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2022/2023  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 and MSc in Business, Language and Culture, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Maribel Blasco - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalisation and international business
  • Sociology
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 27-06-2022

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Formulate a research question that addresses a cultural experience you have had, either in a familiar or unfamiliar culture
  • 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 your chosen cultural issue.
  • Apply appropriate readings, theories and concepts taught during the course to analyse your experiences in a familiar or unfamiliar culture.
  • Reflect critically on your own cultural assumptions and situatedness, with a point of departure in analysis of your experiences with a familiar and/or unfamiliar culture.
  • Craft and apply a research methods approach that is appropriate for investigating the chosen research issue
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, written individually, based on a theme that students select themselves, within set guidelines.
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 7 days to prepare
Grading scale 7-point grading 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 develop an idea for the exam essay during the course. Feedback will be provided on this idea on four occasions: 1) Two individual supervision sessions will assist the student groups in choosing and refining their ideas; 2) Two workshops will be held where the students, organised in their groups, present their essay ideas and receive feedback from peers and from the teacher. Students may develop their ongoing idea into their exam paper; they are, however also free to choose a completely new topic if they prefer.

 

Cultural Analysis is designed to integrate with the bachelor project.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

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’ - e.g. in one's own organisational/work environment. Awareness of one’s own cultural situatedness and assumptions, both in unfamiliar and familiar contexts, 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’. Students will be introduced to theories and concepts that will enable them to carry out a cultural analysis both of a familar context (where they feel 'at home') and of an unfamiliar/foreign context. This is achieved in two ways in this course:

 

First, 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). Second, students are introduced to the challenges involved in carrying out a cultural analysis of a familiar environment, e.g. a Danish organisation 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 in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. 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 bachelor 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.
Description of the teaching methods
The semester is organised as on-campus lectures, as well as two on-campus or online supervision sessions and two on-campus workshops per class, involving presentations and discussions of the students' ideas for their exam assignment, as well as 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.

Two feedback sessions take the form of workshops Students submit a 'workshops prep document' before each workshop, and will both give and receive feedback on these documents at the workshops both from peers and from their workshop teacher.

Two feedback sessions consist of 15-minute individual supervision meetings at which the students receive feedback on their ideas for their exam assignment. Prior to the supervisions, students submit a 2- and 5-page practice assignment, respectively for Supervision 1 & 2. These practice assignments represent the ongoing development of students' exam essays.

Students are also strongly encouraged to make use of the coordinator's office hours to discuss their assignment ideas or other aspects of the course.
Student workload
Lectures 20 hours
Feedback 4,5 hours
Preparation and exams 181,5 hours
Total 206 hours
Further Information

Please note that this course will be discontinued and will be offered for the last time in spring 2023. The last exam in the course will be offered in summer 2024. The course Cultural Analysis and Identity will replace it.
Expected literature

Announced on Canvas
Last updated on 27-06-2022