Oct 11
Convocation: Rochelle Gutiérrez
Rochelle Gutiérrez is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interrogates the unearned privilege that mathematics holds in society and the roles that race, class, language, and gender play in teaching and learning mathematics. Mathematics currently serves many roles in society: a gatekeeper, a sign of intelligence, a way to model (and dominate) the planet, among others. But, what might it look like if mathematics were in the service of humans and other living beings? Gutiérrez’s approach suggests we move beyond “equity,” “achievement gap,” and “STEM pipeline” language and reframe the problem as one of needing dignity, respect, interconnections between people, the body, and attention to living practice. Gutiérrez suggests considering the roles of mathematics as they currently operate inside and outside of schools and reimagine a new practice that would support us to thrive and re-attach to each other. The title of her presentation is “Rehumanizing mathematics: We act ourselves into new ways of thinking, not the reverse.”