Consortium student Burhanuddin Baki will lead a five-week seminar series for London Consortium students on Mathematics for the Humanities and Cultural Studies.

These will take place 2pm - 4pm on the following dates:

• Tuesday 23rd February: Set Theory
• Tuesday 2nd March: Mathematical Proof
• Thursday 11th March: The Mathematics of Networks
• Tuesday 16th March: Number Theory
• Tuesday 23rd March: Combinations, Counting and Probability Theory

The series will focus on the emergence of what appears to be the beginning of a new ‘mathematical turn’ in critical philosophy and cultural studies. In this burgeoning trend, more advanced concepts and contemporary results from pure mathematics are introduced in order to help think through various issues and problems in the humanities today. This turn is evident in, among others, Alain Badiou’s philosophical expliques of set theory and algebraic geometry; the recent interpretations of Gilles Deleuze’s work by Manuel de Landa and Brian Massumi; and the various contemporary investigations into the more algorithmic, computational and topological aspects of internet culture and the new media. In order to partake more meaningfully in this new turn, some acquaintance with advanced mathematical concepts might be useful, and some active discussions aimed at trying to provide a critical and cultural investigation of these concepts should be conducted – which is what this seminar will attempt to offer.