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2017/2018  BA-BBLCO2022U  Cultural Analysis

English Title
Cultural Analysis

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Maribel Blasco - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalization and international business
Last updated on 04-04-2017

Relevant links

Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Define and compare the theories and perspectives on cultural difference presented in the course material and readings, and be able to evaluate their strengths and limitations for explaining a chosen cultural issue.
  • Apply appropriate readings, theories and concepts taught during the course to analyse the assumptions and observations presented in the student exchange logbook or their experiences ‘at home’.
  • Reflect critically on his/her own cultural assumptions and situatedness, with a point of departure in analysis of experiences with a familiar or unfamiliar culture.
Examination
Cultural Analysis:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
The course concludes with an essay based on a theme that students select themselves.
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The essay should take its point of departure in one of the main course themes – i.e. analyzing a familiar or an unfamiliar culture - and discuss it in the light of the theoretical perspectives and concepts taught during the course. 
Students will organize in self-selected groups of 3-5 at the start of the course. Each group will sign up to a theme (e.g. ‘politeness’ ‘culture shock’) and will develop an idea for the exam essay during the course. A group supervision session will assist students in choosing and refining their ideas. At the end of the course, a workshop will be held where students present their essay ideas and receive feedback from an opponent group and from the teacher. Students may develop and expand the group idea individually for the exam; they are, however also free to choose a completely new topic if they wish.

Cultural Analysis is designed to integrate with the 3rd Year Project.

Course content and structure

Today’s BLC graduates are likely to be employed in multicultural organisations in Denmark and/or abroad. The ability to work effectively with people from a wide range of backgrounds is therefore increasingly crucial, both when in a foreign environment, and when ‘at home’. Awareness of one’s own cultural situatedness and assumptions, and those of one’s organization and work context, are important elements in enabling this. 
  
“Cultural Analysis” is designed to foster and train these abilities. The aim of the course is to encourage critical reflexivity concerning students’ own cultural situatedness, and the ways in which they apprehend and negotiate difference both in a foreign context and at ‘home’. This is achieved in two ways in this course. During the first half of the course we will follow up on students’ experiences from their semester abroad in the lectures, using cases drawn from the ‘exchange log book’, an electronic media platform accessible only to the class and teacher, which students are required to post on during their exchange. We will use the posts as data and discuss them in the light of the course theories and concepts. Students will be introduced to different approaches to culture, identity and difference (e.g. functionalist, interpretive, post-modern). During the second part of the course, students will be introduced to theories and concepts that will enable them to carry out a cultural analysis of a familiar environment, e.g. a Danish organization or institution (such as CBS, a workplace, sports club or family context). Students will thus be expected to draw on the perspectives and concepts taught during the course in explaining and reflecting on their experiences both abroad and at home. The cultural analysis techniques students learn during the course are also intended to equip students with conceptual and methodological tools that they can deploy when writing their 3rd Year Project. 
  
Guidelines for the exchange log book will be distributed at the end of the 4th semester before the students leave for their semester abroad.

Teaching methods
The semester is organised as lectures, as well as a group supervision session and a workshop involving presentations, and opponent and teacher feedback. These different learning situations will equip students to apply the conceptual tools they have been taught in order to analyse their experiences with familiar and unfamiliar cultures. Data about exchange experiences will be generated by the students themselves, who are required to post on a virtual platform whilst on exchange, regarding their experiences, anecdotes, interviews, images, music, newspaper articles, film clips, etc. that they found thought-provoking, interesting, shocking, surprising, etc.
Feedback during the teaching period
The students receive feedback twice during the course. The first feedback session takes the form of a 30 minute supervision meeting, where the students, organized in groups of 3-5 members, receive detailed feedback on their ideas for their exam assignment, contained in a 2-page WIP document which they submit to their supervision teacher prior to the supervision session. The second feedback session takes the form of a 4 hour workshop where the groups present a 5-page practice assignment (which represents the further development of the 2-page WIP supervision document) prior to the workshop, and receive feedback on it at the workshop both from an opponent group and from their workshop teacher.
Student workload
Lectures 20 hours
Workshop 8 hours
Preparation and exams 178 hours
Total 206 hours
Expected literature

To be announced on Learn

Last updated on 04-04-2017