Embodiment of Geometry in Traditional Newari Art: An Ethnographic Inquiry

Abstract

"What if students encounter the same thing in mathematics classroom that they have been seeing in their home, society or day to day practices?" I believe it is unfortunate to see the exclusion of students' cultural aspects in mathematics classroom as in context of Nepal, the students belongs to diverse cultural and ethnic groups. Hence I felt the necessity to conduct a research study on cultural integration in mathematics classroom to uncover its potential in enhancing mathematics learning. I chose to conduct research on Newari cultural to which I belong with my major research questions; "How geometry is manifested in traditional Newari art?" and "How can we incorporate 'ethno-geometry' in basic level school mathematics teaching and learning approach?" I chose geometrical practices in Newari traditional art as major subject to explore in my research study. Hence, the whole research study was guided by qualitative ethnographic research design. With remarkable time invested in observations and interviews I encountered many geometrical practices that are distinct from our mainstream pedagogies but yet very simple. On the basis of various literatures that I have reviewed in my research study I can assertively say that there ii are some positive changes that can expected by incorporation of traditional approaches in geometry teaching and learning. Plenty of arguments presented by my research participants supporting cultural incorporation in mathematics teaching approaches encouraged me to conduct further research on other sector like use Newari artifacts in teaching and learning mathematics.