Appendix A – Cultural Event Paper
The objective of this cultural event paper requirement is to create relevance between the course content and what is going on around you. A cultural event paper is a narrative you will write after you actively participate in a cultural event foreign to you, visit a foreign place or interview a working professional from another country. This paper must involve a global dimension or a culture different from your own, and it must also be from your personal experience and direct interactions. Although you may need to conduct research, you have to be in the environment yourself rather than just using secondary research (i.e. research that others have done). In the paper, you can describe your personal experience together with research and insights. No matter what you are going to reflect about, the common components of the cultural event paper include the following: 1. What is the “trigger” (an event, place or person) that encourages you to reflect? 2. What is the relevance of your reflection to the course content focusing on cross-cultural differences? 3. What are your insights about the global perspective or culture differences based on the knowledge you have gained through the course and your direct interactions with your source or in the environment? 4. What additional research have you conducted about this global perspective or cultural differences? If you are going to reflect on attending a cultural event different from your own, your cultural event paper may include: What is your observation? Why is it interesting to you? What are some of the exact cultural differences or observations from the global perspective? If you interview a working professional from another country, please make sure to prepare a list of questions, which may include the cultural differences between two countries on the political, economic, and cultural dimensions as well as the different human resource practices. Whatever you choose to write about – whether it be an event, place, or person whom you interviewed – you should compare and contrast your experience with what you know about your own culture. In this way, you can use observation to highlight relevant cultural differences and then substantiate with your research.
The paper will be about 5-8 pages long and double spaced. It will be graded based on the descriptions of the “trigger,” relevance to the course content and depth of your research and reflection