CULTURE-ANALYSIS I -- Course Syllabus

Continued from the "Project on Culture and Conflict" page

NOTE: The academic approval process (at the University of Arizona's College of Humanities) for the first-time offering of this "experimental" proposed innovative course was repeatedly delayed, until its underlying (below mentioned) project got eventually cancelled--described on previous pages of this site.

CULTURE-ANALYSIS I -- Course Syllabus

Syllabus for the Proposed Course: Culture-analysis: Uncovering the Essence of Diversity; Proposed for the Fall Semester, 2008 (3 credits) -- A jointly convened course for advanced undergraduate as well as graduate students; Please see below for differential requirements for graduate students.

Instructor--and developer of the course and this syllabus: 

Moji Agha (Mojtaba Aghamohammadi); A Visiting Scholar -- and Director of the Project on Culture and Conflict -- at the Africana Studies Program, University of Arizona, Tucson. 

The Instructor reserves the right to modify this syllabus, should other written texts, films, speakers, and additional appropriate instructional materials become available. Students taking this course must read this syllabus very carefully, and should there be any questions talk with the Instructor right away.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In part due to the ignorance of the true dynamics, especially of "lived culture," for centuries European-centered civilizational heritages, discourses, and concepts have been developed and propagated, as if they were culturally uniform and universally applicable. Hence, other formative contributions to human civilizations have been marginalized, denied, or purposefully suppressed. 

Therefore, a thorough ontological and epistemological new understanding of how culture is lived and how it works in daily experience and discourse is integral to the optimal intellectual and applied development of scholarly disciplines, and of students, especially within humanities and area studies, including those majoring in Africana Studies.

Therefore, this foundation-building interdisciplinary introductory course intends to provide a comprehensive understanding of the major themes, debates, and experiences within the newly emerging field of culture-analysis. It provides the needed foundations for an in-depth theoretical and practical understanding of diversity, especially in the ways it is experienced and appears as “culture” (conscious or not) in the lived discourses of humans, individually and collectively. 

In addition to covering specific approaches and techniques related to the understanding and management of cultural diversity, this course is designed to empower scholars and practitioners to critically address major challenges that call for foundational re-thinking and creative reformulation of situations in which cultural diversity plays visible and especially invisible roles, for example in policy formulation and conflict resolution.

Specific Pedagogical Objectives

1- To provide relevant knowledge as to the basic concepts and principles in cultural diversity and culture-analysis; 

2- To offer students formative insights into the breadth and depth of the following: Definition of lived culture; Concept of culture-analysis; Methodology of culture-analysis; and Applications of culture-analysis; 

3- To provide students with a comprehensive and profound understanding, especially of the "lived cultural" bases of social reality, and of the distinctive experiences of culture, individually and collectively, conscious or not; 

4- To empower students to move from the subjectivity of individual cultural experience (conscious or not) to the arena of objective knowledge, especially about lived culture, and its experiences and manifestations, so as to help them avoid making broad generalizations about the subject matter, while understanding key concepts and certain general principles in culture-analysis and diversity;

5- To expose the students, experientially and didactically, to the amazing complexity, yet the profound simplicity of diversity and culture, especially lived culture; 

6- To familiarize students with some of the critical philosophical and historical literature on culture and diversity, so that they are able to successfully differentiate and synthesize diverse materials on these subjects;

7- To give students the required skills to engage in rigorous critical social and historical analysis, pertaining to the field of culture-analysis and diversity, especially relating to the experience (conscious or not), especially of lived culture, individually or collectively; 

8- To encourage students to formulate creative and imaginative paradigms in understanding lived culture, upon acquiring a substantive knowledge of the methodology of culture-analysis; 

9- To help students recognize how culture-analysis can be relevant to the broader community and be instrumental in both personal and community empowerment and transformation, and how it can be applied to concrete situations and specific human problems, for example conflict and its resolution; 

10- To foster a lasting spirit, a “culture” of inquiry, especially about lived culture and diversity (by understanding the essence of culture and its formation and development), so that the students will be challenged to raise and discuss provocative thoughts and questions in the diverse areas that pertain to the experience of lived culture, and to hopefully consider further studies in this still developing field.

