Thursday, September 5, 2013

Rhetorical Analysis of Making Peace with the Earth

Author: Vandana Shiva is an Indian environmental activist born in 1952.  Her father was a conservator of forests while her mother was also a nature lover.  She received her bachelor’s degree in physics then received her PhD in philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.  In 1982 she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology.  She went on to do many more things to help the environment such as creating Navdanya, a movement to protect diversity and integrity of living resources.  She had her first book, Staying Alive, published in 1988.  The book helped to shape the opinion of third world women.  Throughout her life, Vandana has received many awards in recognition of her environmental efforts.
Title: Making Peace with the Earth
Date of Publication: 2013
Publisher: Pluto Press is a leading radical publisher.  They specialize in “progressive, critical perspectives in politics and the social sciences.”  They are based in London and have been active for over 40 years.
Tone, Syntax, Language: Dr. Shiva’s words make her sound very informed and passionate.  Her words provided a lot of facts to support her cause.  Her tone was rather forceful.  You could definitely tell that she felt that the information was urgent and that the public needed to listen and take action. 
Intended Audience: anti environmentalists, middle to upper class people, and pretty much anyone who could do something to help her cause.
Context: Making Peace with the Earth is Vandana’s Shiva’s attempt to educate the public about the Himalayas and the problems that global warming is causing.
Purpose: I feel like her purpose was to force feed the public information about the Himalayas and global warming.  I don’t mean this in a negative way; it’s just that her tone came of as so forceful. I feel like maybe she thought the only way to get her point across was to force feed the public.
Author’s Process: Shiva did a lot of research about the topic.  She collected data by examining the water supply in the Himalayas and eventually was able to write this book.

Shiva, Vandana. Making Peace with the Earth. London: Pluto Press, 2013.
"Vandana Shiva." thegreeninterview.com. N.p.. Web. 5 Sep 2013.
                <http://www.thegreeninterview.com/vandana-shiva-bio>.

No comments:

Post a Comment