External links
- Personal website
- Lists of research output from the University of Michigan
- Interview with the American Historical Review
Derek R. Peterson (born May 13, 1971) is an American historian specializing in the cultural history of East Africa. He is currently a professor of history and African studies at the University of Michigan. [1] In 2025 he was elected chair of the university's faculty senate. [2]
He was the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" in 2017. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Born May 13, 1971, Peterson is from Maine, New York and attended Maine–Endwell High School. [8] He studied history and political science at the University of Rochester, graduating in 1993. His interest in African studies was sparked by a trip to Kenya in his sophomore year, and at Rochester he studied under African scholars Elias Mandala and Sam Nolutshungu. After graduating, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Kenya for a year. He then went on to the University of Minnesota, studying with Allen Isaacman, and obtained his PhD in 2000. [9]
Peterson taught at the College of New Jersey between 2000 and 2004. [3] Between 2004 and 2009 he was the director of Centre for African Studies at the University of Cambridge, [10] where he edited a series of monographs on African studies, [11] and initiated an academic exchange programme between Cambridge and universities in Africa. [10]
He took a position at the University of Michigan in 2009, joining its newly founded African Studies Center (ASC). [5] Peterson teaches undergraduate courses on African literature, African Christianity, and family history in a global context. [12]
Peterson has been a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame's Kellogg Institute, [13] was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2016, [14] and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. [15] He won the African Studies Association's 2013 Hersokovits Prize for his book Ethnic Patriotism and the East African Revival. [16]
