A cerâmica utilitária do povoado histórico Muquém: a etnomatemática dos remanescentes do Quilombo dos Palmares

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to use the Ethnomathematics Program to develop a study and analysis of the work of a Brazilian crafstsperson. I intend to use the program in order to understand the mathematical skills involved in her works, as well as the way such skills were transmitted.

Mrs. Marinalva Bezerra da Silva, an inhabitant of the Muquém community, a remnant of the Quilombo of Palmares (hiding place for runaway slaves) in Alagoas/Brazil and birthplace of Zumbi, produces ceramic kitchenware using her hands in a continuous movement, without a spinning wheel. For 50 years she has worked and shaped the clay from the Mundaú river, near her backyard, in order to provide for her family.

The present paper started as follows: (i) my contact with African art through the article by Donald W. Crowe The Geometry of African Art II: A catalog of Benin Patterns in the História Matemática 2 magazine, 1975; (ii) the lack of information in master degree research on Mathematical Education about the culture and mathematical concepts of the remnants of the Quilombos in Brazil; (iii) and, finally, my own interest in Ethnomathematics.

The research consists of two different parts. The first one is that of field research involving talks with Mrs. Marinalva. The second one comprises a systematic research in the areas of History, History of Mathematics, Anthropology of Quilombo of Palmares and Etnomathematics. My intention is to record and praise the know-how of a local culture