Intellectual Property in Ethnomathematics

Beginning from the reflections about a methodology used in a research project with an indigenous Colombian community, this paper outlines some possibilities for ethnomathematical research. Issues like intellectual property and social relevance are discussed in order to propose a broader concept of “academic instance”, trough the acknowledgement and legitimation of alternative scenarios of generation, transmission and transformation for mathematical knowledge. This paper has five sections: a) preliminaries about the indigenous community, b) description of the research process and its products (for their very nature, it will be written in a first-person plural voice), c) individual thoughts, treating the harmony between the ethnomathematical methodology and its theoretical, humanistic and political foundations, d) final remarks, sharing insights for further development, e)an epilogue or a review about the experience, to discuss the spirit which aims the analysis made.