Students’ Foregrounds and Politics of Meaning in Mathematics Education

Beginning with the presentation of two fictitious South African children,
Nthabiseng and Pieter, I outline the idea of a politics of meaning in mathematics
education. Such a politics refers to the social, economic, cultural and religious
conditions for experiencing meaning. It refers as well to the layers of visions,
assumptions and preconceptions that might construct something as being meaningful. In order to articulate the socio-political formation of meaning, I present a foreground-interpretation of meaning. The basic idea is to relate meanings and foregrounds, acknowledging that foregrounds are formed by a range of factors, as well as by the person’s experiences of such factors. Politics of meaning becomes analysed further with reference to foregrounds being polarised, destroyed, pointed and multiplied.