Streetball As A Context for

Mathematics Learning Among

African American Males
Evan Taylor

The Master Narrative

Teachers of African American students often teach through what has been called the pedagogy
of poverty (Haberman, 1991; Stinson, 2006) which cripples African American males into
believing that they are academically deficient (Stinson, 2006). This pedagogy of poverty, as
described by Haberman (1991), is an impoverished approach to teaching urban students and is
exemplified by an emphasis on giving information, asking questions, giving directions, making
assignments, monitoring seatwork, reviewing tests, assigning homework, reviewing homework,
settling disputes, punishing noncompliance, marking papers and giving grades (p.291).

Four Aspects of the Pedagogy of Poverty

Haberman (1991) identified four aspects of the pedagogy of poverty:
1.

Teaching is what teachers do. Learning is what students do. Therefore, students and teachers are engaged in different
activities.

2.

Teachers are in charge and responsible. Students still need to develop appropriate behavior. Therefore, when students
follow teachers directions, appropriate behavior is being taught and learned.

3.

Students represent a range of individual differences. Many students have handicapping conditions and lead to
debilitating home lives. Therefore, ranking of some sort is inevitable: some students will end up at the bottom of the
class, whereas others will finish at the top.

4.

Basic skills are the prerequisite for learning and living. Students are not necessarily interested in basic skill. Therefore,
directive pedagogy must be used to ensure that youngsters are compelled to learn their basic skills. (p.291)

Counter Narrative

The term agency was defined by Stinson (2010) as the participants ability to negotiatethat is to
accommodate, reconfigure, or resistthe available sociocultural discourses that surround male African
American in their pursuits of success (p.45).

Stinson (2009) noted that mathematics success in some African American communities is seen as acting White
and pointed out that this discourse is problematic because it associates being Black with being unsuccessful.
This discourse is magnified when it comes to mathematics.

This discourse of Whiteness being synonymous with success, can lead some African American males to over
exert and prove their Blackness through what Majors and Bilson (1993) call cool pose theory, this theory
suggests that some Black males develop ritualized forms of masculinity that allow them to cope and survive in
an environment of oppression and racism (Stinson, 2009).

Ethnomathematics
There is a widespread belief, particularly in Western societies, that mathematics
occurs outside of and is unaffected by culture (Powell & Frankenstein, 1997, p.2).
However, those who study ethnomathematics believe the opposite, which is that
mathematics is constantly occurring and is constantly shaped, and being shaped, by
ones culture and beliefs. There are various forms of mathematics that grow
associated with various cultural activities and practices and that Western
mathematics and mathematical practices are just a small set of these.

Ethnomathematics
DAmbrioso (1985) defined ethnomathematics as:
The mathematics which is practiced among identifiable cultural groups, such as
national-tribal societies, labor groups, children of a certain age bracket, professional
classes, and so on. Its identity depends largely on focuses of interest, on motivation,
and on certain codes and jargons which do not belong to the realm of academic
mathematics (p.45).

Streetball as a Form of
Ethnomathematics
Research has shown that African American males can learn mathematics and other subjects through cultural
games (Nasir, 2000; Nasir, 2002; Schademan, 2010). Developing curriculum rooted in a familiar cultural
practice can legitimate their out-of-school knowledge and connect it to school mathematics by showing them
the mathematics behind their thinking and playing.

Where do we go from here?

The streetball mathematics curricular approach has potential to allow for such learning, because currently when
African American males enter into a classroom they are often treated as if all of their knowledge that they have
developed outside of the classroom is not important. It trains African American males to think that their culture is not
an academic culture filled with innovative thinking; it teaches them that failure is a part of their culture. Traditional
teaching approaches often unfold as if failure should be expected, that success for the African American male is
rare, and those who do achieve it must put their Blackness aside. The streetball mathematics curriculum approach
allows African American males to see themselves, their culture and their everyday practices as having intellectual
value. The streetball mathematics curriculum can show African American males that mathematics is embedded into
their culture and in their everyday lives.

Questions?
Comments?

Evan Taylor
culturalmath@gmail.com