video clip on Pine Barrens

My Research Proposal

Research Proposal

New Jersey is home to 430,000 acres of parks and forests that are maintained by a subdivision of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. These include four national parks, fifty state parks, forests and other historic sites. My proposed research plan is to study the role of state and national parks in New Jersey as part of an environmental endeavor to protect and preserve nature, wildlife and habitat. What is the main purpose of these parks? What is their mission? What steps are they taking to ensure the preservation of endangered species and habitat? What environmental issues are they addressing? What role do they play in educating the public on ecology and the environment? What percentage of the population of New Jersey is aware of the vast resources that are available and that can be used to protect our environment? What percentage of state funding supports natural resources?

A major source of information regarding these and other questions will be the New Jersey Department websites, which have pdf files, videos, articles and even links to other related sources. I will research information –articles and books– on parks and the environment with particular emphasis on New Jersey. I plan to visit some of these parks and interview the park rangers and visitors. (Although that might have to wait until we thaw out of this cold wintry season!) I’m particularly interested in the Pinelands, which was the first site in the country to be designated as a National Reserve and later as a US Biosphere Reserve. The significance of these designations and the role played by the Pinelands in the larger issue of environmental protections will also be examined.

I believe that magazines on nature, ecology, wildlife, and the environment such as Discover, Birding, Nature Friend Magazine, and Audubon might be interested in the kind of article I hope to write. Also local publications like South Jersey Living and even tourism related publications might be willing to publish an article that features parks and wildlife.

I’m a nature lover but more in theory than practice. I’ve very little experience with hiking and  no experience with camping or birdwatching. So I’m looking forward to discovering new things and communing with nature.

Introduction to Research

This introductory chapter was very informative but difficult to read. It jogged my memory of the literary theories that I had been exposed to during my graduate studies in French literature. I think most students would definitely benefit from some intro to theory before an intro to research.

But this article also made me realize the sophisticated research methodologies that I need to keep in mind when carrying out my own research. It added another layer of complexity and interest to this whole endeavor which will ultimately be beneficial.But for now, I’m seriously thinking of digging up some old books on theory so I can refamiliarize myself with some of those concepts!

Scholarly research and political activism

I think the chapter titled “Critical Ethnography” with the two case studies offers contrasting views on scholarly research and political activism. While Foley finds it difficult to reconcile his political activism with his academic and scholarly life,  Valenzuela seems to have made her activism a key component of her scholarship.  Both have laudable goals and play important roles in the understanding and the empowerment of minority populations. The role of academia is the only one that seems suspect, because one can clearly infer from the article that there continues to be a favoring of theoretical scholarship produced purely for the academic field with little real world application.

Research Ideas

Did you know that New Jersey has over 50 state parks and four national parks? How do I know this? I got this info from the NJ tourism web site. See, Ive had to defend the moniker of Garden State to many non-New Jerseyans. So I thought Id try to find out exactly how many nature preserves, parks and gardens New Jersey actually has. This lead me to the New Jersey tourism web site, which also had a link to Eco-tourism in NJ. Now that is a topic I’d like to explore. There seems to be a growing interest in eco-tourism. I thought I might do research on that with particular focus on NJ. Will there be enough sources on the topic? I hope so. But I’m definitely planning on some eco-friendly vacations, you know, for the sake of research, of course!

On “The Accidental Artist”

This multimedia piece was well-researched and presented. The video and the sketchbook of the art work greatly enhanced the story articulated by Emily Nutt. However, I wondered about the feasibility of undertaking such a project which involves visiting the subject multiple times over several years to gain an in-depth understanding of the subject matter. That kind of time commitment seems more suited to writing a book rather than just an article.

On “The Falling Man”

On one level, this article deals with a disturbing but strangely fascinating conundrum: who is the “Falling Man?” But on a deeper level, it is also an exploration of the American psyche in the aftermath of  9/11. Why did the public collectively choose to banish all images of the “jumpers” including the one of the “falling man”, even as they watched the other horrific images stemming from the attacks on the towers multiple times? Why were stories and images of victims of the terrorist attacks more acceptable when they helplessly burned or suffocated or were crushed to death rather than when they chose their own method of death by jumping? Perhaps it has something to do with notion of the sin associated with suicide, something that also comes into play in the feelings of the public towards euthanasia. This article functions both as a piece of investigative writing and also as a reflective essay.

A start

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