Current concerns and trends of research in Ethnomathematics showed in the electronic mailing list of the International Study Group on Ethnomatematics

Abstract

In 2014 Ethnomathematics celebrates thirty years since the creation of its political space in Mathematics Education: the pronouncement of Ubiratan D'Ambrosio, in 1984, at the 5th International Congress on Mathematical Education, Adelaide, Australia (D' AMBROSIO, 1984). Taking this anniversary into account, this research aimed to investigate current trends and concerns of research in Ethnomathematics after this thirty-year period of maturity. For this, we analyzed the messages exchanged between the 25th of November of 2008 and the 18th of December of 2014 in the electronic discussion list of the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics, understanding it as a locus of virtual meeting among researchers in Ethnomathematics. Methodologically, we assumed a phenomenological approach (BICUDO, 1999, 1999a, MARTINS; BICUDO, 1989), in which we selected Discursive Significant Units through our guideline question "What are the trends and concerns of Ethnomathematics research announced in the electronic mailing list of the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics?", analyzing the possible convergences through phenomenological reductions. Then we articulated four broaden categories, called "List of Divulgation: of events, of articles, of people", "The List as a Political Space", "The List and its Groups of Interest" and "The List and its Moviments of Theorization", that will be presented in this text. Besides that, we discuss their meaning in a broaden scenery of Ethnomathematics.