Article Summary:
Can zombies write mathematical poetry? Mathematical poetry as a model for humanistic mathematics
Karaali introduces this work with the statement that mathematics is a creative endeavour and that mathematics is a model for what makes an activity human. Supporting this by identifying three components that make humans special: cognition, consciousness, and creativity. They make the claim that mathematical poetry is a tool for humanizing mathematics.
The author frames their life-long love of reading, contrasting the different experience they had with poetry, finding it to be more cryptic. While they appreciated features of rhythm and fluency in poets works they found it hard and that created a distance for them, recounting a time later on where boredom was high and poetry found them, creating a natural connection where they flowed together.
Shifting back to mathematics and poetry the author highlights the long standing claim of mathematicians that mathematics is beautiful. Revisiting their claim of what makes humans special they acknowledge the possibility of animals possessing some of these components but state that we are the only species that without a doubt have all three of these come together, and frames that in this work the word "human captures more that we are intelligent sentient creative beings, rather than that we are bipedal omnivorous talking animals descended from Homo sapiens." (Karaali, 2014, p. 39)
Karaali draws parallels between the poets work utilizing their humanity, creative spirit, thinking mind, and feeling heart in the creation of her works, and the mathematicians pursuit of their craft, creating with passion and frustration, using an analytical mind, and creative spirit to lead them. Focusing on the the experience of their respective works creations and not exclusively their product. Rooting both poetry and mathematics in language in their own ways, the conception of both can be "without or before language, but only with words will they become communicable and complete." (Karaali, 2014, p. 39)
The author shares that in their native language Turkish, sentence structure differs from that in English. describing the different ways they may decorate a person or object may be use different suffixes and they took advantage of this within the poetry they wrote. Using a stream of consciousness poetry style, composing so sentence thoughts squashed into each other, with reappearances of phrases and features in different sentences. Concerning themselves more with how the words came together more than how the whole piece would read, noting that punction is depended on to guide the reader though they avoided punction as it would interfere with their goal of producing overlapping meanings, prompting concern that if read aloud their poems would lose some of their intended meanings. Concluding that their poetry style remained rooted in Turkish but that their mathematical language was English as that was the language they studied it in, noting that their mathematics and poetry did not engage together, they were different languages and different worlds.
Discussing creativity in mathematics there is questioning in what does creativity in mathematics mean? Noting for many it does not trigger ideas of creativity, considering students coursework we can ask this and the the idea of novel problems or approaches come to mind but for many is this not an idea from elsewhere taken out of original context and used. To have creativity in mathematics classrooms there must be a flexibility and openness to many interpretations and approaches.
Humanistic mathematics has two different branches from the term. One is sourced around the notion of teaching mathematics humanistically, a call for a humanistic philosophy of mathematics instruction. While the other branch of ideas centered the notions of mathematics as a human endeavour. The Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal has hosted many articles discussing and seeking to define the phrase though an ultimate definition has been avoided. The author shares their work with the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM) and their collaboration in determining the perspective for what JHM would consider to be humanistic mathematics which came to be scholarship or any form on inquiry that studies the human face of mathematics. Determining a mission to create an open forum for academic and informal discussions on all of the various threads of mathematical inquiry, sharing the welcoming of diverse contributions. Karaali then reflects on their personal experience in participating in a creative writing workshop and the growth opportunity it became, noting that in learning to let go of their creations and open to friendly criticism they were able to see and experience a poets struggles. Gaining a new respect for the work and energy that goes into their work and greater understanding and curiosity for writing processes.
Karaali and Huber decided to bring back a tradition of the Humanistic Mathematics Network and held a poetry reading with hopes of forming a tradition of mathematical poetry at the meeting of the American mathematical societies. Highlighting the support they received from JoAnne Growney and her blog on poetry with mathematics. Poetry submissions to the JHM was another prominent source of mathematical poetry for the author some of which they shared in the article and how this led to them experimenting with English as a vessel for their poetry.
Karaali shares when they were assigned to teach a writing intensive course, developing it motivated by sharing humanistic mathematics as an engaging approach to mathematics. Titling the course 'Can zombies do math?' investigating within the course a range of ideas about both what makes us human and what in mathematics is related to our humanity. Introducing for the first time within one of their courses literacy and mathematics. Students enjoyed this having never considered both mathematics and poetry together, students were to create something that represents or plays with themes of the course, Karaali expected short stories and collages, and to their delight some created poetry, encouraging Karaali to think of other ways to incorporate mathematical poetry into classes. Having students create their own mathematical poetry, engaging creatively in ways they haven't before with mathematics, disrupting stereotypes of both what poetry and mathematics can be.
Through personal, professional, and pedagogical experiences with mathematical poetry it has brought the conviction of the author that mathematical poetry is the perfect ambassador for humanistic mathematics. Poetry is inspirational, emotional, intellectual, by making connections across mathematics to poetry we may create metaphor for those wo have never had the opportunity to experience such through mathematical creation on their own. Encouraging the timid to venture into the world of mathematics as they have experienced both mathematics and poetry in emotional ways and poetry can be a means of releasing and sharing these emotions with others.
Stop 1: "My mathematics and my poetry did not play together. They spoke different Languages. They were two different worlds. They came from two different sources." (Karaali, 2014, p. 40)
This made me stop as it reminded me of a conversation I was having with a student semi-recently. The student joined our school three years ago from Ukraine, arriving without much English experience prior. She has been having more troubles in math recently and she was expressing to me her frustration with connecting her prior knowledge to what we are doing now and the knowing she knows it but not in this way.
I personally am monolingual and have attempted to learn some Spanish and learned a little French in school but have no frame of reference for these experiences that face the majority of my students.
Stop 2: "The poet reaches within herself to grasp at her humanity, and her creative spirit engages productively with her thinking mind and feeling heart to forge germs of poetry within. But, perhaps less known to the public, the mathematician, too, is very much human in the process of pursuing her craft. She creates with passion and frustration, as she depends on her rational, logical and analytical mind and her intuitive, creative spirit to lead her to truth." (Karaali, 2014, p. 39)
I liked this comparison, I feel struggle and engagement and pursuit especially when it is something of interest to the one experiencing it is ultimately poetic. I remember first engaging with proofs and struggling wrapping my head around the structure and way of thinking but finding it to intriguing and when it clicked I remember feeling like it was its own language I could finally read and write. Thinking back on many of those early proofs I feel there is many places where they were poetic all on their own. I feel that the humanistic focus opened mathematical poetry to be a place for people to engage mathematically with poetry regardless of how they engage with traditional mathematics, creating an outlet for people who perhaps self-declare as "not math people" to find space to engage and express themselves alternatively.
Question: How do you think mathematical poetry could be brought into the classroom for younger students? How can it be adjusted for elementary versus secondary?
Karaali, G. (2014). Can zombies write mathematical poetry? mathematical poetry as a model for humanistic mathematics. Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 8(1–2), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513472.2014.926685
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