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2024/2025  BA-BBLCO2104U  Cultural Identity and Analysis

English Title
Cultural Identity and Analysis

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Third Quarter
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
  • Intercultural studies
  • Sociology
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 28-06-2024

Relevant links

Learning objectives
  • Formulate a research question that problematises a cultural experience you have had, and which addresses a ‘puzzle’, inconsistency, observation, question or curiosity you experienced, either in a familiar or unfamiliar culture
  • Craft a literature review that draws on suitable course literature as well as appropriate extra-curricular academic literature for illuminating the chosen cultural issue (cf exam guidelines)
  • Apply appropriate readings, theories/ concepts taught during the course to analyse the chosen cultural issue
  • Evaluate the strengths and limitations of the theories/concepts presented during the course for explaining a chosen cultural issue.
  • Reflect critically on own positionality and cultural assumptions, with a point of departure in analysis of experiences with a familiar or unfamiliar culture.
  • Craft and apply a research methods approach that is appropriate for investigating the chosen research issue
Examination
Cultural Identity and Analysis:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Spring
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The course concludes with an essay based on a theme that students select themselves, within set guidelines.

 

The essay should take its point of departure in one of the main course themes and discuss it in the light of the theoretical perspectives and concepts taught during the course. 

 

Students will develop an idea for their exam essay during the course. Feedback will be provided on this idea on seven occasions: 1) Two individual supervision sessions with a teacher will assist the students in choosing and refining their ideas; 2) Five assignment development workshops will be held where the students receive input from a teacher about how to write their essays, and will 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.

 

 


 

 

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 unfamiliar cultural contexts and when ‘at home’, e.g. in one's home country or own organisational/work environment. Awareness of one’s own cultural positionality and assumptions, both in unfamiliar and familiar cultural contexts, are important elements in enabling this. 
  
“Cultural Identity and Analysis” is designed to foster and train these abilities. The aim of the course is to encourage critical reflexivity concerning students’ own cultural identity and positionality, and about the ways in which they apprehend and negotiate difference. Students will be introduced to theories and concepts that will enable them to practice such critical reflection both in a familar context (where they regard themselves as 'insiders') and in an unfamiliar/foreign context (where they regard themselves as 'outsiders').  Different theoretical approaches to culture, identity and difference will be presented (e.g. social identity theory, communication accommodation theory, cross-cultural adaptation theory, inclusion/exclusion and belonging, acculturation, alterity, positionality, recognition, materiality and embodiment), as well as approaches to analysing and writing about one's own experiences in a scientific manner (autoethnographic approaches, sense-making).

 

These theories will be applied to students' experiences both in an 'insider' and  'outsider' context:

 

'Outsider' cultural context: we will follow up on students’ experiences of navigating unfamiliar cultural contexts where they regard themselves as 'outsiders' (for instance, the exchange semester abroad or another unfamiliar culture students have experienced in their lives (e.g. a holiday abroad, a new sports club, or a move from Jutland to Sjælland). Cases will be drawn from students' own experiences. Students' experiences will be discussed in the light of the cultural assumptions, positionality and identity issues that they raise.

 

'Insider' cultural context: with a point of departure in their own experiences, students will be introduced to the challenges, including cultural blind spots, involved in critically reflecting on their own cultural assumptions, identity and positionality in a familiar cultural context where they regard themselves as 'insiders', 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 as cultural 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. The cultural analysis techniques students learn during the course will also equip students with conceptual and methodological tools that they can deploy when writing their bachelor project if they choose to write about a cultural topic - notably the concept of 'positionality' which runs through the entire Cultural Analysis course and which will also be addressed in their IRM course.

 

 

Description of the teaching methods
The semester is organised as follows: 1) Two x 15 minute individual supervision sessions with a teacher will assist students in choosing and refining the students' ideas for their assignment; 2) Five assignment development workshops will be held where the students receive input from a teacher about how to write their assignments, and will 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. 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 will to a large extent be generated by the students themselves, who will draw on their own previous experiences with culture.
Feedback during the teaching period
The students receive feedback on seven occasions during the course.

Two feedback sessions take the form of 15-minute individual supervision meetings at which the students receive feedback on their ideas for their exam assignment (submitted to their supervision teacher prior to the supervision session in the form of a 2-page and then a 5-page WIP document for the first and second supervisions, respectively).

Five feedback sessions take the form of workshops at which the students receive input about how to craft their exam assignments, and receive feedback on their ideas both from their peers and from their workshop teacher.

Students are also strongly encouraged to make use of the coordinator's office hours to discuss any questions they may have about the course. These sessions are not, however, intended as additional supervision sessions for students' exam assignments.
Student workload
Lectures 20 hours
Feedback 1.5 hours
Preparation and exams 184.5 hours
Total 206 hours
Further Information

Please note that this course will be discontinued and run for the last time in Spring 2027. The last exam will be offered in summer 2028.

Expected literature

To be announced on Canvas

Last updated on 28-06-2024