Cultural connections and mathematical manipulations

In the last 20 years there has been a growing literature deal- ing with ethnomathematical issues, or about studies involving culture and mathematics education. The growing community of those interested in the field held the Third International Conference on Ethnomathematics (ICEm-3) in February 2006, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, convened by Bill Barton from the Department of Mathemat- ics. ICEm-1 was in Granada, Spain, in 1998, organized by Maria Luiza Oliveras and entitled Research, curriculum development, teacher education. ICEm-2 was in Ouro Preto, Brazil, in 2002, organized by Eduardo Sebastiani Ferreira and entitled A methodology for ethnomathematics