Post #3: Culture

November 3-7, 2014


Resources (some used in class but others to be viewed outside of class):

• Hofstede's culture survey
• East vs. West PPT
• Photos from abroad 
• China emails
• Iceberg concept of culture

Homework:  Create a blog post titled "Culture."

Due dates:
B Block:  Wednesday morning, 11/12.
E and C Blocks:  Friday morning, 11/14.

Part A.  After viewing the East vs. West PPT, create your own slide depicting contrasting cultures.  If you are not familiar with Chinese culture (which I'm assuming most of you aren't!), please use any two cultures you are familiar with.  Describe your slide in 1-2 sentences.   [10 points formative]

Part B.  In the same blog post, respond to the following questions [30 points formative, 10 points per section].  Please use specific, not hypothetical, examples to support your statements.

Section 1:

• What is culture?  How easy is it to define and/or describe one's culture? 
• Think of how the East vs. West PPT depicts US culture.  Are there any slides that you think depict US culture incorrectly?  If so, which slide(s)?  Why do you think your opinion is different than the author's? 
• If you had to describe US culture in 4-5 sentences, how would you do so?  Do you think that your description applies to everyone in the US?  Why or why not? 

Section 2:  

• How might we use our memory to make sense of a place and situation foreign to us?  
• Can you think of a time when you used your memory of what's familiar to make sense of something foreign or unfamiliar?  Describe.
• How reliable is our use of memory to know something?  Are there limitations to our use of memory? 

Section 3:

• How can we use our imagination to understand and appreciate other cultures?