Our Culture, Geometrical Thinking and Mathematics Education by Paulus Gerdes

This week I read "Our Culture, Geometrical Thinking and Mathematics Education" by Paulus Gerdes. Gerdes identifies the need of engaging Colonized countries in mathematics through culture. He makes particular note of Africa and the fact that although there has been more attention to education in the country, there are still real concerns with regards to class sizes, qualified teachers and accessible information. A hasty curriculum has been implemented to the developing countries, leading to mathematics being seen as useless unless you intend on pursuing education past high school. He quotes the president of the Interamerican Committee on Mathematics Education saying "... mathematics has been used as a barrier to social access, reinforcing the power structure which prevails in the societies (of the Third World)." Gerdes mentions results of studies that have proved that although children learn mathematics in real world scenarios in their every day lives, when they reach school, no matter how similar the mathematics skills are that they are learning, they are confused. "D'Ambrosio concludes that 'learned matheracy eliminates the so-called spontaneous matheracy," and that "the early stages of mathematics education(offer) a very efficient way of instilling the sense of failure, of dependency in the children." D'Ambrosio furthermore was able to acknowledge "the need for incorporation of ethnomathematics into the curriculum in order to avoid a psychological blockade."
Now for the part of the article I found most fascinating and wonderful! Gerdes identifies areas of the African culture that uncover "hidden or frozen mathemathics." He identifies ways in which to see growth in mathematical confidence through cultural-mathematics. He links peasants' houses to rectangular axioms, artisans' funnels to polygon constructions, woven button patterns to pythagoras theorems, and finally, the woven fishing traps and woven baskets to the soccer ball patterns, both using "regular polyhedra." Gerdes realizes that pupils can reinvent artisan techniques, consequentially, doing and learning mathematics, "only if teachers themselves are conscious of hidden mathematics, are convinced of the cultural, educational, and scientific value of rediscovering and exploring hidden mathematics, are aware of the potential of 'unfreezing' this 'frozen mathematics.'" He acknowledges the need to educate those who are educating others.
When reading, I wondered if this has been looked at as a way to engage the First Nations children in mathematics education. In grade 4, we teach a lot about the First Nations' culture and I would love to incorporate some of their artisan work into math.
Lastly, my biggest hope is that since 1988, when this article was written, changes have been made! These significant findings I feel could widely influence the populations of many countries and have a huge impact on societies and mathematical engagement.