RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Experiencing Tensions of Nepantla While Working Toward Critical Transformations From Within
Page: 528
The ACT UP Math project is studying the role and impact of research-practice partnerships between mathematics education experts and mathematics department faculty to critically and systematically initiate transformative efforts to improve the experiences of students with marginalized identities in introductory mathematics programs. This paper explores the shared experiences we encountered while working toward critical transformations of three departments from within those departments, focusing on three tensions that surfaced and framing these tensions as expected and necessary components of the process of critical change. These three tensions explore the role of identity as neutral or central, the enactment of power as power over or power with, and the role of students as experts or novices. These expected and necessary tensions are evidence of the transformations from dominance toward criticality happening within the departments.