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“Decolonising Math”: Durham University Asks Professors to Consider the Race of Mathematicians Before Relying on their Work
jonathanturley.org ^ | 4-13-2022 | Jonathan Turley

Posted on 04/13/2022 11:30:15 AM PDT by blam

We previously discussed the view of University of Rhode Island and Director of Graduate Studies of History Erik Loomis that “Science, statistics, and technology are all inherently racist.” Others have agreed with that view, including denouncing math as racist or a “tool of whiteness.” Now, as part of its “decolonization” efforts, Durham University is calling on professors in the math department to ask themselves if they’re citing work from “mostly white or male” mathematicians.

According to the Telegraph and The College Fix a guide instructs faculty that “decolonising the mathematical curriculum means considering the cultural origins of the mathematical concepts, focusses, and notation we most commonly use.” It adds:

“[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 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.”

Some professors have objected to being asked to consider the race or gender of mathematicians rather than their underlying theories or formulas.

In the Telegraph article, Exeter University Social Science Professor Doug Stokes is quoted as saying that “[t]he idea behind decolonising maths is that because everyone should be regarded as equal, the status of their beliefs must also be equal.” He denounces that view as “judgmental relativism is an inversion of science that is based on what is real rather than making everybody feel included.”

But all ideas are not equal, particularly math. Some literally do not add up. Math is inherently objective and based on provable tenets or theories. As I discussed earlier, it is a shame to see math treated as a field of privilege when many of us view it as a field of pure intellectual pursuit and bias neutrality. Either the math is there or it is not. The race of the mathematician will not change the outcome.

The Durham University guide insists that academics need to not only consider what theories to apply but the race of the theoreticians to “decolonize” math. It does not state how a failure to do so will impact on a professor’s retention or advancement at the university.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; decolonising; dougstokes; erikloomis; math; professors; race
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To: Allegra

The average witch-doctor has a better understanding of math than the “professor”.


21 posted on 04/13/2022 11:48:36 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: pepsionice; kaktuskid

And calculus was invented by a Christian theologian named Sir Isaac Newton, who finished the work of a predecessor theologian Rene Descartes.


22 posted on 04/13/2022 11:48:44 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Computer Indians vs Casino Indians.


23 posted on 04/13/2022 11:50:19 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (When the kings fight the serfs suffer.)
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To: Da Coyote
Gaylene.

-PJ

24 posted on 04/13/2022 11:55:42 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: blam

Back to counting on the fingers of one hand, eh Prof?


25 posted on 04/13/2022 11:56:16 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: blam
That great news if you don't want to take calculus. That pesky white guy Newton had too much time on his hands lounging under apple trees when he came up with that.

I'll bet a black lesbian repressed servant woman really came up with that and Newton just took credit.

26 posted on 04/13/2022 11:59:09 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: blam

27 posted on 04/13/2022 11:59:15 AM PDT by Bobalu (I’m not nuts about Russia. But the lunatics who hate them tend to hate me too)
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To: Tell It Right
To hear the Muslims tell it, Arabs invented everything this side of the wheel.

Which totally explains why they were a bunch of warring tribesman barely able to feed themselves before westerners and Jooze arrived . . .

28 posted on 04/13/2022 11:59:17 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: blam

How about the possibility that statistically speaking, non-whites show less interested in science, etc., from a very early age.

Most people that know their way around in, say, math, are that way not because they’re geniuses but because they are drawn to it and have spent a lot of time studying it.


29 posted on 04/13/2022 12:00:41 PM PDT by cymbeline
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To: blam

Math is inherently objective and based on provable tenets or theories.

Do you mean sort of like conservatism and classical economics?

30 posted on 04/13/2022 12:01:21 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: blam

The Communist Purge Continues To Grow Exponentially & Nothing Is Being Done About It!

31 posted on 04/13/2022 12:02:12 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another Sam Adams now that we desperately need him?)
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To: dirtymac
So we are going to Ebonics in math where 2+2= whatever.

Not quite. In ebonics 2+2 before.

32 posted on 04/13/2022 12:02:26 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: blam
“Science, statistics, and technology are all inherently racist.”...and then people wonder why some 60 year old black full of "bitterness" shoots up a subway car in New York - just one more product of Black Culture in America today - probably told from the time he was small that he was disadvantaged, treated unfairly, disrespected, being cheated, and on and on - all the gun control, all the special affirmative action contracts, all the after-school programs in the world aren't going to change anything until blacks start thinking about how far they've come and not how hard the struggle was all the time.......
33 posted on 04/13/2022 12:04:43 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: blam

throw your engineering students in the quarry, with the job of assembling a structure ... minus the use og calculus, euclidian geometry, or trigonnometry!!!


34 posted on 04/13/2022 12:06:33 PM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: blam

Through the use of mathematics we design and develop the most advanced weapons in history. Their effectiveness is proof of the superiority of the mathematics we use.

Anyone who thinks that the validity of mathematical principles depends on the race of the proponent dooms himself to a life of subservience to those who apply true principles.


35 posted on 04/13/2022 12:10:34 PM PDT by CurlyDave
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To: Tell It Right

(And calculus was invented by a Christian theologian named Sir Isaac Newton, who finished the work of a predecessor theologian Rene Descartes.)

Gottfried Leibniz deserves credit too, another white guy. We use his notation today in differential and integral calculus.

Cill all the whiteys I see, CILL my landlord.


36 posted on 04/13/2022 12:13:08 PM PDT by thepoodlebites (and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.)
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To: sit-rep

Who are the dupes that pay for this?


37 posted on 04/13/2022 12:15:05 PM PDT by aspasia
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To: aspasia

bttt!!


38 posted on 04/13/2022 12:15:58 PM PDT by sit-rep ( )
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To: blam

“Before Relying on their Work”

You know what? I think I wholeheartedly agree with this.

Woke people should not rely on the mathematical discoveries of people like Plato, Euclid, Pascal, and Descartes. In fact we should make it illegal for any woke person to use or reference the mathematics of European men, or use any invention that relies on such mathematics. Punishable by death or banishment.


39 posted on 04/13/2022 12:20:51 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Tell It Right

Technically much of that transmission or preservation of information was done by the Persian caliphates, not by Arabs, but the muslims as a whole claim them, because, well, the Arabs don’t have much to claim for themselves.


40 posted on 04/13/2022 12:24:35 PM PDT by Boogieman
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