Asphalt Children and City Streets : A Life, a City, and a Case Study of History, Culture, and Ethnomathematics in São Paulo

THIS WORK EXPLORES THE URBAN EXPERIENCES OF STREET CHILDREN IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL THROUGH THE MATHEMATICAL EPISTEMIC REGIMES AT THE CORE OF THEIR SURVIVAL STRATEGIES. WE ALSO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE SITUATION OF STREET CHILDREN ACROSS TIME, SPACE, CULTURE, AND HISTORY. OUR GOAL IS TO RECOGNIZE, UNDERSTAND, AND VALIDATE FORMS OF MATHEMATICS CONSTRUCTED AND USED OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHED INSTITUTIONS OF MATHEMATICAL PRODUCTION. WE BASE OUR ANALYSIS ON "THE MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION", WHICH DRAWS TOGETHER SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM AND ETHNOMATHEMATICS. THEORETICALLY, WE DRAW HEAVILY ON THE DURKHEIMIAN TRADITION IN SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. WE FOCUS ON A FORM OF PRACTICE THAT LINKS THE FORMAL AND THE INFORMAL IN ORDER TO REALIZE THE FULL POWER OF MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE AS A SOCIAL THING (IN DURKHEIM'S SENSE), A PRODUCT OF THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT EXPRESSES COLLECTIVE REALITIES AND A CATEGORY OF KNOWLEDGE PRESENT IN EVERY CULTURE. THIS IS AS TRUE FOR MATHEMATICS AT THE MARGINS AS IT IS FOR PROFESSIONAL MATHEMATICS. OUR WORK CONTRIBUTES TO AN EMERGING POLITICAL MANIFESTO OF THE MARGINAL THAT DEMONSTRATES THE SOCIAL REALITIES AND SOCIAL POWER OF THEIR MATHEMATICS. THIS BOOK SHOULD BE OF INTEREST TO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, STUDENTS OF MATHEMATICS AND ETHNOMATHEMATICS, AND EVERYONE INTERESTED IN THE SITUATION OF MARGINALIZED CHILDREN. Cover......Page 1 Asphalt Children and City Streets......Page 3 ISBN: 9789460916328 (hardback)......Page 4 DEDICATION......Page 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 9 THE ETHNOGRAPHIC IMAGINATION......Page 12 PART I: INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, METHODS AND CONCEPTS......Page 14 CHAPTER 1: MôNICA’S VOICE: SOME ETHNOGRAPHIC “IMAGES & ACTIONS”......Page 16 DIVING INTO URBAN SPACE: THE URBAN NON-SPACE AND THE INVISIBLE BEINGS......Page 18 WHAT IS MY QUESTION?......Page 19 WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?......Page 22 THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF MY TRACK......Page 24 SCENARIOS AN ETHNOGRAPHIC IMAGINATION......Page 25 NOTES......Page 30 DURKHEIM – A SOCIAL BEING......Page 32 DURKHEIM, ROUSSEAU, AND SOCIAL THINGS......Page 36 DURKHEIM, ROUSSEAU, AND SOCIAL BEING......Page 37 DURKHEIM AND THE SOCIAL SELF......Page 38 DURKHEIM AND THE DIVISION OF LABOUR......Page 39 DURKHEIM AND SOLIDARITY......Page 41 DURKHEIM AND THE SOCIAL FACT......Page 43 DURKHEIM AND SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD......Page 44 DURKHEIM AND LOGIC......Page 45 THE REALITY OF SOCIETY......Page 46 CULTURAL IDENTITY AND SELF-GOVERNING......Page 48 CORPORIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION......Page 52 MULTICULTURAL RACISM......Page 55 Sociology and the Truth of Knowledge......Page 57 NOTES......Page 62 CHAPTER 3: SOME MATHEMATICAL “IMAGES AND ACTIONS”......Page 64 THE SOCIOLOGY OF MATHEMATICS......Page 65 MATHEMATHEMATICS AND SPACE: A CONCEPTION OF MATHEMATICS......Page 69 SPACE IN THE MATERIAL SUBSTRATUM OF THE SOCIETIES......Page 73 LEVELS OF SPACES......Page 74 Ethnomathematics......Page 77 NOTES......Page 80 PART II THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF LEARNING: MULTIPLE, SYSTEMIC, AND COMPLEX INTERDEPENDENCIES......Page 82 CHAPTER 4: SÃO PAULO......Page 84 TERRA DA GAROA......Page 85 SÃO PAULO IN MONI......Page 105 Mônica’s Voice......Page 106 COPAN IN MONI......Page 110 CITY CENTRE IN MONI......Page 113 SAMPA......Page 115 NOTES......Page 120 CHAPTER 5: ASPHALT CHILDREN......Page 122 THE TERM......Page 123 AGES AND GENDERS......Page 125 POLICIES......Page 127 HOW DO THEY LIVE? THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE URBAN STREET......Page 129 HOW DO CHILDREN MANAGE IN THEIR GIVEN SPACE?......Page 130 OUR PROJECT......Page 132 SPACE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, AND THE STREET: HOW DO THE CHILDREN CREATE AND DEFINE THEIR SPACE?......Page 135 THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM IN SURVIVAL......Page 137 THE CARTESIAN COORDINATE SYSTEM IN THE ACTION......Page 141 BEING......Page 142 MAKING BREAD......Page 144 NOTES......Page 145 CHAPTER 6: THE FREEDOM OF KNOWLEDGE......Page 146 ASPHALT ACADEMICS AND ASPHALT CHILDREN1......Page 147 Next Steps: This is Not the End......Page 150 NOTES......Page 153 ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS FOR THE PORTUGUESE REMARKS BY THE ASPHALT CHILDREN QUOTED IN THE TEXT.......Page 154 REFERENCES: SOME BIBLIOGRAPHYCAL “IMAGES & ACTIONS”......Page 160 This work explores the urban experiences of street children in São Paulo, Brazil. Through the mathematical epistemic regimes at the core of their survival strategies. We also draw attention to the situation of street children across time, space, culture and history. Our Goal is to recognize, understand, and validate forms of mathematics constructed and used outside of the established institutions of mathematical production. We base our analysis on “The mathematical imagination”, theoretically, we draw heavily on the Durkheimian tradition in sociology and anthropology. We focus on a form of practice that links the formal and informal and the informal in order to realize the fill power of mathematical knowledge as a social thing (in Durkheim's Sense), a product of the collective consciousness that expresses collective realties and a category of knowledge present in every culture. This is as true for mathematics at the margins as it is for professional mathematics. Our work contributes to an emerging political manifesto of the marginal that demonstrates the social realities and social power of their mathematics. This book should be of interest of Social Scientists, Students of mathematics and ethnomathematics, and everyone interested in the situation of marginalized children.