International cultural relations 2104-L-Z4MSKA
The seminar includes following topics, each assisted by relevant bibliography. Students are divided into 5 working groups. Each student reads only 1 text related to the topic from one working group. During discussion working groups present main ideas from their texts so as to introduce the others to all texts concerning the topic. Taking this into consideration every student should spend 2 hours for reading and preparing the text for one seminar (1 hour = 45 minutes). Thus accomplishment of the course requires 30 hours of the seminar plus max. 28 hours preparation of the texts, what makes 58 hours (43,5 hours, where 1 hour is 60 minutes).
1. Introduction: notions of „culture” and „civilization”. Euro- and ethnocentrism in studying different cultures. Evolutionism and colonialism; Orientalism and Occidentalism.
2. Culture matters. Impact of culture on all spheres of human life. Culture and economic development. Cultural relativism and universalism. Human rights perception case study.
3. Cultural aspects of international relations. International relations as a kind of intercultural relations. Subject of international and intercultural relations. Clash of civilizations and contemporary forms of cultural contacts.
4. Cultural security. Strategic culture and cross-cultural awareness in military operations. Cultural conflicts.
5. Intercultural and interreligious dialogue: idea, documents, programmes.
6. Cultural diversity of the world and its protection through the activities of UNESCO, Council of Europe, European Union. Protection of cultural, national and ethnic minorities: Poland as a case study. Indigenous peoples movement.
7. Multiculturalism as dilemma. The problems of multicultural states. Cultural genocide and intercultural reconciliation.
8. Culture and globalization. Postmodern ideas and postmodernity.
9. Intitutions of international cultural relations. First organizations dealing with culture. Development of international cultural relations.
10. European cultural co-operation. What is European culture? Culture as the subject of political and economic activity in the Council of Europe, European Union and OSCE.
11. Cultural heritage in contemporary world. UNESCO. Polish activity in UNESCO. Tangible and intangible heritage.
12. The protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Pillage, bombing and destruction of cultural property as means of destroying “the soul” of the enemy. II WW, Balkans and Iraq as case studies.
13. Foreign cultural policy of different states. International communication and cultural diplomacy.
14. Summary. The future of international cultural relations. Exam paper.
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Student are obliged to participate actively in the seminar, presenting their knowledge of literature related to the main themes of the seminar and discussing its main problems. Their active participation is valued at the end of each seminar meeting and the sum of the credits collected during the whole semester is added to the sum of the credits achieved from the final exam paper, conducted at the end of the semester. Thus, the final note is a combination of “participation credits” and “final exam paper credits”.
Assessment criteria
A student after finishing the course is able to analyse international relations, including their cultural dimension; acquires basic knowledge concerning international institutions acting in the field of intercultural relations knows basic international law documents relating to culture and cultural heritage protection; perceives the complexity of contemporary conflict and their roots in cultural norms, stereotypes and prejudices; avoids one-sided, ethnocentric way of analyzing international affairs.
Bibliography
General: Culture and International Relations (ed. Jongsuk Chay), Praeger Publishers 1990; Julie Reeves, Culture and International Relations. Narratives, natives and tourists, Routledge 2004; Cultural Relations in the Global Community. Problems and Prospects (ed. Verner C. Beckley, J. Philip), 1980, Cultural Impact on International Relations, “Chinese Philosophical Studies” (ed. Yu Xintian), Washington 2002; Glen Fisher, Mindsets. The Role of Culture and Perception in International Relations, Intercultural Press Inc. 1997; Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences. Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, Sage Publications 2001; Culture and International History (ed. Jessica C.E. Gienow-Hecht, Frank Schumacher), Berghahn Books 2003; The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (ed. Darla K. Deardorff), SAGE Publications Inc. 2009; recommended articles from “International Journal of Intercultural Relations”.
Specific: R. Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World, 1995; A. Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimension of Globalization; B. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 1991; S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations, 1999; G. Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, 2004; C. P. Kottak, Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology, 2007. S. Huntington, L. E. Harrison (ed.),Culture matters, 2000.