University’s ‘decolonization’ effort: Ask if you’re citing ‘mostly white or male’ mathematicians

As part of Durham University’s ongoing “decolonization” efforts, professors in the math department are being told to ask themselves if they’re citing work from “mostly white or male” mathematicians.

The Telegraph reports that a guide used by the UK school states “decolonising the mathematical curriculum means considering the cultural origins of the mathematical concepts, focusses, and notation we most commonly use.”

For instance, how different countries view the power of ten should be “reconsidered,” as well as Indian mathematician Brahmagupta’s concept of zero, for which he assigned “a different meaning.”

“[T]he question of whether we have allowed Western mathematicians to dominate in our discipline is no less relevant than whether we have allowed western [sic] authors to dominate the field of literature,” the guide says. “It may even be more important, if only because mathematics is rather more central to the advancement of science than is literature.”

Teaching staff also are “encouraged” to use non-Western real world examples. For example, when discussing Simpson’s paradox, instead of utilizing a common Titanic survivors reference, faculty can use “the under-representation of Maori in New Zealand jury pools.”