Jorge Isidro Orjuela Bernal. Photo: Private

Jorge Isidro Orjuela Bernal comes from Colombia and was born and raised in in the capital Bogotá. He has a master's degree in Mathematics Education and has worked with issues related to education with different indigenous communities.

He came to Stockholm in June for a three-month long assignment as a PhD student. Now he is heading to Finland to participate in the Political, Social, and Regional Change PhD program at the University of Helsinki. After that he will return to São Paulo University State in Brazil to finish his doctorate in the same field. The agency that paid for her scholarship is São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

Why did you decide to come to Sweden?

– I decided to come to Sweden and the University of Stockholm because in my thesis I am interested in discussing some issues related to sociocultural studies, ethnomathematics, mathematics education, and critical mathematics education. A leading researcher in the area, Dr. Paola Valero, works at the university. I wanted to come and learn with her and her research group. It has been a great opportunity to discuss my ideas here and participate in the research groups to broaden my conceptual and discussion frameworks.

What is your PhD project about?

– My research focuses on the production of subjectivities of indigenous people who are trained in Higher Education and who, upon finishing their studies or in their training process, returned or are returning to their communities. I also wonder how these subjectivities are produced, help to think, and discuss the field of mathematics education itself.

– So, my purpose for staying at the Department of Teaching and Learning has been getting to know the research being carried out here. All with the hope to develop my own research. I have also been interested in making my research known a little, and to tell others what we are doing and thinking about in Brazil.

Have you gained any exciting insights during your stay here?

– I think that the most significant thing has been to be able to broaden my conceptual frameworks of discussion in relation to socio-cultural studies and critical mathematics education. I have been able to share with the research group of here a little about other methodological paths to undertake research in the area. I believe that the experience here adds up in a very positive way to my training process. I feel that I have been able to establish good relationships with the people who are here and we will surely be able to continue sharing spaces for discussion and research in the future.

– Having the opportunity to be here as a visiting PhD student has brought me a lot of good things. I did not expect to find such a diverse and talented research group in one place. And despite being at the university for such a short period of time, there was a lot for me to participate in - and people to meet and share my experiences with.

– I also had the opportunity to participate in SOCAME's seminar where I made a presentation of my research and learned about the research from other colleagues in the field.

Future plans?

– When I return to Brazil, I will finish my thesis and defend my doctorate. After this, I would like to be able to enter a contest to be a university professor, this could be in Brazil or Colombia. But regardless of where I am, the only thing I am clear about is that I want to continue working with both mathematics education and indigenous education. I would also really like to be able to do a post-doctorate, being here helped me to consolidate some ideas of what I want to do in terms of research. We'll see what happens in the future...