Mathematizing the World in the Materiality of Heritage: The Casa Borges Museum from the Perspective of Ethnomathematics

Abstract

This article emerges from discussions held at the National Meeting of Mathematics Education (ENEM 2025) and analyzes the Casa Borges Museum, in Barra do Bugres, Mato Grosso, from an Ethnomathematics perspective. It is grounded in the understanding that learning gains vitality when connected to students’ cultural experiences that extend beyond the formal school curriculum. Inspired by Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, the study conceives mathematics as a cultural production embedded in social practices and historically constructed rationalities. The qualitative research, developed through an interpretative approach, focused on the materiality of the museum space. The adobe architecture, spatial organization, basketry, and Indigenous graphic patterns reveal distinctive ways of mathematizing rooted in local practices. The museum thus emerges as an educational space that broadens the scope of Mathematics Education by recognizing learning as situated in culture, memory, and the concrete experiences of subjects.