Video: 2025 Hagey Lecture builds a foundation for Indigenous Mathematics

When asked to explain the distinction between Indigenous and Indigenizing mathematics, Doolittle uses the image of the 400-year-old Two-Row Wampum, which conceptualizes Indigenous people and settlers as living parallel lives in harmony.

We can imagine one of these rows as containing Indigenous mathematics — that is, the study of how Indigenous people have historically developed alternative mathematical systems.

The other row is the Western understanding of mathematics commonly taught around the world today and used in multiple fields. This kind of math, Doolittle says, “will never be fully Indigenized,” but it can still take lessons and principles from Indigenous knowledge keepers so as to create spaces for research and education that prioritize peace, respect and collaboration.

Dr. Edward Doolittle, Kanyen’kehake (Mohawk) nation and associate professor of mathematics at First Nations University of Canada, is the first Indigenous mathematics PhD in Canada.