‘It should be noted that by removing words, concepts, and structures from their Aboriginal context and putting them into a European box called ‘mathematics’, I have inevitably lost much of the full significance of their meaning and have certainly not done justice to the intricacy and complexity of the Yolngu world.’
Michael Cooke, ‘Seeing Yolgnu, Seeing Mathematics’, Batchelor, N.T. 1990.
http://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/collections-online/digitised-collections/ethnomathematics-australia
Beth Graham, 1984
Not Australian – but not dissimilar views:
Pais, 2011
All three of the above posts represent the understanding I have taken from the majority of the readings I have done so far. I have already posted elsewhere about this, so I’m hoping to read the remainder of the Graham text to learn HOW to produce culturally appropriate pedagogy and content.
REFERENCE
Graham, B. (1984). Finding meaning in maths : an introductory program for Aboriginal children. AIATSIS Library, S 37/4, 24-38.
Pais, A. (2011). Criticisms and contradictions of ethnomathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 76(2), 209-230. doi: 10.1007/s10649-010-9289-7
Ethnomathematics 
Hi Lushyalice.
Thanks for your blog. I took note of the 2 references, especially the 2011 one.
Thank you.
When you write:
All three of the above posts represent the understanding I have taken from the majority of the readings I have done so far.
It would be useful for me to take me by the hand to explain what the big points are that you have learned so far. Just a thought.
Joel
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Hi Lushyalice,
Your quote from Beth Graham (1984) really makes a good point. If teachers are misunderstanding where students are struggling and why, how can they help them forward? Creating cultural context which relates to what the students are learning back to their own cultural knowledge, is an excellent way to include students not only from Indigenous cultures, but cultures all over the world. Take for example, the work of the YuMi Deadly Centre, and their mathematics program: “The philosophy of YuMi Deadly Maths is based on a realisation in which mathematics is an abstraction of everyday life that empowers people to solve their problems, and in which this abstraction has to take account of local culture and context.” (Sarra, Matthews, Ewing & Cooper, Indigenous mathematics: Creating an equitable learning environment, 2014 pp174).
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