Ethnomathematics: The Exploration of Learning Geometry at Fort

Rotterdam of Makassar

Sri Sulasteri, Fitriani Nur, Andi Kusumayanti

Department of Mathematics Education, Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia

Keywords: Learning Geometry, Ethnomathematics, Historical Objects.

Abstract: The needs of math in various aspects of life prove that through math, human can understand and solve the

problems. Basically, learning math has never been separated from daily lives, especially the culture, but

most of students assume that math and culture have no any much correlation. This may occur because

almost all teaching media used by the teachers have not given any real examples yet on the relation between

math and culture that we have. One of the ethnomathematical objects that can be used as learning media are

the historical objects at Fort Roterdam. The study aims to deeply explore and dig the concept of learning

geometry bases on any kinds of ethnomathematics that can be used as the sources or learning math on

Junior High School level. This field study shows that based on the exploration, observation, and

documentation results as well as the literature study, it was found the geometry concept on the historical

objects at Fort Roterdam. Learning math based on ethnomathematics can be implemented in order to

introduce the cultures to the students as well as to give more interesting learning.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia is an archipelago consisting of various

ethnic groups, languages, arts and cultures, and

various kinds of natural wealth. With those

Indonesia’s ethnicity and culture diversities, it is not

such an easy job to keep and preserve it on the

rapidly increasing globalization. Nowadays, the

presence of a combination between education and

culture gives positive impact on the cultural

development in Indonesia. It is expected that our

nation’s successors will continue maintaining their

cultural preservation even on the rapidly increasing

globalization someday. One of math learning

alternatives that are currently viral in math education

matter is by linking math learning with daily life

based on the local culture. Math and culture are two

interrelated things. A student can start learning math

from the concrete things that he has known such as

exploring the information on what he has gained in

his daily life relating to the math that he is learning.

Learning math related to the local culture is a

good model to be continually developed so that the

math learning become more fun, interesting, and

familiar for the students because every activity done

by the students always prioritizes their cultural

background. It is in line with (Turmudi, 2018),

(Marsigit, Setiana, & Hardiarti, 2016), (Zayyadi,

2017), (Ekowati, Kusumaningtyas, & Sulistyani,

2017). In general, said that the obe way to conclude

mathematics learning is related to local culture.

Other thatD'Ambrosio’s point of view in Marsigit et

al. (2018) that "the term requires a dynamic

interpretation because it describes concepts that are

themselves neither rigid nor singular-namely, ethno

and mathematics" (D’Ambrosio, 2011). The term

‘etno’ describes everything that creates culture of a

group, namely, language, code, values, jargon,

beliefs, food and clothing, habits, and physical traits.

Meanwhile, according to Gerdes (1994) in Wahyuni,

he states that Ethno-mathematics is the math

implemented by a certain cultural group, group of

workers / farmers, the children from certain class

community, professional classes, and so forth

(Wahyuni, 2016).

As a matter of fact, on the contrary, almost all

students especially in Makassar still think that math

cannot be related to daily life so that the students fail

in understanding the basic concept of math. Another

reason of it is because most of the devices used by

the teachers have no link between the students’

learning and their daily lives, whereas math learning

should be associated with the concrete things that

Sulasteri, S., Nur, F. and Kusumayanti, A.

Ethnomathematics: The Exploration of Learning Geometry at Fort Rotterdam of Makassar.

DOI: 10.5220/0008518601510157

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics and Islam (ICMIs 2018), pages 151-157

ISBN: 978-989-758-407-7

151

the students have known. The concrete things known

by the students are the knowledge bridges to

understand the math abstractness. The knowledge

bridge that is meant is by implementing the media of

ethno-mathematics.

It is in line with D’Ambrosio’s point of view

(1985) in Hardiarti that on the other hand, there is a

reasonable amount of literature on this by

anthropologists (Hardiarti, 2017). Making a bridge

between anthropologists and historians of culture

and mathematicians is an important step towards

recognizing that different modes of thoughts may

lead to different forms of mathematics; this is the

field which we may call ethnomathematics. It means

that creating a bridge between culture and math is

necessary step to recognize various thinking ways

that can create mathematical forms; it is what is

called as ethno-mathematics. It can be interpreted

that various concept of math can be explored and

found in the culture so that it clarifies that the math

and the culture are interrelated; math can be created

from the culture, and math can be explored in the

culture so that it can be used as one of concrete

learning sources existed around the students. It is in

line with (Wahyuni, 2016), (Fajriyah, 2018), (Putri,

2017), (Hardiarti, 2017) and (Maryati & Prahmana,

2018) in general said that mathematics should be

associated with daily life based on local culture.

One of the historical objects that can be used as

learning media is the relic of historical object in Fort

Ujung Pandang or more known as Fort Rotterdam

located in the center of Makassar city. Fort

Rotterdam is one of the legacies of Gowa kingdom

and has a lot of relics of historical objects. Some of

buildings and historical objects at Fort Rotterdam

seem have similarity with the math concepts

especially geometry material. The learning sources

derived from those historical objects can be used to

introduce forms of shapes and surface area. Marsigit

et al. (2018) state that ethno-mathematics serves to

express the relation between the culture and the

math. Therefore, ethno-mathematics is a science

used to understand how the math is adapted from a

culture.

