School of Languages and Area Studies (SLAS)

Profile

I am a development studies specialist with a background interest in sociology and social and cultural theory. I teach on the BA programme in International Development Studies here at Portsmouth.  Prior to arriving in Portsmouth in 2012, I taught courses on development studies, international political economy, colonial history and sociology at the University of Manchester, University of Leeds and Liverpool Hope University.

My PhD research (2007-2011) engaged with debates about the recent “cultural turn” in development theory and practice, examining the different ways that culture has been conceptualised and become an area of contestation in international regimes of political and economic regulation from the postwar period to the present day.  This involved empirical studies of the work of UNESCO and the World Bank, the formation of international treaties on cultural diversity and indigenous rights, and the work of policymakers and civil society stakeholders in the Caribbean and the European Union.  I have further interests in the study of globalisation and neoliberal governmentality, and in theories and histories of imperialism.

Qualifications

• PhD Sociology/International Studies (with no corrections), University of Manchester
• MSc Sociological Research (with Distinction), University of Manchester
• BSocSc Sociology (with First Class Honours), University of Manchester 

Research Clusters

• Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)
• International Development Studies
• Francophone Studies

Discipline Areas

• International Development Studies
• International and Area Studies (Latin America and Caribbean)
• Sociology

I am currently writing up my completed PhD thesis for publication as two articles (“Banana Wars, Culture Wars and the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement”, and “‘Cultural rights’ and ‘the right to land, tenure and place’: The politics of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”) and a book (Trade, Culture and the New Politics of Cultural Development).

Full research profile: Dr Ben Garner