learn and understand mathematics, as culture dictates how one views the world, interacts with the world/others, and how they learn. With two clashing cultures, students are caught between two understandings and penalized for it. By allowing students to continue learning in their own language with their own cultural knowledge and systems prevents the significant culture clashes that take place and provides a more relevant and contextually accurate education for the students. Practices like this that challenge colonial thinking are increasingly important, as the colonial approach does not work for many, especially those who were victimized by it in the past.

The reach of colonialism is ever present and far reaching. As future educators, it is our job to challenge these approaches and find a way to teach that allows a multitude of understandings, beliefs, and cultural backgrounds to find relevance in education.