What the History of Mathematics tells us about Diversity and Inclusion

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• Clemency Montelle (University of Canterbury, NZ)
• Monday 16 March 2026, 13:00-16:00
• Seminar Room 1, Newton Institute.

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MHM - Modern History of Mathematics

Mathematics is often presented as timeless, abstract, and culture-free. Yet its history tells a far richer story: one of diverse traditions, evolving methods, collaborative discovery, and multiple ways of representing and reasoning about the world. Recognising this broader history does more than deepen our understanding of the discipline. It also opens new ways of thinking about participation, belonging, and inclusion in today’s mathematical sciences.   This interactive workshop draws on historical examples to explore how mathematical knowledge has developed through varied cultural settings, practical needs, and intellectual styles. By examining how mathematics has always been a human activity shaped by people and the cultures of inquiry they thrive in, we will consider how these perspectives can positively inform contemporary teaching, research, and discovery, and outreach. The aim is not to change what mathematics demands or compromise rigour, but to better recognise the many ways mathematical insight can emerge and flourish.   The workshop invites educators, researchers, and students to reflect on how recognising mathematics as a profoundly human endeavour can help build more equitable and inclusive environments in which a wider range of thinkers and thinking-styles can flourish. Through historical case studies spanning cultures, communities, and practices, we will explore how the history of mathematics broadens our view beyond many modern assumptions about who does mathematics and what counts as mathematical competence. These perspectives help reveal multiple pathways into the discipline and broaden the ways students can recognise, develop, and demonstrate their strengths. By presenting mathematics not as a distant or exclusionary ideal but as a living, culturally embedded, and continually evolving practice, the workshop foregrounds how historical understanding can strengthen belonging, challenge inherited barriers, and invite more people to see themselves as legitimate participants in mathematical work. Participants will leave with historically grounded insights and practical strategies for communicating mathematics in ways that advance inclusion while remaining intellectually rigorous and faithful to the discipline’s past.

This talk is part of the Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series series.

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