Mapping Kinship: Gamilaraay Math Researcher Jared Field
Kinship is important to Gamilaraay mathematician Jared Field. It has been essential for his survival in academia and is the topic of his current book project. Now a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, his interest in math came both from his drive to defeat racist stereotypes and by a sense of competition. “In year 10 [in high school], I was the second highest maths class and I was given the option to move up to the advanced class, but my teacher at the time discouraged me from doing it,” he reflected. “She reckoned I would struggle [based on] all these backwards, racist tropes about Indigenous people.” Though he initially hesitated, his chemistry teacher encouraged him to sign up for the advanced class. “Once I got there, I was like ‘there’s no way in hell I’m going to let these white people beat me’,” he remembers. He went on…