ABSTRACT
Answering the chapter’s first question starts by considering what many typically think mathematics to be, a neutral subject area that is objective and value-free. Next, we trouble these notions by acknowledging the diversity of behaviors that count as mathematical, the tensions in varying philosophies of mathematics, and the histories, philosophies, and anthropologies of mathematics that reveal it to be a human-centered discipline reflective of the world’s peoples in all their divergent identities. Because the answers to the first question push us to think of mathematics less as a static world of academic (mostly white, male, and Euro-centric) development, we realize that the reasons we teach it are multifaceted as well. We teach mathematics as a multicultural and social activity, replete with personal and collective joy through play and investigation, as activity embedded with other activities, and in application to solving significant social and environmental problems of the day.
