Workshop on Measuring
Measuring: Practices, Publics, and Politics in doing History of Mathematical Practices
Workshop, January 23-24, 2020 ETH Zurich, Switzerland
The Workshop is part of the ongoing Project to analyze cognitive and sociopolitical aspects of mathematical practice in south India between the 9th and 16th centuries. In this Project, we aim to study how mathematical notations and measurement units evolved in their practical context, through processes of standardization and measurement practices. We want to study a mathematical professional — the village accountant — through his education, cognitive development, mathematical conceptualization, social position and political role. Here, we will present some preliminary results of the project with Tamil epigraphic sources to document the diversity of measuring practices in spatial and historical terms.
In line with this inquiry, this workshop will bring together historians of mathematics studying different cultures to address certain pertinent questions concerning the place of measuring practices in history. These questions pertain to the relationship between standardization and the role of practitioners and the state; how could historians integrate the political economy of the conditions of knowledge production along with changes in practices and techniques; what are the innovative ways in which historians could disseminate such studies; what could be the novel sources which can facilitate such inquiry.
Historians in the workshop will reflect on measurement practices in the ancient and medieval periods of Greece and the Roman world, Mesopotamia, China, Europe and India. In this two day workshop, the participants will reflect on their own work in the light of the questions raised as well as suggest new variety of sources and modes of generating pedagogic resources.
The confirmed participants include Jens Hoyrup, Karine Chemla, Serafina Cuomo, Subbarayalu Y., Christine Proust, Agathe Keller, Melissa Kutner, Ana Diaz, Matthias Schemmel, Pietro Omodeo along with members of the Project team at the ETH.
DownloadProgramme of the Workshop (PDF, 69 KB)
DownloadAbstracts (PDF, 139 KB)