God's Own The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling: NiWARD Story of Nkechi Madonna Adeleine Agwu, Ph.D.
Synopsis "God's Own The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling: NiWARD Story of Nkechi Madonna Adeleine Agwu, Ph.D."
In the beginning God created woman in His own like image, blessed her to go out to be fruitful and multiply, to replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over everything on it, Genesis 1: 27-28. God's Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling is about the creativity of God (The Absolute Infinite) as He is reflected in women. It is about the power of The Absolute Infinite to perform signs and wonders reflected in mathematical symbols, patterns, numbers, and graphs. It is a book on His word according to John 1:1, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. God's Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling is a mathematical, cultural, and spiritual story of Dr. Nkechi (God's own) Madonna Adeleine Agwu, aka Nma (Beautiful) Jacob. Dr. Agwu is an African female leader in mathematics and statistics education. Her life trajectory includes experiences of displacement, homelessness, living in refugee camps, single-parenting of a child with hearing and speech needs, and many other issues that from all indications could have set her up for failure, but for God's divine intervention. God's Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling is about Dr. Agwu's journey as an ethno-mathematician to her present scholarship in African culture and women's stories in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. It is about how she found her identity as a mathematical story-teller of members of the Organization of Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research and Development (NiWARD). It is a story about the beauty, strength, courage, and nurturing spirit of women. In this era of globalization, African people face the urgent need to foster world-wide education about their mathematics, science, technology, history and culture (Gerdes, 1998). All groups of people have made significant contributions to the development of mathematics. However, the contributions of Africans other than those related to the early beginnings of algebra and geometry in ancient Egypt, are still highly unacknowledged in the history of mathematics (Lumpkin, 1997). This is partly due to our oral traditions, slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism, globalization, and the fact that our indigenous mathematics, scientific and technological knowledge as a people is often shrouded in our spirituality. This notwithstanding, efforts must be made to document the mathematical contributions of Africans to enrich the curriculum in a multicultural and interdisciplinary way by providing a wide repertoire of examples of mathematical concepts illustrated from the African context. God's Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling does this. In particular, it highlights the indigenous mathematical knowledge and cultural beauty of the Ndebele people of Southern Africa. God's Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-Telling is a story about creativity, innovation, and adaptation. It is a story about necessity as the mother of innovation. It is about the philosophy of "do what you can, from where you are, with what you have." It is a story about Nma (Beautiful) Jacob, the survivor, overcomer, successor and faithful servant of God. It is a story that The Absolute Infinite is ever present in our lives shaping our mathematical genomes. Emmanuel - God is with us! His Angels are around us, protecting and guiding us!
