Abstract

How do the histories of colonialism and imperialism impact the history of mathematical and statistical reasoning? Although histories of science have accounted for the problems of scientific knowledge within colonial contexts, histories of mathematics and statistics have yet to engage more critically with imperialism, colonialism, postcolonialism, nationalism, and democracy. Using examples from my research on the history of statistics in modern India, I will reflect on how such big picture analyses, of the intersectional relation between calculative reasoning and geopolitics, can show us: 1) how the history of mathematics and statistics remain embedded in state politics and political thought, 2) how calculative reasoning informs political structures, and 3) how the history of such disciplines has multiple origins and trajectories much like other sciences. This talk will thus reflect on possible ways of bridging the gap between history of science, history of politics, and the history of mathematics and statistics.