Maya Karin Peterson (19 April 1980 – 16 June 2021) was an American historian. She was an assistant professor of history at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. She specialized in environmental history of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Peterson is best known for her 2019 book '' Pipe Dreams: Water and Empire in Central Asia's Aral Sea Basin'' about the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea () was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by the 2010s. It was in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhst ...

environmental crisis caused by poor water management by the Soviet and subsequent post-Soviet governments. She died during childbirth in 2021 aged 41.

Life and work

Maya Karin Peterson was born on 19 April 1980 and grew up in Massachusetts. Her parents were academics who worked as professors at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

. She studied history at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

, majoring in history. She earned a master's degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, staying there to complete a PhD in 2011 and then became a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of the History of Science at Harvard. In 2012, Peterson visited the

Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC) is an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the environmental humanities located in Munich, Germany. It was founded in 2009 as a joint initiative of Ludwig M ...

in Munich, returning to is several times during her research. That same year, she became an assistant professor at the

and became tenured in 2019. For her research, Peterson travelled throughout Central Asia. Her work focused heavily on the size of the

over time, the impact of irrigation on the environment, and the health impacts on people who lived in the region. Her work was widely praised by colleagues. Peterson died suddenly during childbirth on 16 June 2021. Her daughter Priya Luna died a day later.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

Obituary on Legacy.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Maya 1980 births 2021 deaths Harvard University alumni 21st-century American historians Deaths in childbirth Swarthmore College alumni University of California, Santa Cruz faculty