Peter Benson
ScientistUnited States
Peter Benson is a professor and cultural anthropologist at the University of Delaware whose work has examined tobacco production, corporate power, public health and labour. He is also the author of Stuck Moving, an experimental memoir about anthropology, academic life, bipolar disorder and addiction. [1][2]
Career and work
Benson is a professor at the University of Delaware. He earned a PhD in social anthropology from Harvard University, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University and spent more than a decade on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis before joining Delaware. [2]
His research has examined corporate power, public health, labour and environmental harm, particularly within the tobacco industry. His 2012 book Tobacco Capitalism: Growers, Migrant Workers, and the Changing Face of a Global Industry received awards from the Society for the Anthropology of North America and the Southern Anthropological Society. [2]
What has been publicly discussed
- Benson has publicly identified himself as living with bipolar disorder and has written about the condition in his memoir Stuck Moving. He has also used the term “manic depression” when describing his own experience of the illness. [1]
- Benson has written about living with bipolar disorder and drug addiction alongside difficulties in his personal and professional life. Stuck Moving brings these experiences together with his sense of being stalled in his academic career and searching for meaning and purpose within academia. [1]
- He has described manic depression as a contradictory experience of intense movement without progress, comparing it to “running as fast as you can — in place.” [1]
- Through Stuck Moving and his public discussion of the book, Benson has challenged the expectation that mental illness should remain private or separate from professional identity. He has spoken openly about bipolar disorder, addiction and the difficulty of separating those experiences from his identity as a scholar. [1]
- His memoir also challenges the idea of the scholar as a detached observer by turning his ethnographic attention toward his own vulnerabilities and complications. [1]
“Bipolar disorder is part and parcel of who I am.”
— Peter Benson [1]
Sources and other resourcesExpand to view the sources used in this profile and resources to learn more.
Sources used for this profile
The following sources contain information that supports the claims made on this page.
University of DelawareGetting candid about mental illness University interview covering Benson's bipolar disorder, addiction, Stuck Moving, his description of manic depression and his decision to discuss mental illness publicly.
University of DelawarePeter Benson Faculty profile covering his education, academic appointments, research, books and awards.
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Recommended books and other resources about Peter Benson and their experiences.