Peter Vale is a historian of capitalism and the environment in Africa. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2023. His current research project, “The Copper Eaters”: Inventing Capitalism in Central Africa, asks: why, despite persistent economic decline and devastating socio-ecological consequences, have Congolese workers, residents, and officials maintained such a deep attachment to a copper mining industry dominated by foreign capital and corporate enterprise? Drawing on community bulletins in Kiswahili, Kisanga, and French; interviews with workers and officials; and archives across seven countries, he explores how Congolese citizens, subjects, and political leaders navigated the tensions between their historical relationships to natural resources, their reliance on foreign capital, and their desires for political sovereignty. His overarching scholarly objective is to develop a people-centered history of African capitalism based in a broad set of cultural and political experiences.

Peter’s writing has appeared in The Journal of African History, The Drift, and LOBBY. He has received fellowships and support from the Weatherhead Center at Harvard University, the History & Political Economy Project at Johns Hopkins, the Science History Institute, the Linda Hall Library, the US Fulbright Student Program, and the US Department of Education.