Jediael Peterson

Phd Student, History

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

Jediael Peterson is a History PhD candidate at Stony Brook University, where she studies oil pollution and ethnic minority protest in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Her dissertation focuses on naked protest and eco-alienation in the region, examining how communities respond to environmental degradation and extractive economies. In addition to her research, She is a program coordinator for The Eye Level Project, a Brooklyn based arts nonprofit for NYC teenagers. She also works as a historical consultant at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), currently contributing to their upcoming exhibition ‘Freedom and Futures.’

With funding from the Mellon/ACLS fellowship, she hopes to travel to Nigeria and Benin where she will conduct oral interviews with women in the region to better understand how oil pollution has affected their everyday life. She also plans to host a public lecture where she will hopefully be able to raise money and share the stories of the women she is able to interview.