Benjamin Gardner's research engages political questions and theoretical debates, contributing to scholarship on 1) the cultural politics of the environment, 2) political economy of development, and 3) the post-colonial state. He has published in edited book volumes and peer-reviewed journals about gender and development, land rights and transnational investment, and the links between community, landscapes, and activism. Through ethnographic research on the transnational and trans-local aspects of development, his work brings to light the grounded struggles that give shape to so-called global phenomena.