Ethnomathematics as a Theoretical and Methodological Perspective in the Initial Training of Mathematics Teachers

Mathematics, as taught in schools, has historically been presented as a universal, neutral, and decontextualized body of knowledge, contributing to the maintenance of exclusionary and Eurocentric curricular practices. This conception ignores the plurality of ways of producing, organizing, and using mathematical knowledge in different cultural groups, generating processes of alienation and school failure, especially among students whose experiences do not align with the hegemonic mathematical culture. This article discusses Ethnomathematics as a theoretical-methodological perspective and research program, an indispensable epistemological and formative field in the initial training of mathematics teachers. The objective is to analyze how Ethnomathematics can be integrated into the undergraduate mathematics curriculum, to enable future teachers to recognize, value, and articulate mathematical knowledge from different cultural groups with academic mathematics, promoting an inclusive, critical, and socially committed education. To this end, it is based on several theoretical frameworks that encompass Ethnomathematics, teacher training, and critical pedagogical approaches, such as those of Freire and Skovsmose. After investigations, readings, and rereading, it is concluded that the systematic integration of Ethnomathematics into initial teacher training contributes to the decolonization of the curriculum, the humanization of mathematics teaching, and the training of reflective teachers committed to social justice.