Ferreira Mariana Kawall Leal. Mapping Time, Space and the Body: Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematical Thinking in Brazil

Sense Publishers, 2014. — 246 p."Mapping Time, Space and the Body: Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematical Thinking in Brazil" brings people, land and numbers together in the fight for justice. On this extraordinary voyage through ancestral territories in central and southern Brazil, the Xavante, Suyá, Kayabi, and other local nations use mapping as a tool to protect their human rights to lands and resources they have traditionally owned and acquired. Mathematics activities inside the classroom and in everyday life help explain how Indigenous Peoples understand the cosmos and protect the living beings that helped create it. The book is a welcome contribution to a growing literature on the mathematical and scientific thinking of Indigenous Peoples around the globe. It makes mathematics alive and culturally relevant for students of all national backgrounds worldwide. “A brilliant marriage of ethnography and mathematics written with deep understanding and obvious affection for the peoples she observed.” — James A. Wiley, Ph.D. Professor, University of California at San Francisco, USA.This original and beautifully illustrated book offers a vivid study of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. The author develops theoretical approaches and research methodologies to understand the way cultural groups deal with their natural and social environments.” — Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.