https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/09/decolonise-maths-subtracting-white-male-viewpoint-urges-durham/ Jump to content * News * Ukraine * Sport * Business * Opinion * Money * Life * Style * Travel * Culture Subscribe now Free for one month Log in See all News * UK news + UK news home + Scotland + Wales + Northern Ireland * Politics + Brexit + Conservatives + Labour + Lib Dems + SNP + US politics * World + USA + Europe + Middle East + Asia + Australasia + Africa + Latin America * Coronavirus + Coronavirus home + You Are Not Alone + Live tracker + Coronavirus newsletter + Good News newsletter + Podcast * Royals + Royals home + The Queen + Prince Philip + Prince Charles + Duchess of Cornwall + Prince William + Duchess of Cambridge + Prince Harry + Duchess of Sussex + More... * Health * Defence * Science * Education * Environment * Investigations + Investigations home + Signals Network + Contact us * Global Health Security + Global Health Security home + Climate & People + Science & Disease + Terror & Security + Women & Girls + Opinion & Analysis 'Decolonise' maths by subtracting white male viewpoint, urges Durham University A new guide says professors must question themselves if they are citing work from 'mostly white or male' mathematicians By Ewan Somerville 9 April 2022 * 7:00pm Durham Castle, now part of Durham University student accommodation Durham Castle, now part of Durham University student accommodation Credit: Alamy /Alamy The mathematics curriculum at a leading university is being "decolonised", with professors urged to write biographies of theorists, question if they are mostly white or male, and consider the cultural origins of numbers. Durham University's decolonisation campaign has swept up the department of mathematical sciences, where all staff are being urged to make the subject "more inclusive" and ensure "maths can be used to aid attempts to secure equality". Its new guide for academics says that "decolonising the mathematical curriculum means considering the cultural origins of the mathematical concepts, focusses, and notation we most commonly use". Scholars at the Russell Group university, ranked seventh in the UK for maths, have been urged to reconsider how "the power of 10, represented by the word 'billion', differs from country to country" and how Brahmagupta, the famed Indian mathematician, assigned a different meaning to the value of zero. They are told that "the question of whether we have allowed Western mathematicians to dominate in our discipline is no less relevant than whether we have allowed western authors to dominate the field of literature". "It may even be more important, if only because mathematics is rather more central to the advancement of science than is literature," the decolonising guide says. Staff are urged to consider giving short biographies of the mathematicians whose work they present in their modules and are encouraged to question themselves if they choose predominantly "white and/or male" figures. If the mathematicians are "almost entirely (or even completely) white and/or male, ask yourself why this is," the guide states. 'Ditch the Titanic, use Maori jurists instead' And when using real-world examples to illustrate mathematical puzzles, staff are encouraged to "consider whether you can present the context outside of a Western frame of reference". Giving an example for statistics modules, the guide says that Simpson's paradox is often illustrated using survivors of the Titanic and enrolments in an American university, but an alternative that "decentres Europe" involves "the under-representation of Maori in New Zealand jury pools". On Friday, scholars questioned whether it was appropriate for the objective discipline of maths to be conflated with subjective approaches to the past. Prof Doug Stokes, a social sciences expert at Exeter University, told The Telegraph: "The idea behind decolonising maths is that because everyone should be regarded as equal, the status of their beliefs must also be equal. "This judgmental relativism is an inversion of science that is based on what is real rather than making everybody feel included. Science and reason are what has led humanity out of the darkness and we jettison their precious light at our peril." Durham's new guide points scholars to "ethnomathematics", a new discipline emerging on campuses of tying maths to culture, saying "mathematics and culture are not always disentangled". Examples given include the "American version won out" of 10^9, for power of ten represented by a billion, which was different to the British 10^12. Highlighting the contributions of Indian mathematicians, the manual concludes that "it might then be inaccurate to suggest mathematics is a universal language" and scholars should ensure the discipline "genuinely is global, frankly assessing the discipline's failures - past and present - to work toward that aim". Top historians have branded decolonising as "anti-intellectual". Last month, the Conservative Party chairman said in a speech on cancel culture that a West "confident in its values" would not be "obsessing over pronouns or indeed seeking to decolonise mathematics". Like most British universities, many departments at Durham have established decolonising panels. Durham University Business School has said that by 2022/23, no student will be able to complete a degree there "without significant exposure" to decolonisation issues. A Durham University spokesman said: "Mathematical sciences at Durham are a rigorous and comprehensive discipline. "The maths curriculum our students learn remains the same, but we also encourage students to be more aware of the global and diverse origins of the subject, and the range of cultural settings that have shaped it. Two plus two will always equal four." In December 2021, Durham was embroiled in a row over free speech following a student walk-out during an address by Rod Liddle, an associate editor of The Spectator, who students accused of making "transphobic, sexist, racist and classist remarks". The incident led to Professor Tim Luckhurst, founding Principal of the university's South College, calling students "pathetic". Placeholder image for youtube video: wNkHqrrTKL8 Prof Luckhurst later apologised for the remark. "My anger reflected my sincere commitment to freedom of speech," he wrote in an email to students. "However, I was wrong to describe the students' action as pathetic and I apologise unreservedly for doing so." Related Topics * Durham University, * Culture wars * * * * Comments The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our commenting policy. You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Find out more here. 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