https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4785-9408
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Abstract
Galvanized by organized communities, movements against mass incarceration have steadily coalesced and crept into schools over the last decade and a half. This political moment creates new opportunities for those working for justice in communities and in schools, and demands that subject-matter educators engage in this work. While there is a robust “reform” discourse within mathematics education, the field has been constructed as neatly outside the carceral sphere and remains relatively isolated from this burgeoning movement. This article draws on the authors’ practices and bodies of research to explore mathematics as an agent of the carceral state and to imagine mathematics education practices may stop the state from harming—including killing—Black, Brown, queer, migrant, poor, and other marginalized people. The authors also consider how mathematics could be a core tool for an abolitionist movement.
Additional Resources
1. Morris, M. (2016). Pushout: The criminalization of Black girls in schools. New York, NY: New Press.
Morris explores the criminalization of students of color in US classrooms, documenting how school disciplinary policies target Black girls. Centering the resilience and resistance of Black girls, Morris pinpoints policies, informal practices, and curricular frameworks that lead teachers, schools, and administrators to punish Black girls.
2. The editors of Rethinking Schools. (2011/2012). Stop the school-to-prison pipeline. Retrieved from https://rethinkingschools.org/issues/volume-26-no-2-winter-2011-2012
This special issue features a wide range of relevant articles, many authored by teachers and other school professionals, that explore the many layers of the school-prison nexus and offer a range of potential solutions.
3. Gutstein, E. (2006). Reading and writing the world with mathematics: Toward a pedagogy for social justice. New York, NY: Routledge.
Gutstein argues that mathematics is a tool that can be used to critique systems of oppression, investigate injustice, and confront these systems. Classroom research and practical examples highlight strategies to help teachers connect their work to broader sociopolitical contexts.