Center for Intercultural Dialogue

PHD position in the project “Media tourism in China: A local perspective,” Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Deadline: 7 February 2021.

The application is now open for a Chinese student who wishes to study at Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands) with a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC).

This PhD project seeks to answer the two following main research questions: How do locals perceive the representations of their places of residency in popular culture? How do these portrayals shape locals’ place-attachment, their self-identity and, also, their interactions with media tourists? China presents an excellent location to explore the above-mentioned questions due to the long tradition of media tourism in the country, the current boom of domestic popular media, and the lack of research that thoroughly explores the relationship between media representation and destination images in Asia.

Methodologically, the investigation will take a qualitative approach. Textual analysis will be used to analyze the mediated representations in a selection of popular culture texts filmed in well-established filming locations such as the Fujian Province. Participants will explore, for instance, which spaces have been represented and which ones have been excluded, and what type of locals have been portrayed and which ones have been left out. Focus groups and participatory methods (e.g. photo/video voice) will be used to reach a deep understanding about locals’ interpretations of those portrayals, as well as the consequences that these depictions have on their identities and on their relationship with media tourists.