Mathematics and astronomy are often taught as packaged universal truths, independent of time and context. Their history is assumed to be one of revelations and discoveries, beginning with the Greeks and reaching final maturity in modern Europe. This narrative has been roundly critiqued for decades, but the work of rewriting these histories has only just begun.
Watch our conversation with S. Prashant Kumar, Postdoctoral Researcher at UChicago’s Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, to explore the growing literature on the history of mathematics and astronomy in regions which now make up the global south. We will examine how mathematical and astronomical knowledge conjoined and how both were embedded in political contexts, cultural practices, and forms of labor.