Through math learning resources derived from

the socio-cultural environment, it is expected to

facilitate students in understanding the basic

concepts of math because the learning process that is

carried out starts from informal math knowledge as

well as to develop the students’ insight on the

culture diversity that they have especially the local

culture. The math learning based ethno-mathematics

is one of alternatives that can make learning more

meaningful, contextual, interesting, and fun. it is in

line with Putri’s explanation (2017) in her research

that the exploration on the cultural studies related to

the math is able to give new information about local

culture diversity and it is easier to understand the

math learning because it is not perceived as an ‘odd’

thing by the students anymore.

Based on the above descriptions, it can be

concluded that this study aims to explore and

describe the geometrical concepts found in the

historical objects at Fort Rotterdam and how to

utilize the math concepts in math learning on those

historical objects at Fort Rotterdam.

2 METHOD

The study used qualitative research with

ethnographic approach. Ethnographic research is

also often referred to as field research. According to

Lawrence Neuman, ethnography is the extension of

field research. Meanwhile, according to Roice

Singleton, ethnography provides answers to the

question on what the culture of an individual group

is. The qualitative research is used by the researcher

in order to be directly involved in getting what

information needs to be known.

The research instrument in the qualitative

research with ethnography approach is the

researcher himself/herself (human instrument) which

means that the researcher acts as the main

instrument that cannot be replaced by others. The

role as the main instrument is setting the research

focus, selecting the informants as data sources,

collecting library data, interviewing, observing, and

documenting.

Data analysis techniques were carried out by

changing the data obtained from both the informants

and those obtained by the researcher in the form of

recordings or images into writing or report by

selecting which data needed in the study.

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3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 The Area of Fort Rotterdam

Figure 1: The Area of Fort Rotterdam

(makassar.tribunnews.com)

Fort Ujung Pandang which is now called as Fort

Rotterdam was firstly established by the 9th King of

Gowa, Daeng Matanre Karaeng Manguntungi

Tumapparisi Kalonna, in 1545 (Natsir, 2017). The

purpose of this establishment was to strengthen the

base defense of Gowa Kingdom along the coast of

Makassar in order to face the expansion of VOC

power (the Dutch eastern company) that continues to

expand its influence in the field of politics and

economy in the eastern Indonesia.

When the Dutch conquered Gowa kingdom in

1667, Bungayya Treaty was made in which one of

its contents was yielding Fort Ujung Pandang to the

Dutch then it was further changed into Fort

Rotterdam.

The total area of the building in Fort Ujung

Pandang is 12.999,57 m

. There are 15 buildings that

were entirely built by the Dutch, and 1 building was

built during the Japanese occupation.

Table 1: The Buildings at Fort Rotterdam

Building A-H

Building I-P

Building A

It was a place to receive

guests from Bone.

Building I

It was built by the

Japanese as the office of

language and farming

research.

Building B

The top part of it was

used as a place of trade

representatives and the

bottom part of it was used

Building J

It was functioned as the

office for the

bookkeeper.

as prison.

Building C

It was functioned as the

guest house for the guests

from Buton.

Building K

It was functioned as city

hall office.

Building D

The back was functioned

as the hospital for the

Dutch then changed as

public building for the

army.

Building L

It was functioned as

prison.

Building E

It was the residence place

for the leaders of trade

and priest.

Building M

It was functioned as

warehouse and trade

office of the Dutch.

Building F

It was the residence place

for the Dutch.

Building N

It was functioned as the

place for the guests from

Bacan.

Building G

It was the place for

carpentry.

Building O

It was used as the

governor office of South

Sulawesi and its

surrounding area.

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Building H

It was the place for the

guests from Ternate.

Building P

It was a church.

Nowadays, the buildings at Fort Rotterdam are

partly functioned as the offices of Cultural Heritage

Conservation Center of South Sulawesi and

museum. One of them is building D and M which

are functioned as the La Galigo Museum building.

La Galigo museum has collections as many as about

4999 historical relics consisting of prehistoric

collection, numismatic, foreign ceramics, history,

manuscript, and ethnography. The ethnography

collections consist of various kinds of technology

results, arts, living equipment, and other objects

created and used by four ethnics in South Sulawesi,

namely, Buginese, Makassarese, Mandarese, and

Torajaist. The museum also has the objects coming

from the local kingdoms and the weapons that were

once used during the independence revolution.

Table 2: Some Collections in La Galigo Museum

The Collection

Figure

Archipelago Collection:

In the form of replica of

some sites or cultural

heritage in Indonesia and

also the custom objects of

the Archipelagic

kingdom.

Ceramic Collections:

Consist of various kinds

of ancient ceramics

coming from different

countries.

