Abstract
What do ethical relations look like in the context of the many injustices that pervade mathematics education? In this paper, I argue, first, that violence is the relation that characterizes much of contemporary mathematics education and, second, that understanding ethical relations requires considering mathematics as an equal actor in creating possible relations rather than simply treating it as a context for human relations. I examine how literature in care theory, emancipatory pedagogies, and mathematics education have framed ethical relationality and suggest that the feminist new materialist conceptualization of response-ability offers several contributions for rethinking agency, justice, and praxis for mathematics teachers concerned with addressing mathematical violence.
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I thank Ilana Horn, Thomas Philip, Tesha Sengupta-Irving, and Barbara Stengel for their guidance in advising the dissertation from which this manuscript has been drawn, and the editor and anonymous reviewers for extensive feedback that substantially improved the manuscript.
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Chen, G.A. Teacherly response-ability: ethical relationality as protest against mathematical violence. Educ Stud Math 114, 277–296 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-023-10230-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-023-10230-3