My doctoral work at Cambridge University (2003-7) was based on field research among Carib-speaking hunter gatherers and swidden horticulturalists (Trio, Wayana and Akuriyo) of north-eastern Amazonia (Suriname and French Guiana), and took as its principal focus indigenous Amazonian leadership in relation to native ideas of wealth. 

During research fellowships at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (2007-8), Oxford Brookes (2008-9) and Oxford University (2009-10), I explored comparative and theoretical dimensions of native Amazonian property relations, and I carried out further research on indigenous perspectives on environmental conservation.

In my work at the Graduate Institute, Geneva (2010-12) I studied the globalization of forest governance and conservation and the ‘greening’ of development, focusing on the UN-REDD ‘readiness’ programme underway in Suriname.

I have worked on several projects in partnership with my wife, the anthropologist Vanessa Grotti, starting with my doctoral fieldwork in Amazonia. We have published three edited volumes together: Rethinking the Frontier in Amazonia and Siberia; Animism in Rainforest and Tundra (both with Olga Ulturgasheva); and Ownership and Nurture (with Carlos Fausto). My monograph, The Imbalance of Power (2016) is the companion volume to Vanessa's forthcoming book, Living with the Enemy.