These abominable and wonderful math teachers

Abstract

This paper is aimed at relating mathematical representations which
emerge from some young interviewees’ speeches, to their subject constitution, in
order to reflect on the interference of these representations in their subjectivity
and in their way of conceiving mathematics. Based on a discourse perspective,
related to some Foucaultian language studies and psychoanalytic concepts, we
search for the articulation among those representations, practices and the
subjectivity. Analyzing the interviewees’ utterances, we can notice that
mathematics is generally conceived as an academic subject, associated with its
teaching and learning process at school and also with the teachers that are responsible for this subject in regular education. Mathematics representations
can be related to a utilitarian conception of learning and to a subject’s desire for
knowledge as well.