The Politics of Anti-Racist Mathematics
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The Politics of Anti-Racist Mathematics (1994) is an article by George Gheverghese Joseph.
It is partly a reaction to a speech given in 1987 by Margaret Thatcher, which discussed an alleged conspiracy of "hard left education authorities and extremist teachers" and coined the term "anti-racist mathematics":
- "... and in the inner cities—where youngsters must have a decent education if they are to have a better future—that opportunity is all too often snatched from them by hard left education authorities and extremist teachers. And children who need to be able to count and multiply are learning anti-racist mathematics—whatever that may be."
The article by George Gheverghese Joseph goes through many different assumptions made by teachers of mathematics that can have a negative effect on students of ethnic minorities. An anti-racist approach to mathematics education could include any or all of the following:
- Discussion of the mathematical knowledge of ancient civilizations outside of Europe, and non-European contributions to mathematical knowledge and discovery;
- The avoidance of racial stereotypes or cultural bias in classroom materials, textbooks, coursework topics and examination questions. For example, a wide range of names could be used in word problem questions.
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