Global Children's Play: Cross-Cultural Digital Photo Essays Across Myanmar, Korea, and the United States

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Social Relationships and Peer Culture: Multimodal Play

Abstract

Drawing from postcolonial theory, this cross-cultural study examined preservice teachers’ implicit assumptions about global childhood in Myanmar, South Korea, and the U.S.. With a multivocal ethnographic method, we utilized digital photo essays as a way for eliciting preservice teachers’ taken-for-granted assumptions about global children's play (Van Dijck, 2008). A total of 37 early childhood preservice teachers involved in exchanging national digital photo essays (i.e., a form of essay with participants’ selection of digital photo images and written commentaries) across three countries. The finding suggests that participants had hegemonic construction of an ‘ideal’ western childhood. We discussed the implications for utilizing digital photo essays as a means for promoting cultural awareness in teacher preparation programs.

Authors

• Haesung Im, Duksung Women's University

• Youn Jung Huh, Salem State University

• Boo Young Lim, University of Oklahoma