RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
“I Only Have One Black student… With a sample size of one, it’s hard to say”: A Critical Analysis of Epistemology in Mathematicians’ Racial Sensemaking
Page: 181
Mathematics departments nationwide are tasked with addressing racial inequities, including students’ racialized experiences in calculus courses. Faculty must interpret racial information critically to advance equity through change initiatives. However, mathematicians often hold colorblind views of instruction that are reinforced by mathematics epistemological values, such as neutrality and objectivity. It is, thus, unclear whether mathematics epistemology inhibits the advancement of racial equity within mathematics departments. This analysis reports on racial sensemaking among 22 mathematicians at a research-intensive university amidst a reform effort to improve Black and Latin* students’ calculus experiences. Guided by theories of epistemic culture, I compare mathematicians’ mathematical interpretations of racial phenomena with those proposed by critical race theory. Findings exhibit how mathematicians conflated contextualizing racial information with stereotyping, and focused on quantities without recognition of students’ lived experiences or the social justice implications of their arguments. Implications are provided for using epistemology as a lever for change.