His research areas of interest are Ethnomathematics; History, Philosophy and Sociology of Mathematics; Peace Education.
He lives in São Paulo and with Maria José, his wife, and they have been active in “soft” travelling in Brazil and abroad. They were not courageous enough and missed the exciting trip to Pohnpei.
He relies on the younger generation (children, grandchildren and students) to report on beautiful trips and for research field work.
Current research projects, some subjects of theses of his students include:
- Ethnomathematics: language, number systems and mythology in indigenous communities (now, in the Macuxi culture , in Rondonia); calendars in the Tukuna and Tapirape cultures, in the Amazonian region; education in the remaining “quilombolas” (independent communities founded by escaped African slaves in the 17th century) and established their own productive and educational systems)
- History of Mathematics Education: early rural schools, established in the beginning of the 20th century, in the states of Minas Gerais (Central Brazil – Portuguese farming traditions) and in the North-East Brazil (religious-mystical traditions); the emergence of Educational Radio (the twenties) and Educational TV (the fifties); in Institutional History: the creation of early State school system, the founding of a major Brazilian symphonic orchestra, the creation of penitentiaries in the early 20th century and the education of prisoners);
- Mathematical Contents and Modeling: the mathematical strategies of law enforcement systems versus the mathematical strategies of criminal groups acting in environmental crimes; mathematical contents of courses in Financial Mathematics and in Solidarity Economics
- History of Mathematics: the transmission and reception of academic mathematics and mathematics education to the former European colonies;
- Critical Mathematics Education: alternative educational models (examples: Waldorff system) and critical education (from A.S. Neill through Ivan Illitch to transdisciplinarity).
Personal data, pictures and some papers available in
http://lattes.cnpq.br/1531403209010948
http://vello.sites.uol.com.br/ubi.htm
http://uvla.blogg.lu.se/palabras-del-rector-universidad-virtual-latinoamericana/
http://professorubiratandambrosio.blogspot.com/
Recent publications in English:
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: A Nonkilling Mathematics? Engineering Nonkilling Scientific Responsibility and theAdvancement of Killing-Free Societies, Edited by Joám Evans Pim, Center for Global Nonkilling, Honolulu, 2011 , pp.121-148 (ISBN-13 978-0-9822983-6-7 , ISBN-10 0-9822983-6-6).
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: Review of “Teaching the violent past: history education and reconciliation”, edited by Elizabeth A. Cole, Lanham, MD, Rowman and Littlefield, 1999, 345 pp., in Journal of Peace Education, vol 7, nº1, March 2010, pp.112-114.
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: Mathematics Education and Survival with Dignity, in Critical Mathematics Education: Past, Present and Future. Festschrift for Ole Skovsmose, Helle Atrø , Ole Ravn and Paola Valero (Eds.), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2010 (ISBN 978-94-6091-162-0), pp. 51-63.
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio and Marcelo C. Borba: Dynamics of change of mathematics education in Brazil and a scenario of current research, ZDM The International Journal of Mathematics Education (2010) Volume 42 , numbers 3-4, June 2010, pages 271–279 (DOI 10.1007/s11858-010-0261-x; ISSN 1863-9690 =print; 1863-9704 =online.
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: From Ea, through Pythagoras, to Avatar: Different Setting for Mathematics, Mathematics in Different Settings, Pinto, M.M.F.& Kawasaki, T.F.(eds.) Proceedings of the 34th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education/PME (4 volumes), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, 2010; vol.1 pp.1-20 (ISSN 0771-100X).
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: Ethnomathematics: a response to the changing role of mathematics in society Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal No. 25 (October 2010), Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal ISSN 1465-2978 (Online).
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio: Review of “Disciplines in the Making: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Elites, Learning, and Innovation”, by G.E.R. Lloyd, New York: Oxford Univ.Press, 2009, viii+205 pp; in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.10.76.