“It Is Like a Feeling”: Theorizing Emotion in Mathematics through Complex Embodiment

Rachel Lambert, David Hernández-Saca, Rebeca Mireles-Rios and Marilyn Monroy Castro
Additional contact information
Rachel Lambert: Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
David Hernández-Saca: Department of Special Education, University of Northern Ohio, Lima, OH 45810, USA
Rebeca Mireles-Rios: Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Marilyn Monroy Castro: Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Conversations of educational equity in mathematics necessitate a more deliberate, nuanced look at the mathematical processes of learning for students of color from historically marginalized communities. This paper describes the theoretical work of a research collaborative that seeks to develop understanding of the experiences around mathematical identity of Latinas labeled with Learning Disabilities in mathematics classrooms. Expanding the theory of Complex Embodiment from Disability Studies, we explore new interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological tools to analyze the emotional, embodied experience of learning mathematics in the social worlds of mathematics classrooms, using emotional discourse. We take up theoretical and methodological practices around intersectionality through analysis of how power and positioning operate in mathematics identity development. We find that the young woman whose narratives we explore in this paper is positioned through deficit discourses around disability and multilingual learners, yet she understands herself through a positive mathematical affinity she shares with her mother. Over time, we see her narratives shift emotionally away from mathematics, as well as away from this connection with her mother. Her narratives help us develop a theoretical perspective that understands emotion in mathematics learning as both embodied and socially constructed.

Keywords: embodiment; mathematics education; disability studies; emotion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/6/937/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/6/937/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:10:y:2022:i:6:p:937-:d:771411

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().