An Illinois professor who focuses on “equity” in mathematics will present her plan to redefine the field of study to oppose “objects, truths, and knowledge” at a 2019 conference.

University of Illinois education professor Rochelle Gutierrez will give her talk, titled “Mathematx: Towards a Way of Being,” at the Mathematics Education and Society 10th International Conference in India in January and February 2019.

“The relationship between humans, mathematics, and the planet has been one steeped too long in domination and destruction,” Gutierrez says in her presentation’s description. “I argue for a movement against objects, truths, and knowledge towards a way of being in the world that is guided by first principles — mathematx.”

“This shift from thinking of mathematics as a noun to mathematx as a verb holds potential for honouring our connections with each other as human and other-than-human persons, for balancing problem solving with joy, and for maintaining critical bifocality at the local and global level.”

Gutierrez focuses on the effects that class, race and language have on learning. Her University of Illinois faculty profile claims that teachers must possess not only “content knowledge,” but also “political knowledge,” according to her research. (Read more from “Professor: Let’s Change Math Classes so They Honor ‘Other-Than-Human Persons’” HERE)

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