Lecture Explores Role of Abolitionists

Derek Peterson, associate professor of African history at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, lectures about “Abolitionism and Political Debate in Britain and Africa” Thursday, Feb. 25, at 3:30 p.m. in the Westmont’s Founders Dining Room. The free, public event is part of Westmont’s World Christianity Lecture Series, which seeks to bring attention to the global presence of Christianity, particularly in the non-Western world.

Peterson’s lecture will explore the role of African converts and British Evangelicals in steering the abolition debate in West African and in British contexts.

Peterson, who earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota, focuses his research on religious conversion, nationalism and cultural politics in East Africa, with a focus on colonial Kenya. He was director of the Centre of African Studies and fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge (UK) from 2004 to 2009. In 2007, he was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize, given to scholars based at Britain universities for accomplishments in research. In 2009 he was elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society.