James Peterson, PH.D.

James Peterson is an Assistant Professor of English at Bucknell University. He has been a visiting lecturer and preceptor in African American Studies at Princeton University and was the founding Media Coordinator for the Harvard University Hip Hop Archive. He is also the founder of Hip Hop Scholars, LLC, an association of Hip Hop generational scholars dedicated to researching and developing the cultural and educational potential of hip hop, urban, and youth cultures.

Peterson has assisted Cornel West and delivered the “Hip Hop Studies” lectures at Princeton University. He has also assisted and guest-lectured in the Marvin Gaye and Tupac courses with Michael Eric Dyson at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written numerous scholarly articles on Hip Hop Culture, African American Literature, Culture, and Linguistics as well as Urban Studies. Peterson has conducted interviews with Gil Scott Heron, Manning Marable, Sistah Souljah, Snoop Dogg, Dead Prez, DJ Jazzy Jeff and generally applies his journalistic skills and his ethnographic training toward innovative academic inquiry.

Peterson has been featured on BET and Bet.com, “The Michael Eric Dyson Show,” Hot 97’s “Street Soldiers,” “The Michael Baisden Show,” and the award-winning PBS documentary, Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Peterson has appeared on Fox News, CBS News, MSNBC, ABC News, ESPN, and various local television networks as an expert on hip hop culture, popular culture, urban youth and politics.

He has published in Callaloo, Black Arts Quarterly, XXL, Technitions, and Lexani magazine. He has also been featured and/or quoted in Vibe Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, Southern Voices and The Wall Street Journal.