Indefinite with Respect to Culture

The colonisation of mathematics is engraved in the version of the history of mathematics that presents it as a Western achievement. As part of the process of colonisation, Eurocentrism developed into an all-dominating perspective on the world, and the white-supremacy ideology became part of the modern outlook. The European colonisation of mathematics was accomplished by cutting away the non-Greek roots of mathematics, and by describing Greek culture as European. The Eurocentric presentation of the history of mathematics is, however, a myth that has transformed into an unquestionable given, repeated in many mathematics textbooks, including brief sketches of the history of mathematics. Ethnomathematical studies have contributed profoundly to the recognition of the multiplicities of the enculturation of mathematics. For a critical philosophy of mathematics, it is crucial to acknowledge this multiplicity and to recognise mathematics as being indefinite with respect to culture.