Traditional Tools of

Agriculture, Fisheries,

and Marine:

In the form of harvesting

tools

Bike

Equipment of traditional

weaving and fabric

The Royal Seals of Bone

Kingdom

3.2 Geometry Learning Concept of

Junior High School in the

Historical Objects at Fort

Rotterdam

The ethno-mathematics is one of the bridges that

help the students in understanding the math lesson

related to each local culture. The roles of ethno-

mathematics also give positive impact on the

development of math learning in Indonesia

especially related to the learning media. The teacher

can develop many ideas on utilizing learning media

related to the students’ daily lives, the more the

students’ experiences in understanding their

cultures, the easier they understand the math

concepts in their learning. Zayyadi (2017) states that

to create a concept: it needs a number of experiences

with the similarities. Those similarities are trusted as

the initial concepts that can bridge the students’

knowledge on the math concepts. One of the cultural

inheritances that have the concept similarities with

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the math learning in Makassar, South Sulawesi are

the buildings and the cultural objects in Fort

Rotterdam. The similarities of buildings and the

cultural objects can be used as the media in learning

math especially related to the geometrical materials.

The buildings and the cultural objects make the

students easier in shaping the concrete initial

concepts and make the students easier in

constructing their understanding.

Based on the field observation result conducted

at Fort Rotterdam on April 17

, it was found some

building images and historical objects in La Galigo

Museum and related to ethno-mathematics. It was

found that there are a lot of historical objects that

can be used as ethno-mathematics media. Some of

them are inscription stone from Sri Sultan

Hamengkubuwono, Salokoa (the Crown of Gowa

Kingdom), bridal bracelets, batik, and harvesting

tools. Those objects were then analyzed to get the

representation of what kind of geometry concepts

consisted in those historical objects. After being

analyzed and taxonomy, it was found that the

historical objects related to geometry concept are as

follows:

3.2.1 Two-Dimensional Figure

No.

Object Images

Longitudinal section

Building O have

similarities with

several plane figure,

namely rectangle,

square and equilateral

triangle.

Rectangle

Square

Equilateral triangle

Epigraphy has

similarities with one

of plane figures such

as parallelogram.

Parallelogram

South Sulawesi’s

Batik has similarities

with several plane

figures, namely

isosceles triangle and

circle.

Isosceles triangle

Circle

Phinisi miniature has

similarities with

several plane figure,

namely Equilateral

triangle and trapezoid.

Equilateral triangle

Trapezoid

Ceramic as

similarities with one

of the plane figure

such as a circle.

Circle

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155

3.2.2 Space Form

No.

Object Image

Longitudinal section

Monument has

similarities with

several geometry

figure, namely cuboid

and cube.

Cuboid

Cube

Archipelagic has

similarities with

several geometry

figure, namely cone

and cylinder.

Cone

Cylinder

The crown has

similarities with

several geometry

figure, namelycone

and cylinder.

Cone

Cylinder

Building P has

similarities with

several geometry and

plane figure, namely

prism, cuboid,

rectangle and semi-

circle.

Prism

Cuboid

Rectangle

Semi-circle

The Royal Seals has

similarities with one

of geometry

figuressuch as sphere.

Sphere

3.3 The Alternatives of the Historical

Objects Use in Geometry Learning

Let’s observe!

Figure 2. Building P Figure 3. Monument Figure 4. King Crown

Figure 6. Archipelagic Figure 7. Fisheries

Pay attention to the images above!

Let’s give question!

Based on some images that you have observed,

make questions about space form!

Let’s try it out!

Based on the questions that you have made, find a

space form that is similar to the image! On your own

opinion, what kind of the space form image it is?

Let’s associate!

Based on the space form that you have mentioned,

draw the longitudinal section of the image!

Let’s communicate!

Make conclusion about the activity that you have

done.

Let’s think about!

The image above is one of the

jewelries used by Buginese –

Makassarese when

conducting wedding

ceremony. The bracelet is

used hereditary by Buginese.

If it is assumed that the bracelet is similar to a space

form, what kind of the space form if it? Please draw

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the longitudinal section of it! Furthermore, if it is

known that the bracelet height is 20 cm with

diameter of 2 cm, determine the surface area of the

bracelet.

Some of the above explanation shows that there

is ethno-mathematics concept in the historical

objects at Fort Rotterdam. The ethno-mathematics

concept existing in those historical objects is seen on

the shapes that resemble to the shapes of two-

dimensional form and space form.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the above several analysis and discussion,

it can be concluded that there are ethno-mathematics

concepts found on the historical objects at Fort

Rotterdam such as: 1) two-dimensional form:

parallelogram, triangle, isosceles triangle, circle,

rectangle, and trapezoid, 2) space form: cube, beam,

tube, cone, pyramid, and ball, 3) the historical

objects that resemble the two dimensional forms and

the space forms can be used as knowledge bridge in

learning math. By using learning based local culture,

the learning activity in the classroom will be more

meaningful and interesting because the learning

comes from the local knowledge so that the students

are easier in understanding the abstract math to be

more concrete.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writers address incredible thanks to Andi

Halimah, A. Sriyanti, Andi Dian Angriani, Suharti,

and Nina Agustina who have been involved in this

research.

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