A Theoretical Framework for Considering Materiality in an Analysis of Ethnographic Data on the Playing of Uril: Techniques of the Body
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1981-1322.2024.e97312Keywords:
Techniques Of The Body, Ontological Turn, MancalaAbstract
How can mathematics education establish a dialogue with anthropology and in particular with the ontological turn? Our contribution to answering this question will be through a discussion of concepts of materiality and the anthropology of things, against the backdrop of our consideration of their applicability to our research in particular. Without conducting the analysis of our data itself, we will focus on if and how the different perspectives reviewed could be a good fit for our analysis. We start with a cautionary tale to remind us of precautions that we need to take, namely avoiding borrowing theories from other areas without establishing dialogues with experienced researchers in those areas. We make a brief introduction to our research work, which is an ethnography about the uril game played on São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. We present a review of the literature on the so-called ontological turn, with special attention to the concepts of materiality and agency. We conclude that Mauss's notion of Techniques of the Body will be a suitable anthropological framework for a subsequent analysis of our data, and consider it will represent move away from some basic assumptions in mathematics education.
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