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- Benjamin Neimark
- Assistant Professor
- Political Science & Geography
- 7042 Batten Arts and Letters
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Norfolk,
VA
23529
- 757-683-3845
- bneimark@odu.edu
- Web Page
- My recent research focuses on the political economy of biological prospecting on the island nation of Madagascar. Bioprospecting
involves search for, and commercialization of, useful natural compounds for new pharmaceutical and industrial products. I
examine three case studies of drug discovery and development and analyze the politics of access to valuable genetic and biological
resources used in bioprospecting. This research involved 14 months of intensive ethnographic field surveys and participant
observation carried out in 2005 and 2006. These were implemented in multiple rural sites in northern town of Antsiranana,
the central region of Bealanana, and the southern regions of Anosy and Androy. It included interviews with scientists in laboratories
and state institutions and non-governmental organizations in the capital of Antananarivo. Also in Madagascar, I have investigated
strategies to improve small-scale agriculture using innovative agroforestry methods, and traditional agricultural systems.
These systems can have a major effect on farmers' adoption of new livelihood alternatives. In my Master's research, I developed
techniques to improve the direction and speed of domestication of threatened Malagasy forest and fruit species, in order to
increase food security and provide added income.
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Education
- Rutgers University,
2009
- Major: Department of Geography
- Degree: Ph. D.
- Cornell University,
2001
- Major: Department of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture/International Development
- Degree: M.S.
- State University of New York at Buffalo,
1995
- Major: Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Degree: B.S.
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Research Interests
- Madagascar, Africa, Bioprospecting, Geography, Land tenure, Political Ecology, Natural Resource Extraction, Uneven Development,
and agrofuels.