AL101202 Understanding Culture

Minimum college entrance requirements

After having completed the course, the candidate should have insight, understanding, and respect for the cultural patterns that determine his/her own and others' behaviour.By looking at relevant literature and practical exercises, the student will acquire concepts for analyzing and describing culture and national cultures. The candidate should also learn to prepare a meeting with a foreign business culture that can minimize unnecessary communication problems.

The course content builds on research in anthropology, psychology, ethics, and social studies.
Central topics studied are:
Cultural practices in time and space;
Theories of culture, identity and behavior patterns;
Analytic approach to culture;
The global and the local;
Interaction and communication across cultures;
Relation and distinction between Western and Non-Western states;
Global variation in consumption, social organization, economic systems and economic practices.

Lectures, group work, seminars, film

A group project (oral) must be approved before the candidate can sit for the final exam. Private students must submit a written essay with a theme similar to the group project.

A 3-hour final written exam