37403 - Cultural Sciences: Concepts and Applications Modulübersicht

Module Number: 37403 - module is no longer offered from WS 2011/12
Module Title:Cultural Sciences: Concepts and Applications
  Kulturwissenschaften: Konzepte und Anwendungen
Department: Faculty 3 - Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Responsible Staff Member:
  • Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Albert, Maria-Theresia
Language of Teaching / Examination:English
Duration:1 semester
Frequency of Offer: Every winter semester
Credits: 6
Learning Outcome:In general students shall be able to analyse cultural topics and issues, exemplified in UNESCO’s instruments on culture and heritage, and to relate them to the scientific background of Cultural Studies.

Part 1: World Heritage and Cultural Studies
Students shall be able
  • to identify and understand Cultural Studies and their immanent scientific concepts
  • to relate these concepts to UNESCO’s instruments on culture and development
  • to implement these concepts on strategies of World Heritage protection and use
  • to distinguish cultural and sub-cultural phenomena in their respective contexts and with their respective “ways of life”
  • to understand and implement methods of text analysis within scientific discourses on culture and heritage
  • to relate Cultural Studies with cultural, economical, social and political expressions of man and his society
  • to understand the relationships of individuals and groups on an abstract level
  • to interpret UNESCO conventions within socio-political contexts and time of adoption
Part 2: World Heritage and Theory of Culture
Students shall be able
  • to identify different approaches of culture within the frame of theories of culture
  • to understand how concepts of culture have changed in the course of time
  • to classify concepts of ‘civilization’, nature, identity, etc. within theories of culture
  • to see how culture and nature are interrelated
  • to relate UNESCO conventions with cultural developments and their respective understanding of culture
  • to evaluate political dimensions in discussions on culture and heritage
Contents:Part 1: World Heritage and Cultural Studies
  • history, development and main fields of research of UNESCO’S concepts on culture, heritage and cultural development
  • main representatives of Cultural Studies and their priorities of research
  • methods mainly implemented in Cultural Studies
  • Cultural Studies and their relevance in discussions on heritage protection and use
  • Cultural Studies and their relevance for the analysis of intercultural co-operations
  • talking and writing about cultural phenomena
  • UNESCO conventions, processes of adoption and backgrounds
Part 2: World Heritage and Theory of Culture
  • approaches for the understanding of culture and heritage
  • discourses on culture and nature in the course of time
  • culture and nature as philosophical background for the understanding of the European enlightenment
  • concepts of culture in the age of globalization
  • UNESCO conventions in the course of time and their cultural backgrounds
  • Concepts of tangible and intangible culture and heritage and of cultural diversity
Recommended Prerequisites:None
Mandatory Prerequisites:None
Forms of Teaching and Proportion:
  • Seminar / 4 Hours per Week per Semester
  • Self organised studies / 120 Hours
Teaching Materials and Literature:Mandatory readings:
  • Albert, Marie-Theres; BTU Cottbus, German Commission for UNESCO (eds): Nature and Culture. Ambivalent Dimensions of our Heritage. Change of Perspective, Cottbus, Bonn 2002
  • Albert, Marie-Theres, Gauer-Lietz, Sieglinde (eds): Constructing World Heritage, Frankfurt am Main 2006
  • Albert, Marie-Theres; Bernecker, Roland; Gutierrez Perez, Diego; Thakur, Nalini; Nairen, Zhang (Hrsg.): Training Strategies for World Heritage Management. Cottbus 2007
  • Baldwin, Elaine a.o.: Introducing Cultural Studies, Prentice Hall Europe 1999
  • UNESCO (ed.) Conventions: 1954, 1972, 2003, 2005 and others
  • UNESCO (ed.) Declarations: 1982, 2001, 2007
Additional readings:
  • Hall, Stuart: Encoding, Decoding, in: During, S. (ed.): The Cultural Studies Reader, London: Routledge 1993
  • King, Anthony D. (ed.): Culture, Globalization and the World-System, University of Minnesota 1997
  • Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier: Our Creative Diversity. Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development. UNESCO 1998
  • Schulman, Norma: Conditions of their Own Making: an Intellectual History of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, in: http://www.cjc-online.ca~cjc/BackIssues/18.1/schulman.html
  • Storey, John: Cultural Studies: An Introduction, in: Storey, John (ed.): What is Cultural Studies, London 1996
  • Tomlinson, John: Globalization of Culture, Cambridge 1999
  • Williams, Raymond: The Analysis of Culture, in: The Long Revolution, London 1961
Module Examination:Unspecified - Specification from winter semester 2016/17 required!
Assessment Mode for Module Examination:
  • active participation
  • written tests during the seminar
  • presentations
Evaluation of Module Examination:Performance Verification – graded
Limited Number of Participants:None
Part of the Study Programme:
  • no assignment
Remarks:None
Module Components:
  • World Heritage and Cultural Studies (Seminar)
  • World Heritage and Theory of Culture (Seminar)
Components to be offered in the Current Semester:
  • no assignment
Follow-up Module/s: Phase-out module since: 01.10.2009