Bio

Paul Gellert’s research examines the role of natural resources in development within a world- systems perspective
and dependency research in the traditions of Baran, Sweez y, Wallerstein, and Arrighi. Much of his research focuses
on Indonesia, where he has conducted research for over two decades and is fluent in the language. He is engaged
with debates on the meaning of ‘development’, questions of who benefits, and especially, processes of
financializ ation, accumulation by dispossession, ecologically unequal exchange, and socionatural (dialectical
society- nature) relations. Gellert takes a comparative- historical perspective based in a combination of fieldwork
and interview methods – ‘structural field work’ as explained in an article (with Jon Shefner) in the Journal of World-
Systems Research), as well as historical and secondary data analysis. He has published in outlets such as the
Journal of Contemporary Asia and Globaliz ations, as well as a chapter on environmental degradation in The
Political Economy of Southeast Asia (Carroll, Hameiri, and Jones, ed., 2020).