SOA1001 Culture and Communication

    • Number of credits
      15
    • Teaching semester
      2024 Spring
    • Language of instruction
      English
    • Campus
      Lillehammer
    • Required prerequisite knowledge

      None

Course content

The course focuses on the float and exchange of meaning within and between cultures, communities and life-style management. The course addresses issues of concern for students of professional practices as well as disciplinary studies. It includes themes and perspectives from mainly social anthropology, while including also psychology and sociology. The course discusses cultural plurality, social in-equality, migration, ethnicity, gender; communication and the interplay between language, interpersonal relations and social structures.

Learning Outcome

Upoon completion of the course the student

Knowledge
  • Understanding of cultural and social plurality.
  • Insight in relations between language, power and culture.
  • Awareness of relations between communication and social relations.
Skills
  • Ability to use relevant scholarly terminology and perspectives.
  • Ability to pose critical questions to cultural and interpersonal messages.
  • Ability to reflect on the shaping and interpretation of communication.
General competence
  • Ability to reflect on the effect of own and others use of language.
  • Develop critical thinking on how culture and communication sustain and re-create certain understandings of reality, which potentially exclude others.
  • Reproduce and utilise concepts and main perspectives related to culture and communication.
  • Develop respect, openness and tolerance for people of plural and distinct knowledges, cultures, and social positions.
Teaching and working methods

Teaching is a combination of lectures, readings, class discussions, oral individual and group presentations, journal reflections, and group work. Delivery and evaluation of individual og team presentations. The course may include excursions to relevant institutions in the Inland Norway University College area. The students are offered supervision on the group paper in class and/or in group.

Required coursework
  • 2 written assignments (of which the second is the exam paper)
  • Oral presentations
  • 75% attendance

Required attendance and assignments must be approved in order to take the exam

Form of assessment

The exam-paper is based on and developed from the first assignment (group paper). The assessment considers the submitted group exam-paper, together with an oral presentation and opposing discussion in class. The paper must be 4000 words/10 pages (+/- 10%).

The exam consists of three parts:

- Oral group presentation

- Group paper

- Oral group presentation of critical comments and questions to assigned group exam-paper

The oral presentation counts for 60% of the mark. The group paper counts for 40% of the mark

Assessments
Form of assessmentGrading scaleGroupingDuration of assessmentSupport materialsProportionComment
Kombinasjonseksamen
Passed - not passed
Group
  • All
Course litterature, intercultural diary, online resources.
Faculty
Faculty of Social and Health Sciences
Department
Department of Social Science and Guidance