Classroom Philosophy

This course provides an interactive and student-centered learning environment. Thus, students are required to participate in or lead regular class discussions, to actively take part in generating issues for discussion and interaction, and to respond critically to raised themes. Students will share papers and assignments, exchanging them, as appropriate, among peers in the class community, so that an organic “lived culture” of learning and self- and other-evaluation may materialize, facilitating optimal learning and skills acquisition in research, reading, writing, and oral practice.

Policy on Plagiarism

In accordance with the university policy on plagiarism, this class strictly prohibits plagiarism, dishonesty, and academic cheating of any sort in any of your written work submitted or oral presentations, the consequences of which are spelled out in detail in this link: http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies/. Please familiarize yourself with the information in this link and rigidly adhere to the principles described.

Required Readings: Primary Texts

- Bucher, Richard D. Diversity Consciousness: Opening our Minds to People, Cultures, and Opportunities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.

- Loughran, Kevin. The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self. Belfast, Northern Ireland: APJ Publications, 2003.

- Mantovani, Giuseppe. Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology. London: Routledge, 2000.

- Weaver, Gary R. Culture, Communication, and Conflict: Readings in Intercultural Relations (2nd ed.) Needham Heights, MA: Simon and Schuster, 1998.

NOTE: 

Per availability (and at the discretion of the Instructor) additional appropriate interdisciplinary readings may be assigned.

Recommended and Suggested Readings

- Adler, Nancy, J. and M. Jelinek. Is Organization Culture Bound? Human Resource Management 25, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 73-90.

- Brislin, B, E. Casas, M. McCauley, G. Weaver, and H. Pelikan. “Culture-type Panel.” Psychological Type and Culture-East and West: A multicultural Research Symposium: Proceedings. Raymond Moody, ed. Gainesville, FL. Center for Applications of Psychological Type, 1995, 37-56.

- Brislin, Richard. Understanding Culture’s Influence on Behavior. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.

- Freilich, Morris. The Relevance of Culture. New York: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1989.

- Gallois, Cynthia. Communication and Culture: A Guide for Practice. Chichester, England: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1997.

- Hord, Fred Lee and Jonathan Scott Lee (eds.). I Am Because We Are. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995.

- Huntington, Samuel, P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

- Kendall, Gavin and Gary Wickham. Understanding Culture: Cultural Studies, Order, Ordering. London: Sage Publications, 2001.

- Kim, P.S. and J. Ofory-Dankwa. Utilizing Cultural Theory as a Basis for Cross-cultural Training: An Alternative Approach. Public Administration Quarterly 18, issue 4 (Winter 1995): 478-500.

- Kunnie, Julian and N. Goduka. Indigenous Peoples’ Wisdom and Power: Affirming our Legacy. London: Ashgate (forthcoming).

- Lambo, Thomas Adeoye. Psychotherapy in Africa. Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis 24 (1974): 311-326.

- Lasch, Christopher. Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an age of Diminishing Expectations. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979.

- Mowlana, Hamid, George Gerbner, and Herbert I. Schiller, eds. Triumph of the Image: The Media’s War in the Persian Gulf - A Global Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992.

- Rokeach, M. The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press, 1973. 

- Rubin, T. I. Reconciliation: Inner Peace in an Age of Anxiety. New York: Viking Press, 1980.

- Ting-Toomey, Stella. Communicating Across Cultures. New York: The Gilford Press, 1999.

- Weaver, Gary R. Police and the Enemy Image in Black Literature. In The Police in Society.

