Between baskets and blackboards: The art of mathematics in Northwest Amazonia

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This research investigates the interaction between writing and basket weaving in the teaching of mathematics in Northwest Amazonia. By undertaking fieldwork in the indigenous school of the Tuyuka people, close to the border between Brazil and Colombia, I propose to analyse how Western mathematical ideas are explored by reference to the shapes, designs and techniques of basketry, and whether, in turn, the Amazonian mathematical ideas embedded in this artform find their way onto notebooks and blackboards. This provides an opportunity to explore in detail how schooling and literacy relate to traditional material culture and indigenous mathematical knowledge.