Kristin Peterson, anthropology professor, has received two book awards for Speculative Markets: Drug Circuits and Derivative Life in Nigeria. The title was recognized with a Gold Medal by the Independent Publishers’ National Book Awards (category: Current Events: Political/Economic/Legal/Media) and it was named the Anthony Leeds Book Prize Winner by the American Anthropological Association’s Society for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology. The book was published in 2014 by Duke University Press and is available online. It details how the simultaneous rise of finance capital converged with structural adjustment in Nigeria - events that led to multinational drug company abandonment of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical market. A new market emerged that currently caters to very few low quality pharmaceutical classes. The book explains how those working in this environment must manage the outcome of these historic events including chronic and unpredictable market volatility and the accompanying uncertainties of life.

Peterson is a cultural anthropologist who studies political economy as well as medicine, science, and technology in African contexts. Her work has examined how pharmaceutical access and distribution – especially for HIV/AIDS treatment – are shaped by international policies such as the International Monetary Fund's structural adjustment program, the World Trade Organization's intellectual property rules, and transnational AIDS policies. She received a B.S. in aquatic biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.A. in women’s studies from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Rice University. She came to UC Irvine in 2007 from Michigan State University where she was an assistant professor of anthropology. She has also served as a research fellow at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan.

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