Math Education in Intercultural Contexts : a logical-mathematical interpretation for duality Kaingang Kame-Kairu

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the results of research carried out in a Mathematics and Science training program for indigenous teachers of the Kaingang ethnic group by the Unochapecó in the municipality of Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Based on the paradigm of ethno mathematics, one of the objectives of the program is to look for relations between traditional indigenous thinking and classical mathematics. We propose an analogy between logical-mathematical binary calculation systems and the Kaingang thought system expressed in its social organization and supported by two opposite and complementary dual categories: Kamé-Kairu. Our hypothesis postulates a certain similarity between the binary logic used for example, in logical circuits, and the binary system with which the traditional Kaingang culture encodes its social, natural, and even supernatural world. The binary pair Kaingang, Kamé-Kairu serves to codify relations of kinship, exchange, and alliances of the tribe, as well as the natural world that surrounds them. The analogy formulated provides interesting information for mathematical and scientific education in intercultural contexts.