- Emilio C. Viano and Jeffrey H. Reiman, eds., Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath & Company, 1975: 139-147.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE COURSE

NOTE: Grades in this course will be earned strictly per University of Arizona grading policies. To familiarize yourself with these policies, please consult your student handbook and the relevant pages on the University of Arizona web page. If taken as a graduate level course, students will have additional requirements for the successful completion of the course, described below.

Grading system:

10% - Attendance and active participation in class sessions.

15% - Study-pair work resulting in five 5-7 min. pair-team class presentations (3% each).

15% - Mid-term exam.

15% - Final exam.

20% - Two 3-5 page book reviews (10% each).

25% - One (or two) 15-20 page research term paper(s).

Note: Students taking the course for graduate credit should submit a second 15-20 page research paper as a part of this 25%, whereby this additional paper will count as 3/5th of the 25%, or 15% of the total grade. The theme of this graduate paper will be mutually agreed upon with the Instructor--also see the notes section below (#2) for additional reading requirements for graduate-level students.

Description of the details of course requirements:

A- Regular attendance and class participation.

If you are absent more than TWO times with no legitimate reason (serious illness, with doctor’s note, for example) you will be automatically dropped from the class with an "E" grade.

Lateness or tardiness in coming to class is unacceptable.

Cell-phones are not permitted in class--and neither is SLEEPING! 

You will be expected to do the required readings for each class session and come prepared to participate in discussions of the class contents. You will be called on regularly to respond to particular questions and issues raised from class readings and experiences. 

You can significantly enhance your chance of receiving an "A" in this course through excellent attendance and involvement in class discussions, coupled with meeting other requirements (10% of grade).

B- Five “study pair” work resulting in five 5-7 min. oral presentations for each individual in class around core themes of the course. You must sign up for your “study pair” presentations on a schedule circulated on the first two class sessions. Your presentations should stimulate class discussion and be interesting, and even argumentative, as appropriate. They should be co-operatively presented by both members of “study pair” teams. A 1-2 page outline of each presentation must be handed to the instructor, for feedback (if desired) before the presentation, typed and double-spaced (15% of the grade, 3% for each presentation).

C- Two 3-5 page book reviews (20% total, 10% each). These reviews should be of books which are clearly related to the core themes of the course. For at least one of your two book reviews, you are required to choose a book that is not listed in the suggested texts for the course (above). In all cases, you should get the Instructor's approval for your chosen books before you proceed to do the review.

D- Term paper(s)

One (or two) 15-20 page research term paper(s) is required, per approval by the instructor. Students taking the course for graduate credit should submit an additional 15-20 page research paper as a part of this 25% [theme mutually agreed upon with the Instructor--ALSO see the notes above and below re specific requirements for students who take this course for graduate credit], whereby this graduate paper will count as 3/5th of the 25%, or 15% of the total grade.

The subject of your research paper(s) should be a significant theme or experience, related to culture-analytic discourses explored in the course--see description of class sessions and also the notes regarding the quality and other guidelines at the end of this segment.

For your research papers(s) you are expected to consult with a substantial number of primary sources by relevant authors and secondary sources that comment on your chosen subject. Exclusively web-based resources are inadequate for such paper(s), although they can certainly be cited. Paper(s) must clearly detail the strengths and weaknesses of the philosophical positions related to your themes, following a clear delineation of the subject matter(s) of your paper, in which you need to provide a critical analysis of the chosen subject and furnish your own philosophical viewpoints, preferences, or biases. Detailed and relevant quotations and citations must support your paper, and their sources should be cited in the paper's bibliography.

You are encouraged to consult the Instructor, and also with appropriate library staff on sources and references. You have the option of submitting a draft of the paper(s) to the Instructor by the 10th session of the class (for feedback and guidance purposes), so that you are able to submit a final version of your polished paper(s) by the last class session. The paper(s) is due on the last session of class.

E- Mid-term and final exams (both written; each 15% of the total grade)

There will be a mid-term in the 9th class session and a final exam scheduled for the last session. In these exams you are expected to show your learnings and the ability to synthesize the themes, issues, readings, and experiences that were covered in the course. 

