Ali Mazrui Professor of African Studies @umich. #MacFellow. New book: A Popular History of Idi Amin's Uganda. Available at https://xitter.cf/t.co/8TjlhKEBfb
Ann Arbor
Joined September 2019
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Derek R Peterson retweeted
Thank you Prof Derek Peterson @Unseen_Archive for this piece of nicely curated collection of our history. Thank you also for the brief excursion in our National History, very valuable insights. Asante sana.
Derek R Peterson retweeted
This is timely! History is shaped as much by what gets silenced as by what gets recorded. New evidence and fresh questions can unsettle established narratives and recover voices long marginalised. Well done @Unseen_Archive
At the launch of A Popular History of Idi Amin’s Uganda @MakerereCHUSS, Prof. Derek Peterson invites us to look beyond the “dictator” narrative to the ordinary Ugandans who lived through and shaped Amin’s Uganda. Congratulations @Unseen_Archive!
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Join us for the book launch of A Popular History of Idi Amin’s Uganda by @Unseen_Archive Tomorrow, 21st October 2026 from 2:00–4:00p.m @MakerereCHUSS
Featuring discussions by lawyer David Mpanga and historian David Ngendo Tshimba. Available at only Ugx 25,000/=!
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Wow! Great, read the book and enjoyed it, learned a lot, especially about the importance of Radio, pamphlets and propaganda in the 60s. Not sure I heard/read so much about that before. Of course the role of ordinary people in propping up the Amin regime was also a discovery. Happy that many people will now read it in Uganda - an essential read of the times.
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Fascinating conversation with @Unseen_Archive out now! Watch the brand new episode of The Biographer's Chair podcast talking about the Ugandan peoples under the rule of Idi Amin #UgandaHistory #IdiAmin #DerekRPeterson #BiographersChair #Uganda
youtu.be/_ffWkQmX8UI?is=oZzG… – at Upper Colwall, England
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Fascinating conversation with @Unseen_Archive coming to you tomorrow. Watch the brand new episode of The Biographer's Chair podcast talking about the Ugandan peoples under the rule of Idi Amin #UgandaHistory #IdiAmin #DerekRPeterson #BiographersChair #Uganda – at Great Malvern, England
Derek R Peterson retweeted
How we understand Africa’s past has been shaped by historians who challenged old assumptions. John Iliffe was one of them — and his work left a lasting mark on African history.
theconversation.com/john-ili…
💻 Derek R. Peterson, @UMich
#ArtsCultureAndSociety
Derek R Peterson retweeted
@Unseen_Archive : I remember this photograph in your post as if it were yesterday. It was taken at Prof. John Iliffe’s retirement conference at St John’s College, Cambridge, a gathering I was privileged to attend. There stood giants of African history: John Lonsdale, Terence Ranger, John McCracken, alongside Prof. Frederick J. Kaijage of the University of Dar es Salaam. What a constellation of Africanists! What a moment in the intellectual history of Africa. Today, the photograph carries an even deeper poignancy.
Derek R Peterson retweeted
This evening, 21st May 2026, I return to my alma mater, @Cambridge_Uni, for the 2026 Audrey Richards Annual Lecture at 5:00 pm in the Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College. The distinguished historian John Lonsdale will speak on “Self-Mastery: Jomo Kenyatta and State-Free African Political Thought.”
The lecture opens two days of intellectual engagement at the Centre of African Studies, bringing together some of the most distinguished Africanists of our generation. Tomorrow 22nd May, 2026, I'm honoured to give a keynote lecture on "Land, Blood & Belonging : Rethinking the Moral Foundations of Statecraft in Kenya." Among those participating are eminent scholars whose work has profoundly shaped our understanding of Africa and its place in the world, including John Lonsdale himself, Frederick Cooper, Richard Waller, Derek Peterson, David Anderson, Adriaan van Klinken, Carola Lentz, Justin Willis, Joel Cabrita, Emma Hunter, Shane Doyle, Megan Vaughan, Parker Shipton, Inge Brinkman, Frederick Cooper, and a distinguished community of historians, anthropologists, political scientists, literary scholars, and public intellectuals from Africa, Europe, and North America. The conference reminds us that history is not merely an archive of bygone events; it is a compass for navigating the possibilities of the future.
Those unable to attend in person may follow the proceedings online here:
youtube.com/live/dqObPCHzJF0…
#AudreyRichardsLecture #JohnLonsdale #AfricanStudies #UniversityOfCambridge #AfricasPastsAfricasFuture
Derek R Peterson retweeted
"Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace is grateful for & inspired by Prof. Peterson’s careful & compassionate words, & concomitantly, condemns President Grasso’s stubborn defense of the injustice & inhumanity of Israel’s war–Israel’s ongoing genocide–against Palestinians"
Here is a lovely statement from the Academic Council of the Jewish Voice for Peace. It concerns the controversy over my recent remarks to the graduating class @UMich.
Many thanks to @jvplive for this insightful text.
jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2026…
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Three @UMich faculty members have earned election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most distinguished honors recognizing exceptional achievement across academic and professional fields. myumi.ch/pVX95
ALT text: American Academy of Arts & Sciences photos from left to right, Rada Mihalcea, Derek Peterson, Nicholas Valentino University of Michigan Research logo
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Hearty congratulations, mwalimu mkuu! The Faculty Government @UMich and indeed the entire AAAS are very fortunate to have you onboard. Had you joined in yester years, it'd have been just good... but joining now is even much better!
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Listened to the audiobook via Audible and I knew the real thing was the book itself in print. So, @mahiribooks did their thing and I have a copy now!✌️🏾
Derek R Peterson retweeted
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Why did so many ordinary Ugandans believe in Idi Amin?
My review of @Unseen_Archive’s fantastic new book in @OlongoAfrica explores the uneasy relationship between demagoguery and patriotism 👇
olongoafrica.com/demagoguery…
Derek R Peterson retweeted
The Ugandan dictator was a pioneer of populism. A new book argues that, for his followers, they transformed the boring work of government into “a thrilling battle for racial and political liberation” economist.com/culture/2025/1…
Derek R Peterson retweeted
How did Idi Amin’s brutal regime endure for eight years of chaos and violence?
In this groundbreaking study, Derek Peterson uncovers how ordinary Ugandans—civil servants, artists, businesspeople, patriots—helped sustain Amin’s dictatorship.
Derek R Peterson retweeted
The @UgandaStudies is hosting two exciting, online public talks this coming term on 1970s Uganda: one with @florencebrisset, @moosttwo & @SpireJim; and one with @Unseen_Archive. Please mark your calendars! We hope to see you there. @umunkozi @Makerere @ASAUK_News @CASCambridge @yalepress @SorbonneParis1 @UMich @DailyMonitor @ntvuganda @newvisionwire @nilepostnews
Derek R Peterson retweeted
On this day 53 years ago, Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Ugandan Asians.
I am reflecting on that dark moment in our history by reading a brilliant new book by @Unseen_Archive which gives valuable insight into the socio-political context in which such a thing could happen.
Derek R Peterson retweeted
Idil Amin’s policies were disastrous for all Ugandans, African and Asian alike. Yet his war of economic liberation was, for a time, a source of inspiration for activists around the world.
scroll.in/article/1084731/li…
Derek R Peterson writes
Via The Conversation
