Decolonisation of math:
updated and annotated reading and viewing list


Colonialism was con-all-ism. Beware of “decolonisation” recommendations from the coloniser.

General critique of formal math


  1. Decolonisation article, Durban: Deductive proofs are fallible.1

  2. Ganita vs math Hindi article.2

  3. Broader articles on decolonising math and science: Lebanon,3 Palestine,4 failure of calculus at singularities and singularity theory (Roger Penrose, and Stephen Hawking)5

  4. Euclid must fall articles,6 related video of talk at univs of Tubingen-Pretoria,7 and Goodbye Euclid videos of talk at Universiti Sains Malaysia.8


Calculus


  1. Indian calculus, California math framework and technology, popular-level articles9, short summary.10

  2. Springer encyclopedia articles11

  3. Articles reporting calculus courses to 4 math groups in Universiti Sains Malaysia12

  4. Introductory lectures USM/SGT. Three preliminary technical lectures (from viewpoint of formal math) for faculty, before calculus course.13

  5. Blogs on calculus teaching experiments: Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi: http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=34, Ambedkar University, Delhi, Ambedkar University Delhi (“Calculus for social scientists”) http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=83, Center for International Scientific Studies and Cooperation, Tehran, http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=84, SGT University, Delhi,14

  6. Video of talk at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 2015, “Calculus: the real story”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaodCGDjqzs. Abstract: http://ckraju.net/papers/Calculus-story-abstract.html.

  7. Video of talk at IISc, Bengaluru, 2015, “Calculus: ganita or math?”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-r1CWU-KKM. Abstract at “Ganita vs math: ten myths underlying Western math and the need to reject them.”, http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=111.

  8. Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: the nature of mathematical proof, and the transmission of the calculus from India to Europe in the 16th c. CE  (Pearson Longman, 2007, PHISPC Vol. X.4, 477+xlv pp, ISBN: 81-317-0871-3. Summary at http://ckraju.net/papers/GJH-book-review.pdf. https://ghadar.org.in/2008/01/20/cultural-foundations-of-mathematics/

  9. “Computers, Mathematics Education, and the Alternative Epistemology of the Calculus in the YuktiBhâsâ”, Philosophy East and West, 51(3), 2001, pp. 325–362. http://ckraju.net/papers/Hawaii.pdf.


Probability and statistics


  1. Probability in ancient India.15

  2. Probability, simplified article in Springer encyclopedia.16

  3. Video of JNU talk “Statistics for social science and humanities.17


School geometry (rajju ganita)

  1. Early paper: Indian rope trick18

  2. Comprehensive workshop on “Rajju Ganita vs Euclidean geometry”, announcement,19 links to videos (about 5 hours).20

1C. K. Raju, ‘Decolonising Mathematics’, AlterNation 25, no. 2 (2018): 12–43b, https://doi.org/10.29086/2519-5476/2018/v25n2a2. Video of Durban keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpS6MfzJr2E.

2C. K. Raju, ‘गणित बनाम मैथमेटिक्स [Ganita vs Mathematics]’, Himanjali 20, no. July-December (2020): 34–44.

3C. K. Raju, ‘How to break the hegemony perpetuated by the university: decolonised courses in mathematics and the history and philosophy of science (Arabic)’, in Culturalistion of Humanities: Vision and Experiments. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Culturalization of the Humanities, held in Beirut on 20-21 November 2018.) (Beirut: Al Maaref University, 2019), 77–114, http://ckraju.net/papers/Beirut-paper%20for%20iias%20journal.pdf; Raju, C. K., ‘How to Break the Hegemony Perpetuated by the University: Decolonised Courses in Mathematics and the History and Philosophy of Science’, Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 26, no. 2 (2019): 86–109.

4C. K. Raju, ‘Decolonising Mathematics: How and Why It Makes Science Better (and Enables Students to Solve Harder Problems)’, Palestine Technical University Research Journal 6, no. 2 (2018): 1–4. Censored by Israel’s refusal to grant a visa.

5C. K. Raju, ‘A Singular Nobel?’, Mainstream 59, no. 7 (30 January 2021), http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article10406.html.

