Bøker av Thomas Ward

This memoir chronicles the journey of an academic, tracing a path from primary school in Zambia to a career in higher education as a mathematician and educational leader. Set against the backdrop of the 20th century, the book explores how early influences and historical events shape an individual's life and professional trajectory. The author shares childhood experiences across three parts of Africa, providing an original perspective as a witness to the post-colonial period. Through personal reflections, the memoir delves into the emergence of ideas and collaborations in mathematics and how these shape career choices. It also offers candid observations on the major changes in British higher education since the 1980s. Intended for a general audience, this book provides a compelling read for anyone interested in the experience of becoming a mathematician, and higher education in general.

Set in London 2065, society has continued its advancement in both philosophy and technology. People no longer suffer the hardships which previous generations faced. However, Sam Moorcroft, a teenager, is drawn to a particular village, primitive in nature. Designed as a sociological experiment, the village has no connection or knowledge of the outside world. Sam finds his new life to be rough but strangely appealing - so different from modern life. Amidst much turmoil, Sam eventually realizes that he is torn between the two worlds. Interlander is a thought-provoking tale that examines the impact that technology has on a person's spiritual life.

While there are differences between cultures in different places and times, colonial representations of indigenous peoples generally suggest they are not capable of literature nor are they worthy of being represented as nations. Colonial representations of indigenous people continue on into the independence era and can still be detected in our time. The thesis of this book is that there are various ways to decolonize the representation of Amerindian peoples. Each chapter has its own decolonial thesis which it then resolves. Chapter 1 proves that there is coloniality in contemporary scholarship and argues that word choices can be improved to decolonize the way we describe the first Americans. Chapter 2 argues that literature in Latin American begins before 1492 and shows the long arc of Mayan expression, taking the Popol Wuj as a case study. Chapter 3 demonstrates how colonialist discourse is reinforced by a dualist rhetorical ploy of ignorance and arrogance in a Renaissance historical chronicle, Agustin de Zrates Historia del descubrimiento y conquista del Per. Chapter 4 shows how by inverting the Renaissance dualist configuration of civilization and barbarian, the Nahua (Aztecs) who were formerly considered barbarian can be civilized within Spanish norms. This is done by modeling the categories of civilization discussed at length by the Friar Bartolome de las Casas as a template that can serve to evaluate Nahua civil society as encapsulated by the historiography of Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, a possibility that would have been available to Spaniards during that time. Chapter 5 maintains that the colonialities of the pre-Independence era survive, but that Criollo-indigenous dialogue is capable of excavating their roots to extirpate them. By comparing the discussions of the hacienda system by the Peruvian essayist Manuel Gonzlez Prada and by the Mayan-Quiche eye-witness to history Rigoberta Mench, this books shows that there is common ground between their viewpoints despite the different genres in which their work appears and despite the different countries and the eight decades that separated them, suggesting a universality to the problem of the hacienda which can be dissected. This book models five different decolonizing methods to extricate from the continuities of coloniality both indigenous writing and the representation of indigenous peoples by learned elites.