iah206-writing-assignment-5

It is around 300-400 words assignment.

Technology as the solution.

A common statement to be made about the problem of world hunger and how we should try to

address it is that we should focus our efforts on technological solutions. (Because of what the

relevant articles are about, let us think about world hunger as being about things like chronic

hunger and malnutrition, not famine.) It will be said that we can and should address the

problems of world hunger by developing and applying solutions from agricultural technology.

While some would take this to just be common sense, others would reject this, saying that the

attempt to focus on technological solutions in fact tends to backfire, and possibly even to make

matters worse.

Your thesis should be a response to the question of what it is reasonable to think about

this. In choosing your thesis, and in developing the arguments about it, you are to utilize the

readings from this section of the course, as well as ideas from lecture and your reflections on

both of these.

Your thesis does not need to be a simple affirmation or denial of the above “common

statement”. It MIGHT be that one of those is (at least roughly) right, but it would be acceptable

to choose as your thesis some more nuanced view that we ought to take about this. (But

whatever you choose, make sure that your thesis is clear.)

Develop, explore and argue for your thesis, on the basis of the readings from the course. In

particular, make specific use of (and cite) at least THREE of the following: (1) Norton; (2)

Thompson, ch. 7; (3) Shiva; (4) Santos; (5) the Ndichu video.

Structure: Having specified your thesis, make the most convincing case that you can for your

thesis. Then consider and respond to the most significant objection that you can to the line of

reasoning you have given.

As before: Citations are required; quotations are not.

Quotations, if you have them, should not

be long, and they don’t count toward the word count. (See general description of the writing

assignments on the syllabus.)

I wouldn’t expect you to use any sources outside of the class

readings. The style for doing the citations? You can just cite the page number in the following

way: (Thompson, p. X).