6C. K. Raju, ‘“Euclid” Must Fall: The “Pythagorean” “Theorem” and The Rant Of Racist and Civilizational Superiority — Part 1’, Arụmarụka: Journal of Conversational Thinking 1, no. 1 (2021): 127–55; C. K. Raju, ‘“Euclid” Must Fall: The “Pythagorean” “Theorem” and the Rant of Racist and Civilizational Superiority - Part 2’, Arumaruka: Journal of Conversational Thinking 1, no. 2 (2021): 57–105.

7https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAP1BcK8mLE.

8For links to the videos and announcement of the talk, see http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=63.

9C. K. Raju, ‘California, Indian Calculus and the Technology Race. 1: The Indian Origin of Calculus and Its Transmission to Europe’, Boloji.Com, 11 December 2021, https://www.boloji.com/articles/52924/california-indian-calculus; C. K. Raju, ‘California, Indian Calculus and the Technology Race. 2: Don’t Cancel the Calculus, Make It Easy!’, Boloji.Com, 24 December 2021, https://www.boloji.com/articles/52950/california-indian-calculus-and.

10“How to make calculus easy”, https://tinyurl.com/ckr-calc2s.

11C. K. Raju, ‘Calculus’, in Encyclopedia of Non-Western Science, Technology and Medicine (Springer, 2016), 1010–15, http://ckraju.net/papers/Springer/ckr-Springer-encyclopedia-calculus-1-final.pdf; C. K. Raju, ‘Calculus Transmission’, in Encyclopedia of Non-Western Science, Technology and Medicine, ed. Helaine Selin (Dordrecht: Springer, 2016), http://ckraju.net/papers/Springer/ckr-Springer-encyclopedia-calculus-2-final.pdf; C. K. Raju, ‘Zeroism’, in Encyclopedia of Non-Western Science, Technology and Medicine (Springer, 2016), http://ckraju.net/papers/Springer/zeroism-springer-f.pdf.

12C. K. Raju, ‘Teaching Mathematics with a Different Philosophy. 1: Formal Mathematics as Biased Metaphysics’, Science and Culture 77, no. 7–8 (2011): 274–79, arXiv:1312,2099; C. K. Raju, ‘Teaching Mathematics with a Different Philosophy. 2: Calculus without Limits’, Science and Culture 7, no. 7–8 (2011): 280–85. arXiv:1312,2100.

13“Calculus without limits: the theory”, “1: Current pedagogy of the calculus, a critique”, http://ckraju.net/sgt/technical-presentations-faculty/ckr-sgt-tech-presentation-1.pdf, “2: A critique of formal mathematics, 1. Axioms and definitions”, http://ckraju.net/sgt/technical-presentations-faculty/ckr-sgt-tech-presentation-2.pdf, “3: A critique of formal math, 2, The choice of logic underlying proof.” http://ckraju.net/sgt/technical-presentations-faculty/ckr-sgt-tech-presentation-3.pdf.

14https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.835427293287604&type=3, photos of students, http://ckraju.net/papers/presentations/images/calculus-sgt-a.jpg, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sdimbGwUCA.

15C. K. Raju, ‘Probability in Ancient India’, in Handbook of Philosophy of Statistics, ed. Paul Thagard Dov M. Gabbay and John Woods, vol. 7, Handbook of Philosophy of Science (Elsevier, 2011), 1175–96, http://ckraju.net/papers/Probability-in-Ancient-India.pdf.

16C. K. Raju, ‘Probability’, in Encyclopedia of Non-Western Science, Technology and Medicine, ed. Helaine Selin (Dordrecht: Springer, 2016), http://ckraju.net/papers/Springer/Probability-springer.pdf.

17C. K. Raju, Statistics for Social Science and Humanities: Should We Teach It Using Normal Math or Formal Math?, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Og1k-Z5O4.

18C. K. Raju, ‘Towards Equity in Math Education 2. The Indian Rope Trick’, Bharatiya Samajik Chintan (New Series) 7, no. 4 (2009): 265–69.

19Rajju Ganita workshop Bengaluru, 5-6 June 2021, http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=197.


20“Euclidean” Geometry vs Rajju Ganita, http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=200