Power and Poverty – Whose, Where, and Why?: School mathematics, context and the social construction of "disadvantage"

Citation

Swanson DM (2006) Power and Poverty – Whose, Where, and Why?: School mathematics, context and the social construction of "disadvantage". In: Novotná J, Moraová H, Krátká M & Stehlíková N (eds.) Proceedings 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Volume 5. 30th Annual Meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Prague, Czech Republic, 16.07.2014-21.07.2006. Prague, Czech Republic: Charles University, pp. (5-217)-(5-224).

Abstract
This paper compares the discourse and practice of school mathematics in two socio-economically different school contexts in post-apartheid South Africa. It addressesthe relationship between constructed "difference" and "pedagogized disadvantage."In other terms, it looks at the way in which certain students, spoken-of in terms of "deficit" and "disadvantage", are afforded differentiated school mathematicsdiscourse that situates them in terms of "failure". Consequently, these sociallyconstructed students are not provided with access to pedagogic or socio-economicempowerment. The paper examines the role of social context in the elaboration of social difference discourses and their recontextualization into mathematics in waysthat recruit psychologizing positions, thus pathologizing students and producingdisabling pedagogies.