"Don’t go thinking it’s all right and tight, cause it’s neither right nor tight"

Abstract

Describing women’s work of braiding straw for hat making, in Community of Lapinha in Morro do Pilar (MG-Brazil), this article points out how, in this process, these women carry out mathematical practices – identified as numeracy practices, to highlight its sociocultural nature and its discursive dimension. Having followed and talked with the braiders during the various stages of hat making, we identified numeracy practices in their discursive positions while performing and narrating such stages. Here, we highlight what we observed in the straw braiding stage, reflecting on how these positions confront the logic of hegemonic mathematics taught at school. The study seeks to better understand the braiders and the hat making activity, which resists time and strengthens the community identity. We believe on the contribution of this knowledge to the reflections on mathematics teaching, especially in Rural Education.