Una Aproximación Etnomatemática a la Idea de Infinito

In this paper we propose an approach to the idea of infinity from an ethnomathematical perspective. The hypothesis arises from a work with a group of students of the Indigenous Intercultural Degrees that Unochapecó develops in the Indigenous Lands of the Kaingang people. Starting from the discussion about the translation of certain words of the indigenous language, and especially about "goj-vêhn" which literally means "endless water", that is, a concept that involves a notion of infinity, we propose an approach to this concept that tries to explain how a language that has only five numbers: pir, régre, tãgtu, venhlãgra and pentar, (one, two, three, four and five) also has the notion of infinity. As the concept appears detached from words that refer to quantities, that is, it is not used to refer to quantity, our hypothesis postulates a logical-linguistic sense of this notion that we try to make explicit, relating it to some discussions around the concept of infinity within philosophical, logical, and mathematical thought in the Western tradition

Indigenous · Infinity · Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Latin American history and culture