China through Multiple Lenses: Japanese University Students’ Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Their Images of China through Photo-Taking and Sharing

Abstract

In the current study I will describe and interpret how stereotypical anti-Japanese images of China and Chinese people are deconstructed and then replaced by Japanese university students through their fieldwork in China. I will explore how photo taking and sharing serve as active processes of inquiry that enable the students to think, reflect, confirm, interpret, negotiate, and represent their experiences in China. I will demonstrate how the process of conversing about and through the photos that students took during their fieldwork help them to construct and reconstruct alternative perspectives of China and Chinese people.