The marginalisation of Indigenous students within school mathematics and the math wars: seeking resolutions within ethical spaces

In mathematics education, there are (at least) two seemingly disparate and unethical issues that have been allowed to continue unresolved for decades: the math wars (traditional versus reform teaching and learning of mathematics) and the marginalisation of Indigenous students within K-12 mathematics. Willie Ermine, an Indigenous scholar, has proposed the use of ethical spaces to explore and analyse occurrences of unethical situations arising between the "intersection of Indigenous law and Canadian Legal systems" (Ermine, Indigenous Law Journal 6(1): 193-203, 2007). This paper brings Ermine's notion of ethical spaces to the field of mathematics education research as the theoretical framework for analysing the aforementioned issues. The result of this analysis is a potential single theoretical resolution to both dilemmas that can also serve as a significant factor in the processes of decolonisation.