Doctoral Dissertation Research: Pharmaceutical Bioprospecting for Genetic Resources in Postapartheid South Africa

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The researcher investigates how intellectual property laws construct notions of ownership of genetic resources and how these laws impact the local approach to negotiating regulatory governance occurring at the national and transnational level. The project uses the example of a court decision awarding patents to a German pharmaceutical company for the exclusive use of a South African plant, which is an essential element in the production of specific drugs. It examines how various stakeholders wield specific practices and forms of knowledge in order to favorably transform current circumstances to fit or contest existing intellectual property laws. This project, which lies at the intersection of multiple fields -- cultural anthropology; economic geography; socio-legal studies; and, science and technology studies -- offers the opportunity for opening up new theoretical and methodological avenues of research on intellectual property and governance.