Using Photographic Storytelling to Cultivate Intercultural Awareness and Understanding with Immigrant and Refugee-background Students

Photographs are an important visual aid to share our stories and expressions of culture. The need is great for the voices and stories of immigrant and refugee-background students to be heard, if they choose to share their stories. As English teachers, we can invite our students to participate in the contribution of an asset-based discourse rather than a deficit one regarding immigrants and refugee-background people in the US. How can we do this through ethnographic inquiry using photographs and storytelling? This paper includes a literature review to explore how photography and storytelling have been used to facilitate inter-cultural awareness and understanding with immigrants and refugee-background people. Then, using a cultural framework, the author combines photography and storytelling to create materials and curriculum and guide her students on an ethnographic inquiry into culture