"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience." - George Bernard Shaw

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Western Mathematics: The Secret Weapon of Cultural Imperialism

"Of all the school subjects which were imposed on indigenous pupils in the colonial schools, arguably the one which could have been considered the least culturally-loaded was mathematics... This article challenges that myth, and places what many now call ’western mathematics’ in its rightful position in the arguments - namely, as one of the most powerful weapons in the imposition of western culture...

But where do ’degrees’ come from? Why is the total 180? Why no 200, or 100? Indeed, why are we interested in triangles and their properties at all? The answer to all these questions is, essentially, ’because some people determined that it should be that way’... [Ed: We also drive on certain sides because some people determine it should be that way. Feel free to drive on the other side and kill yourself (hopefully not other people who aren't as ideologically driven as you. And I'm sure driving on a certain side of the road restricts us and prevents the subaltern from having a voice.]

We are now aware of the fact that many different counting systems exist in the world. In Papua New Guinea, Lean has documented nearly 600 (there are more than 750 languages there) containing various cycles of numbers, not all base ten.’ As well as finger counting, there is documented use of body counting, where one points to a part of the body and uses the name of that part as the number. Numbers are also recorded in knotted strings, carved on wooden tablets or on rocks, and beads are used, as well as many different written systems of numerals. The richness is both fascinating and provocative for anyone imagining initially that theirs is the only system of counting and recording numbers. [Ed: Try adding up your supermarket bill with knotted strings.]

... Nor only is it in number that we find interesting differences. The conception of space which underlies Euclidean geometry is also only one conception - it relies particularly on the ’atomistic’ and objectoriented ideas of points, lines, planes and solids. Other conceptions exist, such as that of the Navajos where space is neither subdivided nor objectified, and where everything is in motion. [Ed: Try designing a plane using Navajo space instead of Euclidean space. Just don't take anyone else on the test flight.]

... Regarding trade and the commercial field generally, this is clearly the area where measures, units, numbers, currency and some geometric notions were employed. More specifically, it would have been western ideas of length, area volume, weight, time and money which would have been imposed on the indigenous societies... as Jones’ informant showed in Papua New Guinea in a recent investigation: ’It could be said [that two gardens are equal in area] but it would always be debated’ and ’There is no way of comparing the volume of rock with the volume of water, there being no reason for it’. [Ed: You can use measuring systems where volumes can't be compared and remain as isolated indigenious tribal societies.]

... There are four clusters of values which are associated with western European mathematics, and which must have had a tremendous impact on the indigenous cultures.

First, there is the area of rationalism, which is at the very heart of western mathematics. If one had to choose a single value and attribute which has guaranteed the power and authority of mathematics within western culture, it is rationalism. As Kline says: ’In its broadest aspect mathematics is a spirit, the spirit of rationality. It is this spirit that challenges, stimulates, invigorates, and drives human minds to exercise themselves to the fullest. With its focus on deductive reasoning and logic, it poured scorn on mere trial and error practices, traditional wisdom and witchcraft. [Ed: I wonder if Alan J. Bishop has ever gone to a witch doctor instead of a real one, and thus been complicit in the marginalisation of indigenous cultures.]

... A third set of values concerns the power and control aspect of western mathematics. Mathematical ideas are used either as directly applicable concepts and techniques, or indirectly through science and technology, as ways to control the physical and social environment. As Schaaf says in relation to the history of mathematics: ’The spirit of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is typified by man’s increasing mastery over his physical environment. ’ So, using numbers and measurements in trade, industry, commerce and administration would all have emphasised the power and control values of mathematics. It was (and still is) so clearly useful knowledge, powerful knowledge, and it seduced the majority of peoples who came into contact with it.

... Certainly, even if progress were sought by the indigenous population, which itself is not necessarily obvious, what was offered was a westernised, industrialised and product-oriented version of progress, which seemed only to reinforce the disparity between progressive, dynamic and aggressive western European imperialists and traditional, stable and non-proselytising colonised peoples. Mathematically inspired progress through technology and science was clearly one of the reasons why the colonial powers had progressed as far as they had, and that is why mathematics was such a significant tool in the cultural kitbag of the imperialists. [Ed: Subsidising AIDS drugs to the Third World is cultural imperialism, and it's not necessarily obvious that they want to live longer.]

In total, then, these values amount to a mathematico-technological cultural force, which is what indeed the imperialist powers generally represented. Mathematics with its clear rationalism, and cold logic, its precision, its so-called ’objective’ facts (seemingly culture and value free), its lack of human frailty, its power to predict and to control, its encouragement to challenge and to question, and its thrust towards yet more secure knowledge, was a most powerful weapon indeed. When allied to the use of technology, to the development of industry and commerce through scientific applications and to the increasing utility of tangible, commercial products, its status was felt to be indisputable."

--- Alan J. Bishop, Race & Class (2000) 32: 51-65


Someone: if the western powers didn't teach mathematics, they would be accused of leaving 3rd world people in the dust, depriving them of knowledge