Sciences, Philosophie, Histoire – UMR 7219, laboratoire SPHERE

There are many activities of an "arithmetic", "geometric" or even "algorithmic" nature (weaving, divination, navigation, games, music, etc.), practiced in the past or today in various societies, for which one wonders if they are mathematics.

Facing, or alongside, mathematics represented as a system of academic knowledge, we have been trying for a few decades to broaden their definition - in the field of ethnomathematics in particular - to integrate practices developed in diversified contexts. The starting points are then "mathematical artefacts" (clay tablets, handwritten or printed books, tables, mathematical instruments) or traces of activities belonging to other "arts of thinking" mathematics.

This seminar is organised in partnership EHESS / SPHERE.

SCHEDULE 2019-2020
Sessions at EHESS, (105 bd Raspail, 75006 Paris) on Wednesdays, 3 to 5 p.m, Room 9

January 8 !! postponed !!

January 22 !!

February 26 !!

March 11 !!

March 25

April 20 ! Monday !

May 13

May 27

June 10

All sessions of SPHERE seminars are suspended from March 15 due to covid-19. We hope to be able to provide further updates and to see you soon.

January 8 2020 !! postponed to March 25 !!

• Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS), Marc Chemillier (EHESS) & Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE)
  Introduction to the seminar

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January 22 !! cancelled !!

• Maria Cecilia Fantinato (Federal University of Fluminese, Brazil)
  Mouvements de l´éthnomathématique au Brésil
  Cette présentation vise à aborder les principales tendances de l’ethnomathématique - domaine de recherche qui étudie les connaissances mathématiques impliquées dans les pratiques socioculturelles - au Brésil, ainsi que les implications de ce champ disciplinaire dans le domaine de l’éducation, et la formation des enseignants notamment. Nous présenterons un bref historique des mouvements de consolidation de ce domaine, en soulignant le rôle joué par le professeur brésilien Ubiratan D’Ambrosio dans ce processus. Nous présenterons également des exemples de recherches menées dans différents contextes socioculturels, tels que des groupes d’adultes peu scolarisés de la ville de Rio de Janeiro, et d’artisanes riveraines de l’Amazone, ou encore d’enseignants autochtones de l’État de Rondônia. Ces exemples donneront un aperçu de la complexité des processus d’apprentissage et des savoirs (mathématiques ou non) de groupes historiquement rendus invisibles, et des propositions pédagogiques qui leur sont destinées.

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February 26 !! cancelled !!

• Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE), Flavia Carraro (Dr in anthropology (LAS/Paris 8), corresp. researcher of the Centre Norbert Elias & ArScAn), Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS) :
  Idées mathématiques au cœur de chaines opératoires de constructions textiles (Mélanésie, Europe, Andes)

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March 11 !! cancelled !!

• Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS), Flavia Carraro (Dr in anthropology (LAS/Paris 8), corresp. researcher of the Centre Norbert Elias & ArScAn), Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE)
  Idées mathématiques dans la construction de décors textiles (Mélanésie, Europe, Andes)

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March 25

• Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS), Marc Chemillier (EHESS) & Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE) : Introduction du séminaire

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!!!! Monday April 20, 9:30 – 13:00, University of Paris,
Building Condorcet, level 3, Room Klimt, 366A, 4, rue Elsa Morante, 75013 PARIS !!!

Session organized by D. Rabouin & E. Vandendriessche, in collaboration with the seminar “History & philosophy of mathematics” (SPHERE)

:: Material anchors of reasoning and mathematics

• 9:30 – 10:15 : David Rabouin (CNRS, SPHERE)
  Ppresentation of the concept of material anchoring and its possible uses in the history and philosophy of mathematics (in French)

• 10:15 – 11:00 : Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE)
  Usages possibles de la notion d’ancrage matériel dans les approches anthropologiques et culturelles des mathématiques

• 11:30 - 13:00 : Round table and discussion on the uses of the concept of material anchoring by Sophie Desrosiers (EHESS, CRH), Valeria Giardino (CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod) & David Waszek (Université McGill)

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May 13 !! 13:00 - 17:00 or 15:00 – 19:00 !!, Room 7, (tbc)

• Eric Vandendriessche (CNRS, SPHERE), Agnès Henri (Inalco, Lacito), David Jabin (Proj. ETKnos, SPHERE)
  Etude ethnomathématique et anthropologique des jeux de ficelle [Project ANR ETKnoS]
  

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May 27

• Arnaud Mace (University of Franche-Comté)
  Mathématiques militaires en Grèce ancienne, d’Homère à Platon
  The official history of Greek mathematics seems to begin with the development of demonstrative methods, perhaps in the middle of the fifth century BC. J.-C. (see R. Netz, 1999, p. 272-277). However, we recognize in the testimonies which have come down to us from previous eras, different types of occupations manifesting a rudimentary mathematical dimension. Among these, little attention has been paid to the military use of arithmetic, as evidenced by the Homeric texts: ranking of men, division of the army into groups and sub-groups, breakdown of these into new units, manipulation of booty quantities to produce equal shares. However, it could be that on closer inspection, the "art of thinking" of the Homeric chiefs gives us the key to subsequent constructions, such as the political project of the Laws of Plato where the city is fashioned around the number 5040, of so that it lends itself precisely to the familiar manipulations in Homer.

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June 10

• Lisa Rougetet (Centre François Viète, University of Bretagne Occidentale)
  Les activités de pliage de papier dans les ouvrages de récréations mathématiques (XVIIe – XVIIIe) : entre géométrie et amusement
  This contribution, prepared in collaboration with Michael Friedman (Humboldt University, Berlin), aims to show how paper folding activities were integrated into recreational mathematics in the 17th and 18th centuries. We will show, through various works of mathematical recreation published in France and Germany, the main traditions which favored the integration of paper folding in this area, namely the folding of napkins and fabrics for tableware, and the representation of regular polyhedra by their patterns, introduced by Albrecht Dürer in 1525. We will then see how these activities made it possible to acquire certain geometric knowledge in a way that was both visual and tactile.