Culture and Thought

This website provides video and visual supports for my book, Cultural development of mathematical ideas: Papua New Guinea studies (Cambridge University Press.) In the book, I present a conceptual framework for understanding relations between culture and thought. I then explore the utility of the framework through my work with the Oksapmin, a remote group situated in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. On the pages of this website, you will find video clips and photographs that show scenes from daily life including the Oksapmin 27-body part count system as well as the use of the system to communicate about currency values and to solve arithmetic problems. The Oksapmin field visits on which the book is based occurred in 1978, 1980, 2001, with a follow-up visit in 2014, a period of rapid change in which a complex body part arithmetical thinking emerged. Included as well on the site are photographs of early contact with Oksapmin people taken by the Hagen-Sepik patrol (1938). A map showing the remote location of Oksapmin in Papua New Guinea can be found by clicking on this link.

To look inside the book, click here and then, once on the amazon page, click the upper left arrow.