Decolonizing Pedagogy in Wartime Higher Education
Ramanujan and World War I-era Trinity College
Intro
The Man Who Knew Infinity explores the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, an exceptional Indian mathematician who struggles to navigate life thousands of miles away from his home of Madras, India. Unlike his British Trinity College (a college of the University of Cambridge) counterparts, Ramanujan considers his mathematical prowess to be derived directly from God, a particularly understandable conclusion given his lack of formal education and training prior to his arrival at Cambridge.
In stark contrast stands individuals such as G.H. Hardy, an atheist whose refusal to believe anything he cannot prove closely aligns with the professional and curricular standards utilized at Trinity. Given the homogeneity of Trinity College faculty and students alike, the collegiate context found within The Man Who Knew Infinity is ripe for decolonization practices; however, while Ramanujan does break barriers on his way to international renown, numerous factors — e.g., the discipline of mathematics, the outbreak of World War I, among others — hinder the likelihood of support for a paradigm shifting change in educational approach. Yet while the limitations are myriad given the time and place of the film, this paper will also utilize decolonizing practices to outline a learning experience for Ramanujan and his colleagues.
Appropriateness of a Decolonizing Framework
In terms of a society or learning environment standing to benefit from a decolonizing paradigm, Trinity College in World War I Britain serves as a prime example. Still, when considering the time, discipline, and larger external factors at play in the film, I could not realistically espouse applying a decolonizing paradigm to Ramanujan’s case. In terms of Ramanujan’s relationships with his teachers at Trinity College, G.H. Hardy’s willingness to consider different ways of knowing (including the existence of God) does enable the two to strengthen their bond, which in turn leads to a great deal of improvement for Ramanujan’s status at the college before his untimely death. Still, throughout the film, it becomes clear that alternative ways of knowing are largely unwelcome in the world of mathematical discovery and publishing.
Fellner (2018) considers decolonizing to be a conscious, continuous act of “privileging…Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing” over historically favored colonialist methods and practices (p. 284). Unfortunately, even as Ramanujan becomes accepted — and even celebrated — in the upper reaches of academia, this only occurs after he greatly improves his skills at proofing — a Western way of knowing that stands in contrast to his preferred methods. Additionally, as I will discuss in the limitations section, given that colonization/colonist practices were at or near their peak during this timeframe, policymakers would likely shun any effort at decolonization (though one could argue that such a reaction only strengthens the argument for decolonization).
Learning Experience & Power Relations
Though it seems farfetched in the relevant learning environment (more on this in the next section), I would design a learning experience that utilizes Fellner’s (2018) three-pronged framework of decolonization to get participants to understand the ongoing problems of their current relationship, promote an appreciation of Ramanujan’s Indian culture, and determine how alternative practices and ways of knowing can improve the institution at large (p. 285). While Ramanujan’s culture may have entirely different practices, the concept of the talking circle could pay dividends in that “[facing] each other across historic divides, [deconstructing] their shared past, and [engaging] critically with the realization that their present and future is similarly tied together” (Donald, 2009, p. 5, as cited in Fellner, 2018, p. 291) are all potentially vital steps to the established members of Trinity College learning to embrace and appreciate the intelligence, personalities, and cultures of Ramanujan and other minoritized individuals.
Given the longtime British subjugation of Indian peoples, this learning experience would serve as a small combatting of the cultural erasure evident throughout the Raj (the British rule in India), allow Ramanujan and other minoritized persons at Trinity College to voice their perspectives on their positionality at the college, and represent an opportunity for Ramanujan and other minorities to establish a sense of solidarity both with each other and with potential allies (e.g., Hardy, Littlewood, et al.). The third of these is evidenced somewhat in conversations between Ramanujan and Hardy, yet a greater audience would be necessary in order to influence matters at an institutional level.
Power relations at Trinity College are quite overt: those who hold power (a homogenous group of well-educated white men) wield it openly and largely weaponize it against minorities such as Ramanujan. For much of the film, Ramanujan’s presence at Trinity is decried by many and, at best, tenuously accepted by relative few. Even his staunchest supporters — Hardy and Littlewood — typically fail to understand Ramanujan on a personal level and attempt to indoctrinate him into their colonialist/Western ways of knowing while denigrating or ignoring his own. Another byproduct of this learning experience could be the creation of solidarity between Ramanujan and his allies. As cited in Santiago-Ortiz (2018), Freire (1970/1996) considers the act of solidarity a “radical posture” (p. 49). In order for Ramanujan’s education to be truly liberating, other individuals — especially those belonging to the prevailing dominant culture — will likely have to stand with him and create a [community] of individuals who have chosen to work and fight together (Mohanty, 2003, as cited in Santiago-Ortiz, 2018).
