The University of Michigan’s LSA Collegiate Lecture Series recently spotlighted the influential work of Professors Derek Peterson and Kelly Askew, both renowned scholars in African Studies. The occasion marked not only an intellectual engagement with East Africa’s past and present but also a personal tribute to the legacies of scholarship, liberation, and cross-continental ties.

Professor Peterson, whose professorship is named in honor of the eminent political scientist Ali Mazrui, delivered his inaugural lecture before an audience of around 150 attendees. The moment held special meaning, as several members of Prof. Mazrui’s family were present, including his first wife, Molly Walker, his second wife, Pauline Uti, and his son, legal scholar Kim Forde-Mazrui. Their presence underscored the enduring legacy of Mazrui, who taught at Makerere University in Kampala during the 1960s and early 1970s before joining the University of Michigan in 1973.

"I found the occasion altogether a delight," Peterson remarked. "It was a great pleasure to have a number of Prof. Mazrui’s relatives in the audience for my inaugural lecture."

Drawing from his forthcoming book, A Popular History of Idi Amin’s Uganda (Yale University Press, June 2025), Peterson’s lecture invited the audience to reconsider the public perception of one of Africa’s most infamous regimes. While Amin’s rule is often remembered for its brutality, Peterson argued that it also resonated with many Ugandans as a moment of national purpose and empowerment. He illuminated how Amin’s administration infused even mundane aspects of bureaucratic life with revolutionary meaning—casting routine civil service into battles of cultural and racial self-determination.

“For many Ugandans,” Peterson noted, “the momentum of the times imparted meaning and direction to otherwise unremarkable lives. It helped inspire a sense of vocation, of purpose, that could drive extraordinary works of self-sacrifice.”

Peterson’s analysis challenges portrayals of authoritarianism in Africa by examining how demagogic nationalism often functions through emotional, cultural, and moral registers—not just violence and control. His reflections resonated with broader themes of memory, struggle, and the complexities of political loyalty, laying the groundwork for a deeper understanding of how tyranny can be cloaked in the rhetoric of liberation.

 The lecture series also featured Kelly Askew, Niara Sudarkasa Collegiate Professor of Anthropology and Afroamerican & African Studies and former director of the African Studies Center. In her LSA Collegiate Professorship inaugural lecture titled “Art in Adversity: Swahili Poetry, Philosophy & Political Action,” she offered a compelling exploration of poetry as a form of resistance, reflection, and reform in East Africa.

Focusing on Kenya and Tanzania, Professor Askew traced how Swahili poetry—whether sung, printed in newspapers, painted on buses, or performed at festivals—has long served as a potent medium for political expression. Far from a niche literary genre, Swahili verse is a public and participatory art form through which both ordinary citizens and celebrated poets give voice to collective struggle, social critique, and philosophical vision.

Through vivid examples and conceptual framing, Askew highlighted the mirror-effects, X-ray-effects, and hammer-effects of poetic works—terms she used to describe poetry’s capacity to reflect societal conditions, expose hidden truths, and catalyze change. The talk emphasized how the verbal artistry and embeddedness of Swahili poetic traditions make them uniquely powerful tools for shaping public discourse and political life.

Askew’s lecture reaffirmed the enduring significance of African expressive cultures and their role in theorizing and enacting social justice—reminding us that, in the face of adversity, art remains a force of imagination, critique, and possibility.

The event stood not just as a scholarly milestone but as a celebration of African intellectual traditions—past and present—intertwined across continents. It reaffirmed the University of Michigan’s commitment to fostering rigorous, compassionate scholarship that honors the voices, histories, and aspirations of African communities.