Abolition by the Numbers Mathematics as a Tool to Dismantle the Carceral State (and Build Alternatives)

Abstract

Galvanized by organized communities, movements against mass incarceration have steadily coalesced and crept into schools over the last decade and a half. This political moment creates new opportunities for those working for justice in communities and in schools, and demands that subject-matter educators engage in this work. While there is a robust “reform” discourse within mathematics education, the field has been constructed as neatly outside the carceral sphere and remains relatively isolated from this burgeoning movement. This article draws on the authors’ practices and bodies of research to explore mathematics as an agent of the carceral state and to imagine mathematics education practices may stop the state from harming—including killing—Black, Brown, queer, migrant, poor, and other marginalized people. The authors also consider how mathematics could be a core tool for an abolitionist movement.