NOTES:

1- You will also have opportunities to earn extra credits (at the sole discretion of the Instructor) toward boosting your grade in the course, by attending events (films and lectures) organized or suggested by the Africana Studies Program or other appropriate departments or organizations outside the university. Announcements of these events will be made in class, as possible. You may also attend CLEARLY RELEVANT other lectures, events, films, etc. and may ask for extra-credit for them, per the discretion and approval of the Instructor for such “exploratory” learning initiatives in the world of culture-analytic thought and practice.

2- As judged by the Instructor, in accordance to generally accepted academic criteria for graduate-level work, the quality of the performance (written or oral) of students who take this course for graduate credit needs to be demonstrated as “higher” than the level expected from undergraduate students. Also, such students will be assigned at least 3 additional reading assignments (papers, essays, books or book chapters, etc.); also such readings may be suggested by the student, per approval by the Instructor.

3- Helpful guidelines: 

Carefully plan all your writing projects. Ensure that reports have a clear and logical structure and sequence. Introduce the major point(s) you are making by highlighting your central argument(s). Then summarize the details by which you substantiate your main argument(s), as part of the body of your final product. Be concise. Pay attention to the structure of your reports/papers as well as their content. Support your argument(s) by carefully citing important relevant published sources and excerpts from related texts, as appropriate.

Detailed Contents of the Course

NOTE: In close proximity with the required course textbooks as well as other required (and suggested) individual and small group readings, assignments, and exercises, class sessions generally will cover the below-described areas of instruction (and simulated “laboratory” exercises, where possible), emphasizing interactive integration of didactic and practical content. The instructor reserves the right to modify such content, as appropriate, depending on the direction and character that the course may take in each class session, and should new opportunities for either written texts or speakers present themselves. Starting from Session 3, the course's study-pair presentations (see above) will be scheduled throughout the remaining class sessions.

Description of Individual Class Sessions

Session 1

Introduction to the course syllabus; Dimensions of diversity; Creating the culture of diversity; PART ONE of: What is culture? What is "lived culture" (Different layers of culture in daily manifestation); How culture HIDES and SHOWS itself in daily discourse? (Fish in water metaphor); How awareness of lived culture can be integrated in daily discourse? (The “ethnic” form of such awareness--in “layered” form--is sometimes referred to as “cultural sensitivity” training or cross-cultural communication).

Required readings: 

Diversity Consciousness textbook; Ch. 1-3 (plus intro sections), pp. ix-93; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 1-2 (plus intro sections), pp. Vii-23.

Session 2

Part 1 of: Cultural orientations toward temporality (“historical consciousness”); Dynamics of assimilation; Decoding garbled communication (code words); Understanding group dynamics and minimizing collusion; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Social reality, Identity, Ethnicity, and Race.

Required readings: 

Diversity Consciousness textbook; Ch. 4-5, pp. 94-157; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 3-5 (plus intro section of part II), pp. 24-51.

Session 3

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Universality of Application; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Perspective, Knowledge, Teaching and Learning. 

Required readings: 

Diversity Consciousness textbook; Ch. 6-7, pp. 158-207; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 6-7 (plus intro section of part III), pp. 52-71.

Session 4

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Politics, Governance, Rights, and Development; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Economics, Wealth, Poverty, and Need; Understanding culture clash; Establishing common ground; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Force, Military, Discipline, and Social Control.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 61-65 (plus section intro), pp. 465-508; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 8-9, pp. 72-88.

Session 5

Part 1 of: How does conflict develop its own unique culture? The difference between interests-based conflicts and culture-based ones? Specific manifestations of the embedded nature of lived culture (mostly unconscious) in contexts involving conflict, focused on contexts involving a) civil liberties conflicts, and b) cultures (hidden mostly) in the concept and day-to-day practice of “rights” -- and here we do not mean culture in its “ethnic” sense.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 66-70, pp. 509-546; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 10-11 (plus intro section of part IV), pp. 89-111.