Limitations
The timeframe explored in the film highlights a number of causes for concern when considering adopting a decolonizing pedagogy. First, the eruption of World War I resulted in an overwhelming amount of people, resources, attention, emotions, etc. being dedicated to the war effort. As evidenced by the soldiers needlessly assaulting Ramanujan outside of the post office, there exists a strong possibility that a time of global war is not ideal for
(Above, a link to an exhibition/collection of blog posts detailing Trinity College’s WWI experience. The intro briefly touches on the slew of concerns that affected the national zeitgeist at home. In the Bertrand Russell — a mathematician who appears in The Man Who Knew Infinity — subsection, it is noted that Russell was convicted, fined, and dismissed from Trinity due to his pacifistic views, which were deemed in opposition to national interests.)
paradigmatic shifts in a longstanding institution such as the University of Cambridge. Moreover, given mathematics’ status as a “hard pure” discipline, its curricula appear “linear and hierarchical…building up…towards contemporary knowledge” (Neumann et al., 2002, p. 407). As such, attempts to subvert the standard Western/colonialist methods for expanding knowledge within the discipline may be interpreted as overly foreign or even traitorous.
Apart from issues stemming from current events or disciplinary norms, Zembylas’ (2018) definition of colonialism and coloniality are “a temporal period of oppression that has come and gone” and “the underlying logic that…valorises all that is European,” respectively (p. 2). Regarding the former, that “temporal period” had very much not desisted at the time in which the film is set, and while Zembylas contends that colonialist logic remains strong in the present day, it almost certainly was closer to its heyday in WWI-era Britain.
Last, while solidarity would be a key component to decolonizing pedagogy at Trinity College, the overwhelming homogeneity of the community would likely serve as a drawback for influencing change. Ramanujan is one of approximately two Indian students seen in the film; while a few key allies do eventually present themselves and Ramanujan does become a fellow, his unmatched brilliance may make him an exception to the rule rather than a roundly embraced symbol of an incipient paradigmatic shift. If one is to “meet people where they are,” as the modern saying goes, then most minoritized individuals in this particular era will be confronted with a largely uncaring, unmerciful society.
Conclusion
The Man Who Knew Infinity highlights how Ramanujan’s unmatched skill afforded him access to previously unreachable opportunities and, of course, tacitly rejects the overt racism expressed by various characters throughout the film. While the cultural realities explored in the film would make the incorporation of decolonizing pedagogies impossible or–at the very least–implausible, the collegiate context of WWI-era University of Cambridge/Trinity College does stand to benefit from widespread decolonization. Throughout the film, the vast majority of Ramanujan’s difficulties stem from a lack of others’ appreciation and understanding of his cultural underpinnings and ways of knowing. In a part of the world dominated by colonist perspectives, Freire’s (2003, as cited in Zembylas, 2018) concept of the humanization of the world being a byproduct of the “liberation of the oppressed” seems particularly apropos. Although Ramanujan would not live to see a transformation (at least not fully), he did serve as a pioneer who reshaped Trinity College and the world of mathematics.
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References
Brown, M. (Director). (2015). The man who knew infinity [Film]. Pressman Film.
corinna_viajera. (2021, January 3). The “Decolonizing Economics: A Guide to Theory and Practice” ends with some very useful practical suggestions by
@ingridharvold on how to decolonize economic teaching. What a delightful panel, really, thanks a lot to all the speakers! #ASSA2021. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://mobile.twitter.com/corinna_viajera/status/1345768421003292673/photo/1.
Fellner, K. D. (2018). Embodying decoloniality: Indigenizing curriculum and pedagogy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62, 283–293, doi:httys://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12286
Institute for Advanced Study. (2011, April 6). We know that God exists because math is consistent and we know… — Kojman. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHsvGZzuYcY&ab_channel=InstituteforAdvancedStudy
Neumann R., Parry, S., & Becher, T. (2002). Teaching and learning in their disciplinary contexts: A conceptual analysis. Studies in Higher Education, 27(4), 405–417, doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507022000011525
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TapasNiyama. (June 2, 2020). And this was possible due to the work of #Ramanujan, mathematical genius of #India. Ramanujan had no formal training in mathematics & still he came up with #PartitionTheory. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/TapasNiyama/status/1267874365615607811
Zembylas, M. (2018, November). Decolonial possibilities in South African higher education: Reconfiguring humanising pedagogies as/with decolonising pedagogies. South African Journal of Education, 38(4), 1–11. doi:https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v38n4a1699
