With the aim of connecting popular culture and key issues in globalization and sustainability, students will read the 2009 novel The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (available for purchase at Amazon) and write a 5-6 pp. paper assessing the novel as a critique of inequality in the global system.
Structure
Introduction/Presentation of the Problem – introduce the novel and contextualize it within current debates on globalization/sustainability (less than 1 page)
Synopsis of the Plot – a brief precis of the characters, setting, events, etc. (no more than 1 page)
Body – discuss how Bacigalupi’s imagined world uses science fiction-based extrapolation to interrogate current questions in globalization/sustainability and critique assumptions about the value(s) of contemporary neoliberalism, particularly in relation to food, agriculture, consumption, North-South relations, the value of human life, etc. (2-3 pages)
Conclusion – address how popular culture can be important to world politics and promote local/transnational activism, transitioning from your analysis of The Windup Girl to larger questions, being sure to reinforce the concepts and analyses you addressed in your paper and those we discussed in class (~1 page)
Your paper should be between 5-6 pp., double-spaced, and 12-point font, and must cite at least five (5) of the assigned readings from the course (both textbooks must be cited at least once – note that Chs. 4 & 7 of Whitehead will be particularly helpful). Additionally, you must cite another three (3) outside sources, preferably scholarly sources. In keeping with the course requirements, do not use un-authored web sites, encyclopedias, etc. for citation. Do not plagiarize. Follow all the CMOS guidelines.
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You do not have to cite/provide information from the textbook like it says above. Just 3 outside sources and a total of 3 pages. I will add information from the textbook to the essay myself being you do not have access to the textbook.