ERIC Number: EJ790805
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-May
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Mathematics and Its Other: (Dis)locating the Feminine
de Freitas, Elizabeth
Gender and Education, v20 n3 p281-290 May 2008
In this article, the author examines how school mathematics maps itself onto the body, delineating the contours of a gendered learner. The author draws on Judith Butler to discuss the process by which school mathematics contributes to the stabilising/legitimating of a cultural arbitrary like gender, and how mathematics inscribes otherness onto the feminine. A student narrative entitled "Im/perfect Other" is offered as a form of disruptive writing that might provisionally trouble or unfix the binary between the feminine and mathematics. The focus of the narrative is on the passionate attachment to mastery and submission in/through school mathematics, and the possibility of an emergent autonomy erupting through and against the process of subjectification. (Contains 2 notes.)
Descriptors: Mathematics Education, Mathematics Instruction, Gender Issues, Cultural Influences, Social Influences, Sexual Identity, Social Attitudes, Personal Narratives
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A