Student trajectories of LGBT youth in South Africa: what does Mathematics have to do with it?

• Grant number: 24/21607-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Laura Moutinho da Silva
• Grantee: Glauber Carvalho da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/08413-4 - (Un)bearable conditions: bureaucratic imperatives, spaces, subjects and relationships in Southern Africa, AP.R

Abstract

LGBT youth often report situations of violence during their academic trajectories. Even so, there is a refusal to discuss issues of gender and sexuality in schools, arguing that it is necessary to focus on teaching curricular components. Mathematics, for example, is a historically masculinized field that contributes to processes of invisibility and marginalization of LGBT people. With this in mind, we propose with this research to map and analyze the role played by Mathematics (Education) in the academic trajectories of young LGBT university students in South Africa, considering that in that context, as in Brazil, this is a field marked by a universalist discourse that does not consider social markers of difference. The questions that guide this research proposal are: how do issues of gender and sexuality appear and are addressed in Mathematics (classes) in South Africa? What are the academic trajectories of young LGBT people in this country? In what ways, if at all, has Mathematics been present in these trajectories? This research project focuses on a fertile field of productions and enables South-South dialogue. In particular, the bibliography reveals the scarcity of studies like ours in South Africa. We propose to conduct surveys on the aforementioned theme in the context of the aforementioned country, ethnography and life story interviews with young LGBT South Africans, in order to contribute to the project "(Un)bearable conditions: bureaucratic imperatives, spaces, subjects and relationships in southern Africa" (Process No. 2023/08413-4), in which this Scientific Initiation proposal is inserted.