The GHEMAT Brasil and the collective research in history of mathematics education

Abstract

This paper describes and discusses the research activities of one of the Brazilian groups that has been carrying out studies on the history of mathematics education. First, we describe the singularities of the constitution of this area of study in Brazil, along with the different aspects of
the field of Mathematical Education. We then focus on the creation of a network of researchers that brings together specialists from more than twenty universities in Brazil, present in different parts of the country. Currently, GHEMAT Brasil is an association of researchers with a legal
identity, developing collective research projects involving practically the whole of Brazil. The Group's research motto could be summarized as: learning from historians to produce history, paying attention to the knowledge accumulated by the History of Education, using mathematical
formation and mathematics teaching practices as references. In the description of GHEMAT Brasil's activities, we present a brief history of the Group, its thematic choices and its theoretical and methodological affiliations. In the problematization of the work carried out by the Group at present, we identify the challenges facing collective research in the history of mathematics education, for which , we use a multitude of digital documents contained in the repository, the Group's database. In conclusion, we argue that GHEMAT Brazil studies should be included in the so-called Digital Humanities.