Abstract
The Green Revolution in the second half of the twentieth century ushered unprecedented agricultural expansion in the developing world. One of the primary beneficiaries of the movement was India, whose people witnessed tremendous gains in wheat and rice output. Although many remember the Green Revolution fondly, some scholars have raised criticisms of the Green Revolution in the decades following the movement. One of the prominent critics is Vandana Shiva, who argued that India's Green Revolution disempowered women and nature. The purpose of this study is to examine Vandana Shiva's book, Staying Alive: Women, Development, and Ecology, through an interdisciplinary perspective. My analysis is three-fold: I employ ecofeminist rhetorical criticism to evaluate Shiva's argument that the Green Revolution oppressed and alienated women; furthermore, I use a game-theoretic model to illustrate Shiva's depiction of women's disempowerment in the context of intra-household decision-making; lastly, I test the economic theory through empirical analysis, estimating the theory with data from India.
Advisor
Bostdorff, Denise
Second Advisor
Warner, James
Department
Communication Studies; Economics
Recommended Citation
Mallinson, David C., "Seeds of Slavery: a Mainstream Economic Interpretation and Rhetorical Analysis of Vandana Shiva's Criticism of the Green Revolution and the Alienation of Rural Indian Women" (2013). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 1015.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/1015
Disciplines
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | International and Intercultural Communication
Publication Date
2013
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2013 David C. Mallinson