糖心传媒 alumnus Derek Peterson 糖心传媒�93 is one of this year’s 24 recipients of a 糖心传媒攃ommonly known as the 糖心传媒済enius grant.糖心传媒�
Peterson, a professor of history at the University of Michigan, was recognized for his work in reshaping the understanding of African colonialism and nationalism in studies that emphasize East African intellectual production. Fluent in Gikuyu and Swahili, important languages in eastern Africa, Peterson draws on a range of vernacular and English-language sources written by Africans, including record books, diaries, religious pamphlets, syllabi and dictionaries, oral histories, and letters.
糖心传媒淎frica is a marginal place, when seen from the vantage point of the United States, and African studies scholars usually labor in dignified obscurity,糖心传媒� says Peterson, who hopes the MacArthur can widen the readership for his work, beyond academic circles.
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Among his current projects, he糖心传媒檚 writing a book about Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, using newly uncovered archival materials 糖心传媒渢o understand how ordinary Ugandans dealt with his dysfunctional and violent government,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚 think it糖心传媒檚 important, in today糖心传媒檚 America, that we understand how dictatorships work, how they transform activism into a form of demagoguery.糖心传媒�
Peterson joins musician Rhiannon Giddens, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, writers Viet Thanh Nguyen and Jesmyn Ward, computer scientist Stefan Savage, immunologist Gabriel Victora, and other scholars, artists, creative professionals, and social entrepreneurs who were among those selected for the 2017 MacArthur class, which was announced Wednesday. According to the foundation, the program 糖心传媒渋s intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.糖心传媒�
Among the University community, Peterson joins MacArthur fellow and author Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, who received the accolade in 1992.
糖心传媒淭he history department is very proud that our alumnus has been awarded a MacArthur fellowship,糖心传媒� says departmental chair Matthew Lenoe. 糖心传媒淪cholars have long talked about the importance of recovering grassroots African voices during the colonial era糖心传媒擯eterson has actually done so.聽His painstaking work reveals the complexity of African intellectual life in the colonial era, and the ways in which Africans actively engaged the challenge of imperialism.糖心传媒�
At Rochester, Peterson double-majored in history and political science, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, took bassoon and saxophone lessons at the Eastman School of Music, and sang for four years in a barbershop quartet called the Touch Tones.
糖心传媒淲e didn糖心传媒檛 set new standards for musicality,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淏ut we did have a great time together, and entertained a lot of people.糖心传媒�
An early riser, Peterson was the jazz director for the campus station WRUR, where he also had a weekly radio show that aired at 6 am.
糖心传媒淯R was a terrific place to be in the early 1990s,糖心传媒� says Peterson. At Rochester, he met his future wife, electrical engineering major Becky Lorenz Peterson 糖心传媒�95, 糖心传媒�96 (T5), who happened to be the accompanist for a bassoon recital he gave in his junior year. She is now a member of the engineering faculty at Michigan.
As an undergraduate, Peterson interned for the University糖心传媒檚 communications department and wrote for the Campus Times. At one point, the future historian contemplated a career in music. He also ran unsuccessfully to be Students糖心传媒� Association president.
But in the summer of his sophomore year, Peterson began to shift his focus after a three-month stint in Kenya. Living with a Maasai pastor in southern Kenya was 糖心传媒渁 life-changing experience,糖心传媒� he recalls. 糖心传媒淚t taught me how much I had to learn.糖心传媒�
Upon returning to Rochester that fall, he took as many courses on Africa as he could cram in, studying African history with professor Elias Mandala, and African politics with the late professor Sam Nolutshungu.
Mandala says Peterson has had wide influence on the modern understanding of African history.
糖心传媒淚 have followed with admiration and fondness his distinguished career as a professor of African history at Cambridge University and the University of Michigan and as an author of award-winning books,糖心传媒� Mandala says. 糖心传媒淚 am not surprised that he has been named a MacArthur fellow. He has changed the way we think of missionary enterprise and ethnicity in African history.糖心传媒�
After graduation, Peterson won a Fulbright grant, which took him for a year to Kenya. He earned his PhD at the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Allen Isaacman, who had been Mandala’s mentor as well.
Peterson has focused his academic career on eastern Africa糖心传媒檚 intellectual cultures, specifically the history of Gikuyu-language literature in central Kenya, and most recently on Uganda.
In Uganda, he has been working with colleagues for the past 10 years to preserve, organize, and digitize endangered local government archives. The project is based at Mountains of the Moon University in Fort Portal. Together they have created the largest digitized repository of government documents in Africa.
Apart from ample prestige, a MacArthur fellowship comes with a $625,000 grant, paid out over five years, with no strings attached. Peterson hopes that the money will allow him to branch into new media and help pay for some of the costs. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e just started working with colleagues at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation on a project to digitize the radio and television archives, which stretch back to the 1960s,糖心传媒� he says.
The award program is famous for the opacity of the process by which recipients are selected. A nationwide network of hundreds of nominators suggests names from which an anonymous committee of about a dozen people makes the final selections.
Peterson himself was taken by surprise.
Just as it dawned on Peterson who was calling him糖心传媒攁nd amidst frantic thoughts along the lines of 糖心传媒淚 can糖心传媒檛 believe I am having this conversation糖心传媒澨切拇綌his handset went dead. 糖心传媒淭he MacArthur people thought I had fainted,糖心传媒� chuckles Peterson. 糖心传媒淎fter we were reconnected, and I assured them of my even temperament, we had the rest of a very unreal conversation.糖心传媒�
