Already successful: enacting a rasquache mathematics pedagogy

Abstract

In this article, we braid together conversations from a multilingual third-grade mathematics classroom in the U.S. with a Chicanx art exhibit to illustrate the generative power of a rasquache mathematics pedagogy—one that centers people, place, and possibility. This pedagogy takes shape through practices grounded in making do with what is at hand, maintaining a lens of abundance rather than deficiency. Through an analysis of a single day’s Number Talk (Parrish, 2011), we explore the mathematics classroom as a space of creative, relational, and political possibility. We use Chicanx art to reframe classroom mathematics as already sufficient—as more than enough. Our analysis resists the impulse to use mathematics education as a means of seeking access to existing systems, hoping for equity through assimilation. Instead, we ask what becomes possible when we recognize that we are already whole, already brilliant, and that, collectively, we hold the power to generate the educational futures we need.