Department of Development Studies

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Roles
Department of Development Studies PhD Researcher
Qualifications
B.A. Global Studies (University of Tennessee, Knoxville); MSc Politics of Population, Migration, and Ecology (Birkbeck College) Master's of Sustainability Science (University of Tokyo); MRes Politics and International Relations (University of Reading)
Email address
714710@soas.ac.uk
Thesis title
The Island of Trees and Institutions
Internal Supervisors
Dr Lisa Tilley & Dr Andrew Newsham

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Benjamin is an interdisciplinary research student at the intersections of botany and political economy with a specific focus on Japan. Originally from America, Benjamin holds four degrees from the University of Tennessee, the University of London, and the University of Tokyo ranging from biology to political science. His current PhD research is titled "The Island of Trees and Institutions" in which he undertakes a global ethnography of institutional interactions in the conservation of ancient Japanese cedar trees on the island of Yakushima. Benjamin tends to prefer mixed-methods approaches to research questions, believing that each school offer benefits to research that the other lacks.

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Political ecology, conservation social science, botany, Japanese studies, political economy.

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