plan of study
I am applying to a Master's program in Canadian Studies at Trent University, in Peterborough, about an hour from here. I'm hoping to start in the fall. The following is an excerpt from the "plan of study" I developed for the application. The program is highly interdisciplinary, which is a significant part of its appeal for me. Professors there are doing interesting work in bioregionalism, mythology, indigenous studies, history of ecology, and landscape aesthetics. My goal is to use the graduate work to begin to articulate a personal mission or vision for the farm and education centre, and explore how it may begin to be lived out in the context of personal, public, business, vocational, and family life here in the Kawartha Lakes watershed. My concern is that it is a little wordy, and a little vague, but it's a start...
"My plan of study in the Master’s program in Canadian Studies at Trent University will consist of a combination of theoretical and applied research. I hope to articulate the beginnings of a holistic theory of culture rooted in story, memory, and appreciation of the unique bioregional characteristics of a particular place. I plan to explore historical understandings of the relationship between nature and culture, as well as current theory in the area of bioregionalism and develop a research project that will apply this theory to a study of the relationship between the agricultural environment and wilderness ecology in Victoria County.
The emphasis of my project will be on the developing practice of sustainable agriculture in this county, including, but not limited to, certified-organic farmland. Specific areas of interest could include the role of fencerows in the landscape and ecological health of these farms; wetland and woodlot management; strategies and concerns regarding avian flu in pastured poultry flocks; wildlife ecology and predator management; or the ecology of grass-based agriculture in permanent pasture systems.
My thinking in these areas has been shaped by contemporary writers such as Barry Lopez, Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Aldo Leopold, and Annie Dillard. I am particularly interested in the ways in which their work relates to the holistic vision of human culture developed by the 18th century “counter-Cartesian” philosopher, Giambattista Vico."
We'll see where that gets me ;-)