Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- A Study Overview
- Mathematics in Different Cultures
- Mathematics for the Public
- Making a Mathematical Exhibition
- The Role of Mathematical Competitions in the Popularization of Mathematics in Czechoslovakia
- Games and Mathematics
- Mathematics and the Media
- Square One TV: A Venture in the Popularization of Mathematics
- Frogs and Candles - Tales from a Mathematics Workshop
- Mathematics in Prime-Time Television: The Story of Fun and Games
- Cultural Alienation and Mathematics
- Solving the Problem of Popularizing Mathematics Through Problems
- Popularizing Mathematics at the Undergraduate Level
- The Popularization of Mathematics in Hungary
- Sowing Mathematical Seeds in the Local Professional Community
- Mathematical News that's Fit to Print
- Christmas Lectures and Mathematics Masterclasses
- Some Aspects of the Popularization of Mathematics in China
Cultural Alienation and Mathematics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- FOREWORD
- A Study Overview
- Mathematics in Different Cultures
- Mathematics for the Public
- Making a Mathematical Exhibition
- The Role of Mathematical Competitions in the Popularization of Mathematics in Czechoslovakia
- Games and Mathematics
- Mathematics and the Media
- Square One TV: A Venture in the Popularization of Mathematics
- Frogs and Candles - Tales from a Mathematics Workshop
- Mathematics in Prime-Time Television: The Story of Fun and Games
- Cultural Alienation and Mathematics
- Solving the Problem of Popularizing Mathematics Through Problems
- Popularizing Mathematics at the Undergraduate Level
- The Popularization of Mathematics in Hungary
- Sowing Mathematical Seeds in the Local Professional Community
- Mathematical News that's Fit to Print
- Christmas Lectures and Mathematics Masterclasses
- Some Aspects of the Popularization of Mathematics in China
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The aim of the popularisation of mathematics is to influence the perception which people have of the subject. Since this perception differs in different sections of the community, it is firstly important to identify a target audience and then to seek to understand the nature and origins of the views which they have of mathematics. Blanket attempts at popularisation based on the perceptions which mathematicians have of their subject are unlikely to succeed.
In this paper, some factors associated with the popularisation of mathematics among the Maori people, the original inhabitants of New Zealand, are considered. It is likely that similar, but not necessarily the same, factors will pertain to other ethnic minorities with no strong formal mathematical tradition.
It will be argued that the Maori people have been culturally alienated from mathematics and that attempts to overcome this must go beyond the superficial introduction of elements of Maori culture into a traditional presentation of mathematics. Initiatives, by the Maori themselves, firmly based in their own culture have much more potential.
BACKGROUND
The Maori have been in New Zealand for about 1000 years. It is agreed that they derive from those Polynesians who first settled in East Polynesia. About 200 years ago the first European contacts were made, initially through explorers, sealers, whalers and missionaries, and then through systematic settlement from Britain from about 1840. Before this European contact the Maori had a stable and coherent culture and lifestyle.
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- Information
- The Popularization of Mathematics , pp. 136 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990