Scenes of a Mathematics class: territory and gender relations in Youth and Adult Education

Abstract

This article proposes the incorporation of two categories of analysis – gender and territory – to the reflection on mathematical practices carried out by students of the Youth and Adult Education (in Portuguese, Educação de Pessoas Jovens e Adultas, EJA). The theoretical framework establishes a dialogue between the fields of Mathematics Education, Geography and Gender Studies to analyze the empirical material produced through the observation of mathematics classes and interviews with recyclable materials collectors, aged between 18 and 69, who participated in an EJA project in an Association. The text exposes the tensions between the desire for uniformity of the mathematical practices of the school territory and the heterogeneity of these practices in the territories of the house and of the work. The abdication of the understanding of the symbolic, the economic and the political marks of these territories, determines the silencing of other mathematical practices in the school context, increasing the inequality of gender relations.

Keywords
gender; mathematics; youth and adult education; territory