Part 1 — Direct Reading Questions
Answer the following TWO questions (write approximately 150 – 200 words for each question).
1. What are some of the dominant vantage points presented in some of our International Student Narratives? Provide some examples of how the writers use voice, narration, and descriiptive details to support their vantage points. Cite examples from at least 2 of the narratives.
2. In her Voice and Echo in what ways does author Helen Sword explain how academic writers can use their voices in academic writing? According to the author, how have the conventions of voice changed in most fields of academic writing? Cite some examples from the text.
Part 2 – Passage Analysis
Analyze the following THREE passages. In your own words, explain what each passage means based on the concepts, themes, and issues discussed in class. Quote or paraphrase some of the passage to support your analysis (write approximately 150 – 200 words for each passage).
Passage #1
Climate Change Denial, Freedom of Speech, and Global Justice – Ttrygve Lavik
Explain how the issue of the “legal right to free speech vs. climate change denialism” appears in the following passage:
Climate change deniers have a participant interest in bringing their views to the table, as proponents for the opposite side of the issue. The audience for the debate is mostly people living in developed countries, end especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. The audience has an interest in” having a good environment for one’s own beliefs and desires,” so hearing both sides of the debate is a good thing from the audience’s point perspective. The bystanders are people living in developing countries and future generations. By future generations I mean generations in the near future) children who are already born, and children who will be born in the next 50 years).
If it is obvious that the bystander’s interests outweigh the participant interests in the thought experiment above, why should they not also outweigh participant and audience interests in the climate change debate? People in developing countries and future generations will certainly be harmed by climate change. Is it reasonable to believe that they would have embraces the denial industry’s right to freedom of speech? I believe not. The bystanders will be hurt by climate change in audience behaviour due to the widespread influence of climate change denialism; therefore, they would have strong moral reasons for prohibiting climate denialism
Passage #2
The Human Right to Free Internet Access – Merten Reglitz
Explain how the issue of Free Internet Access and the protection of Universal Moral and Human Rights appears in the following passage:
Human rights are based on basic [universal] interests that are essential for a minimally decent life. As James Nickel explains, ‘human rights are not ideals of the good life for humans; rather they are concerned with ensuring the conditions, negative and positive, of a minimally good life’. The basic interests encompass fundamental welfare concerns such as the means of subsistence, physical security, and shelter. . . . Minimal decency also requires important provisions for protecting people’s equal moral status (such as political and civil rights). Determining which human rights and provisions are needed for a minimally decent life requires ‘practical reasoning, backed up often by empirical inquiry’. The argument in this article is an example of such practical reasoning in that it argues that in our digital age, universal Internet access has become a sufficiently urgent interest to justify regarding it as a human right because such access is now necessary for securing important features of a minimally decent life.
Passage #3
Profile of a Soldier – Joseph Brese
Analyse the following passage, explaining how strategies of voice, narration, descriiption, and vantagepoint are being utilized. Also point out some of the biases in the Profile.
SSgt. Rodriguez enlisted at 27, which is quite a bit older than most people are when they
enlist. He said that he believes that most people learn a lot of good values from the army, such as the Army core values, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. “There are so many wonderful aspects of service that it is hard to
talk about them all,” he said.
According to him, soldiers are given “so many opportunities for employment where, in a
lot of parts of the country, there are none.” Soldiers get paid salary so that they always get paid whether you work or not. SSgt. Rodriguez also said “soldiers get chow every day, they live in nice housing, and they have great medical.”
Although SSgt. Rodriguez mainly had good things to say about the Army, there were
some cons to serving as well. One such con that we discussed was the amount of time that soldiers spend away from their families. “The divorce rate for soldiers, especially young soldiers, is very high,” he says. “Soldiers are gone all of the time. You spend a lot of time training or you are deployed. To me not getting to see my kids grow up because you are always gone is the hardest part about it.”
