Peter Coclanis

Peter Coclanis
Born (1952-04-22) April 22, 1952 (age 74)
OccupationHistorian
Academic background
Education
ThesisThe Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670–1920 (1984)
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
Sub-discipline
InstitutionsUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984–2026)

Peter A. Coclanis (born April 22, 1952) is an American historian, currently the Albert Ray Newsome Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His primary subjects have included the history of economic development, business history, and agricultural history, and he has studied regions such as the American South, the Atlantic World, and Southeast Asia.

Early life and education

Coclanis was born on April 22, 1952. He earned a B.A. from Drake University in 1973, then an M.A. (1974), an M. Phil. (1976), and a Ph.D. in history (1984) from Columbia University. He was a fellow of Columbia's Society of Fellows 1983–1984. His doctoral dissertation, The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670–1920, won Columbia's Society of American Historians' Allan Nevins Prize and was later published as a book in 1989.

Career

Coclanis joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 1984, where he rose to the named chair of Albert Ray Newsome Distinguished Professor. His primary subjects have included economic development, business history, and agricultural history, and he has studied regions such as the American South, the Atlantic World, and Southeast Asia. He planned to retire emeritus in the summer of 2026.

He traveled to Singapore as a Fulbright Scholar in the 1990s, helped launch UNC's study abroad programs in Southeast Asia, served as associate provost for international affairs 2003–2009, founded and directed UNC's Global Research Institute, and served as Raffles Distinguished Professor in Southeast Asian History at the National University of Singapore in 2005.

Coclanis was president of the Agricultural History Society 1997–1998, became a fellow of the society in 2016, and received its 2019 Gladys L. Baker Award for lifetime achievement. His 2005 article "Global Perspectives on the Early Economic History of South Carolina" was awarded the Clark-Weir Award of the South Carolina Historical Society.

He has written for the libertarian Independent Institute as well as the conservative Claremont Review of Books.

Selected Works

Books

Articles

References

  1. ↑ "Coclanis, Peter A., 1952-". Library of Congress. August 5, 2025. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Peter A. Coclanis". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Peter A. Coclanis". Columbia University: The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Allan Nevins Prize". Columbia University Society of American Historians. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Juzaitis, Nicole (May 4, 2026). "Carolina celebrates 3 faculty members with awards in global excellence". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Global Affairs. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  6. 1 2 "Peter A. Coclanis". Independent Institute. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Officers of the Agricultural History Society, 1919 – present" (PDF). Agricultural History Society. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Fellows of the Society". Agricultural History Society. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Awards of the Agricultural History Society, 1953-present" (PDF). Agricultural History Society. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Clark-Weir Award". South Carolina Historical Society. Retrieved July 30, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Peter A. Coclanis". Independent Institute. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Author: Peter A. Coclanis". Claremont Review of Books. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  13. ↑ Tomich, Dale (November 1990). "Reviewed Work: The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670-1920. by Peter A. Coclanis". American Journal of Sociology. 96 (3): 790–793. JSTOR 2781094.
  14. ↑ Crawford, Martin (April 1991). "Reviewed Work: Peter A. Coclanis, The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country 1670–1920". Journal of American Studies. 25 (1): 152–153. doi:10.1017/S002187580002853X.
  15. ↑ Clifton, James M. (December 1989). "Reviewed Work: The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670-1920. by Peter A. Coclanis". The Journal of Economic History. 49 (4): 1041–1042. JSTOR 2122779.
  16. ↑ McCurry, Stephanie (Summer 1990). "Reviewed Work: The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Low Country, 1670-1920 by Peter Coclanis". Agricultural History. 64 (3): 90–92. JSTOR 3743641.
  17. ↑ Haggerty, Sheryllynne (November 2005). "Reviewed Work: The Atlantic Economy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Organization, Operation, Practice and Personnel by Peter A. Coclanis". The Economic History Review. 58 (New Series) (4): 862–863. JSTOR 3698822.
  18. ↑ Knight, Franklin W. (June 2006). "Reviewed Work: The Atlantic Economy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Organization, Operation, Practice, and Personnel by Peter A. Coclanis". The Journal of American History. 93 (1): 182–183. doi:10.2307/4486080. JSTOR 4486080.
  19. ↑ Engerman, Stanley L. (August 2006). "Reviewed Work: The Atlantic Economy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Organization, Operation, Practice, and Personnel by Peter A. Coclanis". The Journal of Southern History. 72 (3): 642–643. doi:10.2307/27649155. JSTOR 27649155.
  20. ↑ McDonald, Michelle Craig (Winter 2006). "Reviewed Work: The Atlantic Economy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Organization, Operation, Practice, and Personnel by Peter A. Coclanis". The Business History Review. 80 (4): 780–783. doi:10.2307/25097273. JSTOR 25097273.
  21. ↑ Wood, Bradford J. (Winter 2016). "Reviewed Work: Rice: Global Networks and New Histories by R. Francesca Bray, Peter A. Coclanis, Edda L. Fields-Black, and Dagmar Schäfer". Agricultural History. 90 (1): 118–119. doi:10.3098/ah.2016.090.1.118. JSTOR 10.3098/ah.2016.090.1.118.
  22. ↑ Shiue, Carol H. (June 2017). "Reviewed Work: Rice: Global Networks and New Histories by Francesca Bray, Peter A. Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black, Dagmar Schaefer". The Journal of Economic History. 77 (2): 647–649. JSTOR 26348398.
  23. ↑ Long, Lucy M. (December 2018). "Reviewed Work: Rice: Global Networks and New Histories by Bray, Francesca, Coclanis, Peter A., Fields-Black, Edda L., and Schafer, Dagmar, eds". Enterprise & Society. 19 (4): 1025–1028. JSTOR 26568225.
  24. ↑ Métailié, Georges (2020). "Reviewed Work: Rice: Global Networks and New Histories by Francesca Bray, Peter A. Coclanis, Edda L. Fields-Black, Dagmar Schafer". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (51/52): 175–177. JSTOR 27160779.