What can we do against racism in mathematics education research?

Abstract

Recent events in the USA spotlight the racism that has permeated daily life since before the 1600s. In particular, some high-profile incidents of police killing unarmed Black citizens in 2020, the public outcry, and the massive solidarity protests have provoked significant introspection. This spotlight on racism has stretched beyond the borders of the USA. Demonstrations in Australia, Canada, Colombia, England, Europe, and elsewhere are provoking public discussion about ingrained institutional and individual racism, particularly against people of African descent and Indigenous people. Despite this attention, there seems to be little change. We know of multiple incidents of police killing Black and Indigenous people in multiple countries in the month following the catalyst of George Floyd's murder in the USA. And we see new forms of old racism targeted at people of Asian descent (e.g., Das, 2020), blaming them for the COVID-19 pandemic. The expression "Black Lives Matter," which became well-known in 2013 (https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/), has been used as a rallying cry in the recent protests in the USA and beyond. However, we worry that the news cycle is losing its focus on the Black Lives Matter protests and the associated introspection regarding racism. We recognize that many organizations have not lost interest and are taking action to address racism. We too, as editors of Educational Studies in Mathematics (ESM), commit ourselves to keep taking racism seriously. Much of the scholarship in mathematics education regarding racism considers ways in which mathematics education as a white institutional space and mathematics teaching practices

Fighting racism in research

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Much has been written about gender, racial and other inequalities, biases, and discrimination, in research in general, especially in psychological research (Roberts et al, 2020;Dupree and Boykin, 2021;Gruber et al, 2021). Recent events such as the murder of George Floyd in the United States and racism toward people of Asian descent, including blaming them for the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to calls for anti-racist action in the scientific community (Wagner et al, 2020;Galán et al, 2021). Most of these calls for action were related to equal rights and anti-discrimination acts.

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Editorial

“…Complementing this editorial, we have discussed how to support and develop equitable practices in our field, especially in our roles managing peer review. An earlier editorial reflected some of these discussions (Wagner et al, 2020 ). And our Editors-in-Chief participated in a wider dialogue about these questions among journal editors in our field.…”

Health and pathology: a brief history of the biopolitics of US mathematics education

“…Efforts to address racialized educational and health disparities through mathematics instruction vary in their consideration of school mathematics as a promising site for closing various gaps and/or as a source of perpetuating extant inequities. Nonetheless, a shared premise in such research is that mathematics education for marginalized groups should be oriented to their everyday lives to enhance student engagement, make mathematics more meaningful, and cultivate positive social change (Berry, 2021 ; Borba, 2021 ; Engelbrecht et al, 2020 ; Leyva, 2021 ; NCTM & NCSM, 2020 ; Santana et al, 2021 ; TODOS, 2020 ; Wagner et al, 2020 ).…”