Skylar Benedict

About Skylar Benedict

Skylar Benedict is a first year PhD student in Sociocultural Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Anthropology. His interests include climate resilience in the Persian Gulf, North Africa, and the coastal United States, environmental racism, inclusion and exclusion in the global conservation field, and the intersection of colonial histories and forestry policies. Before coming to the University of Arizona, Skylar received a MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in 2017 and has worked for a variety of NGOs supporting projects and research in Yemen, Algeria, Oman, Pakistan, and Palestine.

When not studying, Skylar can be sighted hiking, camping, surfing, reading, playing guitar, and studying Middle Eastern languages.

Research Interests

Mangrove Conservation, Watershed Management, Political Ecology, Environmental History, GIS, Forestry Policy in Middle Eastern and South Asian countries, Environmental Racism, Land use and ownership, legacies of colonialism.