ABSTRACT
The quote by Giovanni introduces this chapter because the world has changed since the fi rst edition of the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education (2002); thus, some of our thinking of research in mathematics education regarding democratic access to powerful mathematical ideas of the world’s students must also change. While we have to be harbingers for the future not dwellers of the recent past, we can utilize knowledge and experiences of the past that are still useful in the future. Vithal (1999) proposed a lens through which mathematics educators and researchers can think about the dual concept theme of democracy and authority in mathematics classrooms. As a researcher in a classroom with her student teacher, she investigated authority and democracy in three domains: whole class, group work, and interactions of teachers and researcher. Recognizing the oppositional and complementary relation of authority and democracy, she states, “Complementarity in this theme is signifi cant for an ‘education after Apartheid’ in which pupils are effectively speaking out against authoritarian and undemocratic practices of the past both in schools and in society” (p. 34). Vithal’s research, where students after Apartheid were able to conceptualize authority both in the classroom and schools, urges the consideration of what research and instruction in mathematics education might accomplish for students who have been victims of similar and different forms of disasters. The question to be pondered is: Can we provide students including those who are direct and indirect victims of disasters with democratic access to mathematics powerful mathematical ideas and concurrently help students understand and critique the worldwide issues confronting them and others? Undergirding this discussion is the need to provide all students democratic access to powerful mathematical ideas for social justice-the theme of my chapter in the fi rst edition of the Handbook.