Session 6

Going beyond stereotypes; Developing authentic relationships with diverse others; PART 2 of: What is culture? (See session 1).

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 1-5 (plus intro sections), pp. xv-59; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; Ch. 12 (plus conclusion), pp. 112-124.

Session 7

PART 3 of: What is culture? (See session 1); Intro. to Culture-analysis of Certainty, Observation, Design, and Relativism.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 6-12 (plus the section intro), pp. 60-03; Exploring Borders: Understanding Culture and Psychology textbook; The NOTES section, pp. 125-141.

Session 8

Part 2 of Cultural orientations toward temporality (See session 2); Intro. to Culture-analysis of Desire, Love, Gender, and Sexuality; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Biology, Genomics, Control of nature, and Natural law; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Medicine, Health, Illness, and Death.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 13-17, pp. 104-158; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 1 (plus intro sections), pp. ix-23.

Session 9

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Law, Order, Justice, and Punishment; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Architecture, Artificial comfort, geography, and Space; Intro. to Culture-analysis of the Environment, Earth ethics, Sustainability, and Survival; Mid-term exam.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 18-23 (plus section intro), pp. 159-186; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 2-3, pp. 24-48.

Session 10

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Work, Labor, Leisure, and Rest; Intro. to culture-analysis of Organizations, Corporations, Systems, and Management; Intro. to Culture-analysis of News, Media, Entertainment, and Advertising.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 33-39 (plus intro section), pp. 267-312; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 4, pp. 51-87.

Session 11

Part 2 of: How does conflict develop its own unique culture? (see session 5); Cultural orientations toward temporality in the context of conflict.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 40-45, pp. 313-354; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 5, pp. 88-99.

Session 12

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Conflict, Peace, Stability, and Harmony; Part 1 of: Culture and consensus-building (and outreach as an aspect of consensus-building); Intro. to Culture-analysis of Ideology, Revolutionary change, Social Engineering, and Propaganda.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 46-49, pp. 355-395; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 6, pp. 103-114.

Session 13

Part 2 of: Culture and consensus-building (see session 12); Intro. to Culture-analysis of Beauty, Ugliness, Art, and Creativity; Intro. to Culture-analysis of History, Temporality, Societal Evolution, and Change; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Values, Civility, Ethics, and Proper behavior.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 24-28, pp. 187-229; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 7, pp. 115-131.

Session 14

Culture-analysis of morality-based sharing (also in “pragmatic” organized giving and receiving); How do “philanthropic crises” develop, and how they develop their own unique culture? Cultural orientations toward temporality, as applied to organized philanthropy; Specific manifestations of the embedded nature of lived culture (mostly unconscious) in contexts involving philanthropic intent and impulse, and especially in contexts involving organized "philanthropy-culture" (hidden mostly) in the concept and the day-to-day practice of organized and un-organized “giving” and “receiving.”

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 29-32, pp. 230-265; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 8-10, pp. 132-144.

Session 15

Part 3 of: Culture and consensus-building (see session 12); Intro. to Culture-analysis of Philosophy, wisdom, Truth, and Happiness; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Religion, Spirituality, Morality, and Transcendence.

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 50-57 (plus intro section intro), pp. 397-445; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 11, pp. 145-170.

Session 16

Intro. to Culture-analysis of Authenticity, Trust, Doubt, and Anxiety; Intro. to Culture-analysis of Consciousness, Experience, Inner reality, and Information (inner vs. outer).

Required readings: 

Culture, Communication, and Conflict textbook; Ch. 58-60, pp. 446-464; The Idea of Community, Social Policy and Self textbook; Ch. 12-13 (plus the appended sections), pp. 173-201.

Final Session:

Final exam; Course evaluations; and a small pot luck party afterwards (if possible).