Born May 13, 1971, Peterson is from
Maine, New York and attended Maine–Endwell High School. He studied history and political science at the
University of Rochester and graduated 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. Peterson taught at the
College of New Jersey between 2000 and 2004. where he edited a series of monographs on African studies, and initiated an academic exchange programme between Cambridge and universities in Africa. Peterson has been a visiting fellow at the
University of Notre Dame's Kellogg Institute, was elected a
Corresponding Fellow of the
British Academy in 2016, and was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. He won the
African Studies Association's 2013
Hersokovits Prize for his book
Ethnic Patriotism and the East African Revival.
2026 commencement address On May 2, 2026, Peterson delivered an address at the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement ceremony. In his address, he praised "pro-Palestinian student activists who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity to Israel’s
war in Gaza." On December 14, 2025 at the University of Michigan's Winter Commencement ceremony, Peterson made similar political remarks, saying “our history is full of victors valiant who have organized themselves against racism, who have risen to defend the humanity of suffering people in the plantations of the old South, in the concentration camps of Hitler’s Germany, in the townships of apartheid South Africa, and in the ruined cities of Palestine.”
Reactions Peterson’s commencement speech drew mixed reactions. While a portion of the audience applauded loudly following the "opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza”, others were quietly uncomfortable and the
Anti-Defamation League later said that the remarks were inappropriate for a graduation ceremony and could leave Jewish students feeling excluded. On May 2, 2026, University of Michigan President,
Domenico Grasso, published a "Message to the Community titled "Spring 2026 Commencement SACUA Chair address response", which Grasso described as "hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community. We regret the pain this has caused on a day devoted to celebration and accomplishment. For this, the university apologizes." According to Grasso, Peterson "deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony. The Chair’s comments were inappropriate and do not represent our institutional position. Nor do they represent the diversity of views across our entire faculty. Everyone in our community is entitled to their own views; but this was neither the time nor the place. Commencement is a time of celebration, recognition and unity. The Chair’s remarks were expected to be congratulatory, not a platform for personal or political expression. Introducing such commentary in this setting was inappropriate and did not align with the purpose of the occasion. " Separately, Peterson accused the university of taking the speech off the internet. In an interview with
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Peterson emphasized that he deviated only slightly from the wording of the remarks he had submitted to the university in advance, saying that he realized in the moment that more clarity was needed. The remarks he had submitted referenced activists who had “sacrificed much to open our hearts to the injustices happening in Gaza," according to the text provided to the
Chronicle by the university. Following Peterson’s controversial commencement address, he issued a statement saying, "My time as chair of the Faculty Senate is now at an end, and I will soon be returning to a life of dignified obscurity.” ==Selected publications==