Abstract:
This paper aims to discuss research practices with the aid of Oral History in the field of Mathematical Education, based on problematizations arising from a Master’s thesis. This methodology, widely used worldwide, was disseminated in Brazil around the 1970s and, in the field of Mathematical Education, in the early 2000s, with the creation of the Oral History and Mathematical Education Group. Although some procedures are common in oral history research - recording, textualization, assignment of rights - it is implemented in particular manners to deal with the questions and needs in each study. In the development of this specific research, the methodology was not picked a priori, as a mere technique for data production - neither as a knife nor as a chainsaw -, as Professor Wagner Valente encouraged us to think. Instead, it was constructed according to the practice of predecessors and required study, attention, respect and sensitivity.
Keywords:
History of mathematical education; Research methodology; Interviews; Narratives