Immanence in the Pixel: Traditional Cultural Origins of Math and Technology
An evening of film video and web screenings curated by Laura U. Marks
Presented Saturday, May 11th at 8 pm

African Fractals Multimedia Project
Ron Eglash, Gloria Gilmer, T.Q. Berg, and Jaron Sampson, United States, 2002, web, 5:00

Mathematics is immanent in everyday and enduring practices. Eglash and Gilmer's research finds sophisticated mathematical knowledge implicit in African design processes. Primary among these is cornrow braiding, a cultural practice that survived the Middle Passage and adorns African diasporic people's heads to this day. Eglash's Fractasketch software plots a logarithmic spiral, an equation accurately embodied in the decorative braiding process.
http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/csdt/african.htm

Dr. Ron Eglash - Biography

Dr. Ron Eglash is Assistant Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. His work on African fractals, indigenous cybernetics, appropriate technology, and issues of race and ethnicity in science and mathematics is available in numerous media: book (African Fractals), software, video, and online. http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/eglash.htm


Dr. Gloria Ford Gilmer - Biography

Dr. Gloria Ford Gilmer holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Marquette University. She has taught in the public schools and at several colleges and universities. Dr. Gilmer was the first Black female on the board of governors of the Mathematical Association of America (1980-82). She has also served as a research associate with the U.S. Department of Education.

She was the first woman to give the National Association of Mathematician's Cox-Talbot Address. Dr. Gilmer is a co-founder (1985) and the first president of the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics (ISGEm). ggilme@aol.com

T.Q. Berg and Jaron Sampson - Biography

T.Q. Berg and Jaron Sampson authored Kola Chicken and other software as students at Evergreen State College.